[Gillian_M]

January 1st was sunny and bitterly cold here in Ottawa, with the temperature rising only to -15°C. As a result, I didn't stay out as long as I wanted. However, a total of 22 species for only a couple of hours in the field was good enough for me!

Seen January 1, 2009:

1. American Crow
2. Rock Pigeon
3. Great Black-backed Gull
4. Herring Gull
5. Glaucous Gull
6. White-breasted nuthatch
7. Common Goldeneye

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 1, 2009:

8. Common Merganser
9. Mallard
10. American Black Duck
11. Black-capped chickadee
12. Red-tailed Hawk
13. House Finch

The Red-tailed Hawk was quite a surprise. Not only was I not expecting to see him near the feeders at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, I didn't expect him to stay put while I was photographing him!

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 1, 2009:

14. Dark-eyed Junco
15. Mourning Dove
16. Northern Cardinal
17. American Goldfinch
18. White-winged Crossbill

I was quite excited to find the crossbills at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden yesterday; they were feeding at the top of a spruce, but eventually flew lower down. Not only did I get my first good look at this species, I got my first good photos too!

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 1, 2009:

19. Blue Jay
20. Red-breasted nuthatch
21. Common Raven
22. Hairy Woodpecker

[Gillian_M]

Today was a fantastic day...not only did I find the Northern Hawk Owl haunting Ottawa's west end, but I also found a couple of winter finches as well! I saw my first redpolls of the winter, and got my best views of a Pine Siskin to date!

Seen January 3, 2009:

23. Downy Woodpecker
24. American Tree Sparrow
25. Pine Siskin
26. Common Redpoll

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 3, 2009:

27. Northern Hawk Owl
28. Bohemian Waxwing
29. Rough-legged Hawk

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 5, 2009:

30. European Starling

Seen January 6, 2009:

31. House Sparrow

(I can't believe I needed to wait until I went back to work downtown to see these two!)

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 10, 2009:

32. Snow Bunting


Seen January 11, 2009:

33. Northern Mockingbird
34. Northern Shrike
35. Ruffed Grouse
36. Wild Turkey

Today was an awesome day....there are so many "winter birds" here in Ottawa right now to keep the winter blues at bay. I also saw the hawk owl again, as well as numerous Pine Siskins and three male White-winged Crossbills. I just wish I'd gotten photos of them all.....only the mockingbird was cooperative, and seemed happy posing for a photo!

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 25, 2009:

37. Pine Grosbeak

It's been a wonderful winter for irruptive boreal species here in Ottawa. Hopefully I'll be able to find one of the Great Gray Owls that have been hanging around west of the city.

[Gillian_M]

Since I didn't get any photos of the Northern Shrike or the Wild Turkeys when I first saw them this year, I thought I would add photos that I took recently of these two species.

I find shrikes difficult to photograph, and believe it or not, this is one of my better shrike photos....branches notwithstanding!!! He flew right by me and landed in a tree close by. Very neat to see.

[Gillian_M]

Seen January 31, 2009:

38. Great Gray Owl

Seen February 1, 2009:

39. American Robin
40. Snowy Owl

My first lifer of 2009 and what a great bird! Several have been seen just west of Ottawa for the past few weeks, and I finally got out there Saturday afternoon and saw one!

The Snowy Owl the following day was also a great find; though they have been seen here and there throughout the area, none have set up a consistent territory, so this one was more luck than anything!

[Gillian_M]

Seen February 7, 2009:

41. Brown Creeper


Seen February 8, 2009:

42. Great Horned Owl


Seen February 9, 2009:

43. Barrow's Goldeneye

It's been over a year since I've seen a Great Horned Owl, and we found this one at dusk thinking it was another Great Gray Owl. Then we saw its "horns" and realized it was a Great Horned instead!

The bus strike in Ottawa is now over, so I am able to go out on my lunch hours to some of my favourite parks...including the one where the male Barrow's Goldeneye has been hanging out. It's nice to see him on the Rideau River, though the patch of open water has gotten a lot smaller since I was last there in December!

[Gillian_M]

Seen February 14, 2009:

44. Pileated Woodpecker (finally!)

Seen February 15, 2009:

45. American Kestrel
46. Boreal Owl
47. Northern Saw-whet Owl
48. Barred Owl
49. Hoary Redpoll
50. Red-bellied Woodpecker
51. Northern Harrier

My club went to Amherst Island yesterday, where the owl-watching was fantastic! I got two lifers, and I am quite happy that I got great shots of these two owls. I'm not so thrilled that I didn't get a photo of the Barred Owl or the Red-bellied Woodpecker; the Barred Owl landed in one tree, then another, and then disappeared while the woodpecker wouldn't stay in one spot when we found it. I still need decent photos of both these species. Also, both the kestrel and the harrier were flying over fields too far away to photograph. Still, it was an excellent outing with five species of owl (including 3 Snowies on the island and one Great Horned on the way home at dusk).

