Birding Excursion - Ottawa, Canada, 17th March 2011

Hoary Redpoll or Arctic Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni)

The taste of spring becomes sweeter each day.
Birders and photographers met at Britannia, where Red-winged Blackbirds, Northern Cardinals and a single Song Sparrow entertained us with their beautiful song.
We were surrounded by spring-like activity with some birds carrying nest material, others claiming their territory and others in courtship.
The best birds of the morning were a Killdeer flying over head, Hooded Mergansers on the river and a pair of Northern Pintail near the marina.
We moved on for a little drive to March Valley Road. Here we found Pileated Woodpeckers, Green-winged Teal, Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks.
As the day progressed, the fog lifted and we had beautiful blue skies with warm comfortable temperatures.
There’s not many winter-birds left, but luckily Tony spotted a Northern Shrike.
We went to the Hilda Road feeder again to see if we could relocate the Leucistic Common Redpoll from Tuesday’s excursion, but we could not. Although there was still a lot of redpolls we could only find two Hoary Redpolls.
Never the less, it was a super day, which also included Turkey Vulture and Bufflehead, amongst other things.

Daylist:

1. American Crow
2. Northern Cardinal
3. Wild Turkey
4. Canada Goose
5. Rock Pigeons
6. Ring-billed Gull
7. European Starling
8. Red-winged Blackbird
9. Red-tailed Hawk
10. Common Grackle
11. Blue Jay
12. Mourning Dove
13. American Robin
14. Common Merganser
15. Rough-legged Hawk
16. Common Raven
17. House Sparrow
18. Buffledhead
19. Common Goldeneye
20. Herring Gull
21. Black-capped Chickadee
22. White-breasted Nuthatch
23. House Finch
24. American Tree Sparrow
25. Dark-eyed Junco
26. Mallard
27. Hairy Woodpecker
28. Hooded Merganser
29. Great Black-backed Gull
30. Downy Woodpecker
31. American Black Duck
32. American Goldfinch
33. Turkey Vulture
34. Common Redpoll
35. Killdeer
36. Song Sparrow
37. Northern Pintail
38. Hoary Redpoll
39. Pileated Woodpecker
40. Northern Shrike
41. Green-winged Teal

Male Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea)

Excursion organized by Tony Beck - Always An Adventure