Pileated Woodpecker
Gray Partridge
Saturday 11 Feb:
The morning
started crisp, clear and cold. Nevertheless, we had great finds east of Ottawa
with 2 Snowy Owls, Bald Eagle, Great Black-Back and Herring Gull flying over and
about 1000 Snow Bunting in flight at St. Rose. Red Crossbill, Horned Lark, Northern Shrike
and Dark-eyed Junco were other gems this morning. One of the highlights of the
day was the rare Varied Thrush that has overwintered near Limoges. And, at the
end of the excursion, a big surprise, I spotted 16 Gray Partridge at the corner
of Russel & Rockdale. What a fantastic day!
American Crow
American
Goldfinch
American Robin
American Tree
Sparrow
Bald Eagle
Black-capped
Chickadee
Blue Jay
Common Raven
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Gray Partridge
Great
Black-backed Gull
Hairy Woodpecker
Herring Gull
Horned Lark
Mourning Dove
Northern Shrike
Red Crossbill
Red-breasted
Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Rough-legged Hawk
Snow Bunting
Snowy Owl
Varied Thrush
White-breasted
Nuthatch
Photo Courtesy Joshua McCullough
Sunday 12 Feb:
This morning was
the coldest in a long time. We went on a quest for raptors in the west end. Our
luck was not as great as the day before. For raptors we encountered Merlin,
Red-tailed & Sharp-shinned Hawk. But, the most awesome drama the whole day
was a Coopers Hawk suddenly stooping down after a Rock Pigeon! Now that was awesome
to see on a cold day!
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree
Sparrow
Black-capped
Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Common Raven
Coopers Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
House Sparrow
Mallard
Merlin
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Pileated
Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Sharp-shinned
Hawk
Snow Bunting
White-breasted
Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
Pileated Woodpecker at work
Tuesday 14 Feb:
We were very
surprised to arrive to the Jack Pine Trail and not be greeted by Chickadees. It
seemed the entire forest was sleeping. We decided to try our luck over at the
Stony Swamp Trail, and suddenly we had Chickadees everywhere asking for food. Throughout
the area we could see the work of very busy Pileated Woodpeckers. The bark was chiselled
off many trees, and there were holes everywhere.
Along the trail, several
Robins and Tree Sparrows were drinking from an open creek.
It was a slow and
quiet day, but very educational.
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree
Sparrow
Black-capped
Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Brown Creeper
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Red-breasted
Nuthatch
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted
Nuthatch
Red Crossbill, Photo courtesy Bill Bowman
Pine Siskin
Thursday 16 Feb:
What an amazing
day with stunning numbers of Raptors!
And not only
raptors, we also had the pleasure of seeing some finches.
We had 3 Purple
Finch, including a singing adult male along Eardley Road, and several small
flocks of Pine Siskin throughout our travels on the Quebec side. It must have
been around 40 in total.
And, we had the
total of 25 Red Crossbills spread out in several small flocks, including what
appeared to be a few bonded pairs.
For raptors we
had the fantastic number of 7 Red-tailed Hawks, 6 Bald Eagles including 1
sub-adult, and 1 Golden Eagle (age unknown) with a beautiful
golden nape.
What a day in the
escarpments!
American Crow
American Robin
Bald Eagle
Black-capped
Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Golden Eagle
Golden-crowned
Kinglet
Hairy Woodpecker
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Pileated
Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
Purple Finch
Red Crossbill
Red-breasted
Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted
Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
Saturday 18 Feb:
A most beautiful
day with sunshine started at Fletcher Wildlife Garden. We had great looks at a
bonded Cooper’s pair doing aerial display.
As not much
happened at Fletchers, we went exploring instead, and got Bohemian Waxwing, Canada
Goose, Horned Lark and Pine Siskin to mention a few.
The Photo day
ended with 24 species.
American Black
Duck
American Crow
American
Goldfinch
American Robin
Black-capped
Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Canada
Goose
Common Goldeneye
Common Raven
Coopers Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Pileated
Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted
Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
Jack Pine Trail
Snow Shoe Hare
Red Squirrel
Northern Mockingbird, Photo courtesy Joshua McCullough
Sunday 19 Feb:
A cheerful crew
started this morning at Jack Pine Trail. It was very quiet but we had interactions
with a White Tailed Deer, a white Snow Shoe Hare and all kinds of squirrels.
The Red-breasted Nuthatch seemed to be the most hungry hand feeder, but also
Chickadees, Brown Creeper and Blue Jays showed interest in our presence.
We decided that
the forest was too quiet so we ventured out in the open to see what we could
catch.
We got House
Finch, Horned Lark, Bohemian Waxwing, Pileated Woodpecker and Red-tailed Hawk
to mention a few. We ended the day with a short search for the Northern Mockingbird,
which was one of the participant’s life bird number 200!
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree
Sparrow
Black-capped
Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Brown Creeper
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern
Mockingbird
Northern Shrike
Pileated
Woodpecker
Red-breasted
Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted
Nuthatch
Busy at Hilda Road Feeder
Ice fishing on the Ottawa River
