First of Winter Birding 2012..

White-breasted Nuthatch

Tuesday January 3rd: Kerwin Road & Spruce Forest Birds

New year, new birdies and new WINTER program!

Not too many birds on this extremely cold winter morning. Nevertheless, American Robins, Northern Shrike, Horned Lark, Snow Buntings and Red-tailed Hawk are highly-welcomed birds on a cold day like today.

American Crow

American Robin

American Tree Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Common Raven

Downy Woodpecker

European Starling

Hairy Woodpecker

Horned Lark

Mallard

Mourning Dove

Northern Shrike

Red-tailed Hawk

Rock Pigeon

Snow Bunting

White-breasted Nuthatch

Common Goldeneye, Photo courtesy Tony Beck

Thursday January 5th: Winter Water Birds - Ottawa Centre & West

It’s still cold in Ottawa but with less wind than our last excursion. Today, our main target was to find water birds. We had several species while searching open water along the Rideau River. The highlights were the overwintering American Coot at Billings Bridge, a full-adult Bald Eagle flying over the Hunt Club bridge, and the overwintering Song Sparrow along the shores near the Rideau Tennis Club. 

American Black Duck

American Coot

American Crow

American Goldfinch

Bald Eagle

Black-capped Chickadee

Common Goldeneye

Common Merganser

Common Raven

Downy Woodpecker

European Starling

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

House Finch

House Sparrow

Mallard

Mourning Dove

Red-tailed Hawk

Rock Pigeon

Song Sparrow

Juvenile Snowy Owl

Saturday January 7th: Hawks, Snowy Owls & Open Country Birds - Ottawa East

We had a very successful day searching open fields east of Ottawa. We encountered a few flocks of Snow Buntings, each between 200 to 500 birds. Each flock included sprinklings of Lapland Longspurs - from 2 to 5 individuals in each flock. Most impressive was a large flock of 100+ Lapland Longspurs with only 6 Snow Buntings included. Also along Concession 21, there was a female Red-winged Blackbird and 8 Horned Larks. We had 2 Snowy Owls this morning - one near Frank Kenny Road, south of Orleans, and the second was photographed along Concession 20, east of Casselman.

American Crow

American Goldfinch

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Common Raven

Dark-eyed Junco

Downy Woodpecker

European Starling

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Horned Lark

Lapland Longspur

Merlin

Mourning Dove

Northern Cardinal

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-winged Blackbird

Rock Pigeon

Rough-legged Hawk

Snow Bunting

Snowy Owl

White-breasted Nuthatch

Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey

Participants at Parc Omega, Photo courtesy Brenda McCrea

Arctic Fox

Caribou, Photo courtesy Joshua McCullough

Sunday January 8th: Photo Day Parc Omega

Photo days are dedicated to photography, and we had a fantastic day at Parc Omega near Montebello, Quebec. Check out our Facebook Gallery here: Photo Days @ Parc Omega

Birding highlight of the day happened on the way home after the excursion. We took a detour downtown to check the Coats Building for Peregrine Falcons. Just as Tony thought, there it was! 

American Crow

American Robin

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Common Goldeneye

Common Raven

Dark-eyed Junco

European Starling

Hairy Woodpecker

Peregrine Falcon

Pileated Woodpecker

Red-tailed Hawk

Rock Pigeon

Rough-legged Hawk

Snow Bunting

White-breasted Nuthatch

Wild Turkey

Black-capped Chickadee

Tuesday January 10th: Sarsaparilla Trail & Other Trails - Ottawa West

Today was the last day of birding for a month while Tony is in the Antarctica.

We went for the overwintering Northern Mockingbird and we got it flying across the road at Grandview near Hastings.
To our pleasure and great excitement, Tony spotted 3 Gray Partridge tucked away deep inside a large brush pile on the north side of Barnsdale Road. While studying the Partridge, a Northern Shrike flew in and landed on the pile where the Partridges’ were hiding. It was a great day with 26 species of birds.

American Crow

American Goldfinch

American Robin

American Tree Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Cedar Waxwing

Common Raven

European Starling

Gray Partridge

Hairy Woodpecker

Herring Gull

House Finch

House Sparrow

Mallard

Mourning Dove

Northern Cardinal

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Shrike

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-winged Blackbird

Ring-billed Gull

Rock Pigeon

Rough-legged Hawk

Snow Bunting

White-breasted Nuthatch

We’ll be back in February! Stay tuned!

Timber Wolf

Arctic Wolf

Timber Wolf, Photo courtesy Tony Beck

All excursions organized by: Always An Adventure