Ottawa/Gatineau 06 Nov 09 - weekly update


Red-eyed Vireo,©Chris Kerrigan

Ontario/Quebec
Ottawa/Gatineau
06 November 2009

Hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
Phone number: 613-860-9000
For the Bird Status Line PRESS * (star)
To report bird sightings PRESS 1 (one)
Rare bird alerts are now included in the introductory message
Coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Canada National Capital Region) E. Ontario, W.
Quebec
Compiler & transcriber: Chris Lewis hagenius@primus.ca

At 6:30am, Friday November 6, 2009 this is Chris Lewis reporting.

Most of the interesting observations during the past week involved
waterfowl. Approx. 7,000 GREATER SNOW GEESE were seen on the evening of Oct.
29th south of Hwy 417 off Hwy 138. The lone BRANT was still at Andrew Haydon
Park this week and another singleton was in a field north of Burritt's
Rapids on Nov. 4th. Flocks of 60 - 400 BRANT flew over the Ottawa River at
Constance Bay, Dick Bell Park and Britannia on the 1st. Nine CACKING GEESE
were reported on the river off Andrew Haydon Park on the 1st, and it was
also a great day for a large flight of LONG-TAILED DUCKS - up to 200 mostly
male birds were restlessly flying around and settling on the river between
Dick Bell Park and Shirley's Bay before they took off heading west. Reports
of adult male BARROW'S GOLDENEYES came from both the Rideau River across
from Strathcona Park on the 2nd and the Ottawa River off Andrew Haydon on
the 3rd. Among other duck species reported mainly from the Ottawa River were
a few GREEN-WINGED TEAL, good numbers of GREATER and LESSER SCAUP, small
numbers of SURF, WHITE-WINGED and BLACK SCOTERS, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON
GOLDENEYE and RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS. A few HORNED and RED-NECKED GREBES
were still around last weekend. Northwest winds on the 1st also prompted a
movement of raptors; local sightings included a BALD EAGLE, NORTHERN
GOSHAWK, 2 GOLDEN EAGLES and an imm. PEREGRINE FALCON.

A nice discovery on the 5th was a male RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER at the west
end of Greenland Rd. by the Ottawa River, as was a record-late female INDIGO
BUNTING at a feeder near Andrew Haydon on the 31st and 1st. Among the birds
at the feeders on Hilda Rd. by Shirley's Bay on the 1st were a FOX SPARROW
and  a few WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, and the latest count of EVENING
GROSBEAKS at a feeder in Poland (west of Lanark) was 48, with several more
in the trees nearby.

Thank you - Good Birding!

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