Another Day, Another Black-backed Woodpecker

Black-backed Woodpecker

On February 7th I headed over to Old Quarry Trail for the first time since mid-January. On my January visit I’d had only 6 species on my 3 km walk, the best of which was the overwintering Song Sparrow; this time I hoped to find some winter finches, Bohemian Waxwings, northern woodpeckers, or even a resident owl or hawk for my year list. I started my walk along the right-hand path from the parking lot, as there are numerous buckthorn bushes and crabapple trees in the open meadow where I’d seen Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings in previous winters. Unfortunately, the meadow was empty of fructivores…I didn’t even see or hear a robin, which are quite common here in the winter. A flock of mallards flying south of the conservation area was my only notable find.

Overwintering Waterfowl

Gadwall (male)

Many species of waterfowl only migrate short distances in the fall and winter – they settle in on lakes and large rivers where the water is still open, and when those start icing over, only fly far enough south until they find the next patch of open water. In Ottawa, parts of the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers remain open year-round, attracting mallards, black ducks, Common Goldeneyes, and a handful of Canada Geese and Common Mergansers. A couple of Barrow’s Goldeneyes show up annually on the Rideau River, and Harlequin Ducks spend their winters on the rapids of the Ottawa River every two or three years. Most other ducks move further south below the snow line, spending the winter on the St. Lawrence River or Lake Ontario. Some, like the Wood Duck, spend their winters in the southern states, while other species, like the Blue-winged Teal, overwinter as far south as the northern coast of South America.

A large number of mallards stay in Ottawa even after their natural food on the shore becomes buried beneath snow and ice because they receive handouts from people – if you go to Mud Lake, you will often see large piles of seed or corn spread out for the birds to feed on. This also happens at Strathcona Park and Billings Bridge. Even storm water ponds that remain partially open due to warmer water temperatures host mallards and American Black Ducks in the winter – the pond on Iber Road in Stittsville is one such place, and the ducks there are also fed by humans. In the winter, the natural food of dabbling ducks includes aquatic insects, seeds and vegetation in shallow water, although I don’t imagine that these food sources are abundant enough in storm water ponds to support the large number of ducks that overwinter there. Diving ducks on the rivers are not dependent on humans, feeding on fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and insect larvae such as dragonfly or mayfly nymphs.

Ringing in 2023

American Three-toed Woodpecker

The end of December dragged for me, with a few remaining species needed for my year list that I just couldn’t catch up with (Barred Owl, Northern Shrike, American Three-toed Woodpecker) and a few I didn’t make the effort to see (Barrow’s Goldeneye, Tufted Titmouse). I ended the year with 185 species recorded in Ottawa (plus two others in Nova Scotia), which is lower than the previous two years – one good thing about the Covid 19 pandemic is being able to work from home and go birding in the morning rather than commuting! This number was higher than the 177 species seen in 2019, which makes it similar to pre-pandemic life (also known as “the before times”).

So when January 1st finally rolled around I was ready to get out and start my brand new year list off with a bang. Last year at this time I was still undergoing active medical treatment – including surgery late in the month – and was not feeling well enough to do much birding. I managed to do only one full birding outing in all of January 2022, a quick trip to the Eagleson Ponds on New Year’s Day. I ended my day with 9 species and the month with 17 – the rest of my January 2022 birds were seen from my window at home or on trips to the hospital. My goal for the first day of 2023 was to see more species than I had seen during the entire month of January 2022, and I succeeded.

It was a mild day. We had just received 15 cm of snow a few days earlier on top of the 25 cm of snow received in the Christmas Eve storm, but most of it had been washed away by a heavy rainfall on December 31st. I headed to Jack Pine Trail first for two reasons: there was still a great variety of species there despite the OFNC feeder being removed after the May 2022 derecho (the downed trees had destroyed the clearing in which it hung), and I was still searching for the American Three-toed Woodpecker that had been discovered there on December 12, 2022.

Fall Highlights 2022

Cackling Goose

By the beginning of fall (September 22, 2022) I was feeling enough like myself to get out regularly and chase birds close to home. I was up to 158 species for my Ottawa year list, which wasn’t too shabby considering I’d spent most of the first four months at home recuperating from surgery and finishing my active cancer treatment, but I still needed a lot of species to reach my goal of about 200. I’d added Great Black-backed Gull and Redhead with a visit to the Moodie Drive quarry pond on September 20th, and two days later I saw the American Coot and Snow Goose that had been reported there. The day after that I visited the park off of Steeple Hill Park in Fallowfield and added two much-needed songbirds: Blue-headed Vireo and Orange-crowned Warbler. Highlights from that day included a Ruffed Grouse drumming in the woods somewhere and a Merlin flying over – briefly dashing after a goldfinch before flying on. Other warblers included Nashville, Magnolia, and Palm Warblers.

Christmas Bird Counts

The Christmas Bird Count season arrived on December 14, 2022 and I was excited to do the Richmond-Munster count again after missing it last year. The Christmas Bird Count period falls in the days between December 14 and January 5th; each region picks a date within that period and conducts a formal census of all the individual birds seen within a 24-hour period. A Christmas Bird Count region is defined as a 24 kilometre (15 mile) circle that does not overlap with another region, usually centered on a town or important landmark. As such, they are referred to as “count circles”. The Ottawa count circle, for example, is centered on Parliament Hill, neighbouring the Dunrobin count circle to the west and the Richmond-Munster count circle to the south. Each count region is then broken down into count sectors with a leader for each, and this leader is responsible for providing their count totals to the count compiler.