[Gillian_M]

Seen February 21, 2009:

52. Horned Lark

The first spring migrant!

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 7, 2009:

53. Red-winged Blackbird
54. Canada Geese

Spring must be here - not only did the temperature rise to 9°C today, but I saw my first Red-winged Blackbirds and Canada Geese this morning! It was very nice hearing the RWBB's calling after all these months, and see flocks of Canadas flying overhead.

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 8, 2009:

55. Ring-billed Gull


It was another great day with temperatures rising to 7°C, and the ring-bills are back! I also saw my first groundhog of spring today, too! Didn't get a picture of him though, as we were driving along the expressway.

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 14, 2009:

56. Iceland Gull

Nice seeing one close to the edge of the field instead of way at the back!

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 15, 2009:

57. Northern Pintail
58. Common Grackle
59. Turkey Vulture
60. Snow Goose
61. Bald Eagle
62. American Pipit

Had an awesome day today with many spring migrants. The temperature reached a sunny 10°C, and to be honest, the only spring bird I expected to see today was the grackle, though I was hoping that the pintail reported last night would still be in the same spot....and it was! He was gorgeous, too, and this is the closest I've ever come to the male in breeding plumage. The pipits were the most surprising bird of the day...I have never seen one during spring migration.

The Bald Eagle was seen in a tree at the back of a field, too far away to get any photos.

Mammals were out and about today, too...I saw a coyote, two porcupines, two chipmunks, and a skunk! It's not often I am lucky enough to be "in the right place at the right time" but today I certainly was!

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 18, 2009:

63. Song Sparrow


Seen March 21, 2009:

64. Killdeer

Another nice sunny weekend day. The snow is melting, and it was so nice to hear the Red-winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows at one of my favourite conservation areas!

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 22, 2009:

65. Evening Grosbeak
66. Gray Jay
67. Boreal Chickadee

My birding buddy and I went up to Algonquin on Sunday for the day. The park still has a lot of snow and barely any open water, but I did manage to add three birds to my year list. The Evening Grosbeaks are hard to find in Ottawa, and so I was quite happy to find the flock feeding at the Visitor's Center feeders. The Gray Jay was the only one we saw all day and didn't leave it's little spot in the spruce tree. And finally, thanks to Pat and Melanie for helping us find the Boreal Chickadee in the Spruce Bog trail parking lot...a lifer for me!!!

[Gillian_M]

Seen March 25, 2009:

68. Peregrine Falcon
69. Wood Duck


Seen March 29, 2009:

70. Great Blue Heron

[Gillian_M]

Seen April 5, 2009:

71. Northern Shoveler
72. Bufflehead
73. Ring-necked Duck
74. Pied-billed Grebe
75. Green-winged Teal
76. Lesser Scaup
77. Gadwall

Last weekend there was hardly any open water in the marshes and ponds. Since then all the ice has melted and the ducks have started to come back!

[Gillian_M]

Also seen April 5, 2009:

78. Belted Kingfisher
79. Golden-crowned Kinglet
80. Cedar Waxwing
81. Purple Finch

I also visited one of my favourite trails which has a nice mixture of habitat...deciduous woods, jack pines, clumps of cedars, marsh and open field. Our local field-naturalists' club maintains a feeder there, too. The snow has all melted, the water was all open, and it was lovely to hear the birdsong ringing through the woods...pine siskins chattering, bohemian waxwings trilling, cardinals and juncos and song sparrows all singing. Can't wait for the butterflies, frogs, snakes and dragonflies to emerge...then it will truly feel like "home"!!!!

[Gillian_M]

Seen April 9, 2009:

82. Hooded Merganser

A surprise find in the ponds near my house just now on my way back home from the grocery store...I wasn't sure what they were at first and had to stop and check them out!

[Gillian_M]

Seen April 10, 2009:

83. Redhead
84. Tree Swallow
85. American Wigeon
86. Ruddy Duck
87. Brown-headed Cowbird
88. Eastern Phoebe
89. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
90. Osprey
91. Great Egret

My birding partner and I drove to Cooper Marsh (just east of Cornwall on the St. Lawrence River) via the Casselman Sewage Lagoons on Good Friday. It was a fantastic day, with many species of waterfowl seen at the lagoons (although not many individuals of each; at first we thought the lagoons were all empty!) as well as our first Tree Swallows. Unfortunately I was not able to photograph the ducks as they were at the back of the lagoons - too bad, as I'd love to get a nice photo of a male Redhead some day!

The best part of Cooper Marsh was when a Great Egret flew in and landed in front of one of the two viewing blinds while we were in the other. We ran over to the other one, and got some great shots of the egret. A full account of our outing has been posted in my blog (see link below).