Birds trickling back into region, delayed by cool weather
The see-saw battle between warm and cool weather has delayed migration but small numbers of north bound migrants continue to trickle into our region. There was another push of migrants over the weekend but due to winds out of the north migration remained at a snail’s pace. Hopefully a nice warm front with winds out of the southwest will take the chill off and we’ll have a good movement of birds. Over the past week there were a number of new arrivals including Spotted Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Eastern Towhees, Brown Thrashers, Palm Warblers, Rusty Blackbirds and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet and its cousin the Golden-crowned Kinglet are one of our smallest song birds. The Golden-crowned Kinglet is an earlier migrant arriving in our area late March to early April while the Rubycrowned Kinglet arrives during mid-April. The ruby crown of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is sometimes hard to see but it will raise its crown if excited or agitated. For such a diminutive songbird this insect eater has an incredibly loud song consisting of a series of jumbled notes.
One of the rarest finds so far this spring were two Glossy Ibises along the Ottawa River at Marais des Laîches just east of Gatineau on April 19. The Glossy Ibis is a very rare visitor to the Ottawa-Gatineau district and its normal range is in southeastern United States. Fortunately many of the local birders were able to get out and observer these birds adding a new species to their life list.
With the last of the ice now gone the Ottawa River is playing host to a new selection of water birds including Common Loons, Red-necked Grebes and Horned Grebes. These species will linger for a few weeks before continuing on to their nesting areas further north. At Deschênes Rapids on the Quebec side, Conroy Island is like a miniature Presqu’ile Provincial Park for colonial nesters. Among the colony nesters seen this spring were hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls, 15 Doublecrested Cormorants and 28 Black-crowned Night-Herons. Also observed on this tiny island were four adult Great Egrets on April 18 along with a couple of Great Blue Herons.
On April 20, there were still a number of diving ducks at Shirley’s Bay including Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, and Common Mergansers. Most of these species will continue on north to breed. With the breeding season in full swing a pair of Bald Eagles are still incubating eggs at Shirley’s Bay and hopefully by the end of April a couple of baby eagles will successfully hatch. Last summer this same pair raised two young. Fortunately the eagles have chosen prime real estate at Shirley’s Bay. Their nesting site is located on DND property and is off limits to the public.
During the past week I’ve received a number of Sandhill Crane reports including birds along Upper Dwyer Hill Road, a pair near Perth and 17 near the Mer Bleu. Other reports included two birds near Venosta and a pair near Chaffeys Lock. Check corn fields for these cranes throughout the rural areas. Though sometimes mistakenly referred to as a crane, the Great Blue Heron has distinct characteristics including slow wing beats; head hunched back and bowed wings. The Sandhill Crane holds its legs and neck stretched out and has flat wings. Surprisingly the Sandhill Crane is a recent arrival to our area, first beginning recorded on May 1, 1975 along the Ottawa River near Masson. Since the mid-1970s it has increase as a spring and fall migrant and was first recorded breeding in the Ottawa- Gatineau district in June 1988 when two adults and two young cranes were observed in a farm field off Milton Road near Carlsbad Springs. By the mid-1990s Sandhill Cranes were being observed in numbers along Milton Road as they concentrated there from mid-October to late November before migrating south. The Sandhill Crane is one of numerous species that has increased in the Ottawa-Gatineau district in the past four decades.
The amount of activity at bird feeders continues to increase as new migrants take advantage of the abundance of seeds. Many feeder watchers reported numerous species including Eastern Towhees, Brown Thrashers, Chipping Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Whitecrowned Sparrows to name a few. Keep your feeders well stocked as there are more species to come. Also, keep an eye out for unusually visitors and have a camera ready. Anything is possible in the birding world.
Over the next week watch for the more migrant species including Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers, Green Herons, American Bitterns, Virginia Rails, Sora Rails, Common Gallinules, Palm warblers, Yellow Warblers and Blue-headed Vireos.
I’d like to thank all birders, photographers and feeder watchers that sent reports and/or photographs during the past week.
Please email bird observations and/ or photographs to: bruce.dilabio@sympatico.ca Subject line: Ottawa Citizen Birds. For photos, please provide date, location, and photographer’s name and for bird reports, observer, date and location. The birding Code of Ethics and guidelines of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club can be found at www.ofnc.ca/birding/Code-of-Conduct.pdf . To reach the Wild Bird Care Centre for orphaned and injured birds call 613-828-2849. Report bird bands to www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/. Access to Shirley’s Bay is restricted. You must obtain permission from the Range Control Office before entering the area. Please call 613-991-5740 for permission. View more great photos online at ottawacitizen.com/ birds