Count volunteers are given specific routes in a sector, counting every bird they see or hear throughout the day. Both species and individuals are counted in order to determine the total number of birds in the circle that day. If you live within the boundaries of a count circle, you can participate by reporting the birds that visit your yard or feeder on count day, providing that you have contacted the region’s count compiler of your intention to participate ahead of time. You can find a map of Canadian CBC circles and the compiler contact info on the map on the Birds Canada website.

Sarsaparilla Trail on Count Day

Porcupine Lunch Break

Porcupine

Most North American mammals are elusive and difficult to find or photograph, even when you are in the right habitat at the right time of day. Coyotes want nothing to do with humans and just run off when they see one; deer have become much less common than they used to be (as have groundhogs and muskrats, for some reason); I’m apparently only allowed to see one beaver each year; I’m convinced that moose actually don’t exist in Ontario; and the only raccoons and skunks I’ve seen in the daylight were “sleeping” next to the road with large tire tracks across their bodies (but I don’t like to think about that). Even when I manage to find a mammal worth photographing they don’t stay in sight for long, and don’t allow you to spend much time in their presence as they go about their lives. I have had some luck with various members of the weasel family in the past year or so; they tend to be curious and not too disturbed by my presence, as long as I stand still and keep my distance.

Northern Map Turtle Observations in 2022

Northern Map Turtle

It’s been a good year for seeing Northern Map Turtles. They live in large, slow-moving rivers and lakes with a soft, mucky bottom and plenty of logs or rocks for basking, and while they are abundant in places like Petrie Island (before the floods, anyway) and the causeway at the Morris Island Conservation Area, I have rarely ever seen any close to home. This year, however, I found these turtles in three different places in Ottawa’s west end, fairly close to shore where they often find places to bask in the sun.

The Northern Map Turtle is considered to be a species at risk, as it is listed as Special Concern under both the Ontario Endangered Species Act, 2007 and the Federal Species at Risk Act, as well as being designated as a Specially Protected Reptile under the Ontario Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. However, given the current political climate of favouring development over the protection of at-risk wildlife and the ecosystems in which they live, it is uncertain how long these laws and protections will remain in existence. Threats to the Northern Map Turtle include water pollution (due to its effect on molluscs, a primary food source), habitat loss and degradation, shoreline development, road mortality, fish hooks, and boat propellers. I’m not sure as to why I’m now seeing them along the shore of the Ottawa River within the city, or if that’s a good thing or bad thing – are they moving closer to shore because they have lost habitat elsewhere? Or are numbers doing so well that turtles are seeking new places to live? Fortunately, these turtles do not seem to hold much interest for poachers, as they are rarely used for food or the illegal pet trade.

Surprises at Shirley’s Bay

Juvenile Bonaparte’s Gull

The second day of September was supposed to be a nice day so a friend and I made plans to go to Shirley’s Bay for a walk together. She had never been there before, and even for non-birders it’s a great place to view the Ottawa River and walk along the shore. I arrived before she did and started checking out the vegetation around the parking lot; sometimes some interesting birds can turn up in the edge habitat adjacent to the greenbelt trails, and I was not disappointed to see a pair of Indigo Buntings high up in a bare tree. I heard them before I saw them, and if it weren’t for those distinct chip notes sounding like a sharper, thinner version of the call of a Common Yellowthroat, I might not have recognized the pair of brown songbirds in the tree. I only managed to get two quick photos of their backs before they flew off, but those pictures further confirmed my identification, as one of the birds showed blue feathers in the rump area. Only the breeding male is entirely blue; females and immatures are brown, though the young males may sometimes show some blue feathers coming in among the brown.

Damselflies in New Places

Violet Dancer

Damselflies are small odonates related to dragonflies, but belong to Order Zygoptera instead of Order Anisoptera. Unlike dragonflies, damselflies have very slender abdomens, and the forewing and hindwing are similar size and shape. Two of the three families found in eastern North America – the broad-winged damsels and pond damsels – hold their wings above the body, parallel to the abdomen, while perching. The third family – the spreadwings – do not perch horizontally with their wings parallel to the body, but typically “hang” from a perch, with the wings slightly spread at an angle. Adult damselflies are not strong fliers, and generally do not travel far from water. They are most often found in vegetation or on the ground near ponds, streams, and other bodies of water. Because of their small size they can be difficult to see, but the dark wings of the jewelwings and brightly coloured abdomens of some of the pond damsels help aid in observation.

Terry Carisse Park in the Summer

Delaware Skipper

Most naturalists who have heard of Terry Carisse Park along the Jock River associate it with birds – particularly the Hooded Warbler that spent a few days there in May 2014. As a rare bird for Ottawa, this discovery put this small riparian park on the map for many Ottawa birders. Other people may associate it with the Osprey nest there, although the Osprey haven’t nested there for a few years now. I myself have returned regularly to this park in the spring and fall to look for the Rusty Blackbirds that often stop over here during migration – in May 2021 I found at least 50 of these declining birds feeding on the lawn and perched in the trees that line the river bank. Because of the thick shoreline vegetation, the wooded swamp to the north, and the open grassy areas dotted with conifers it is a good place to look for birds during migration. I had never been here during the summer breeding season, and it occurred to me this summer that it might be a good spot to look for odonates. I started my summer ode survey on July 2, 2022, continuing through early August, and found more species than I expected – including some species I’ve only seen at Petrie Island or Morris Island Conservation Area!