Ducks and gulls along the river

by Roy John

Report of an Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club excursion on Sunday, 22 May 2016.

A dozen people went to Mud Lake to take advantage of the recent change from cold windy weather to lovely warm sunshine. This had brought in numerous, much delayed, migrants over the last few days.

As soon as we arrived at Mud Lake we were told that a rare Yellow-throated Vireo had been found in the woods. We plunged in and soon could hear it singing. It took a bit more effort to actually see it jumping around the tree tops, but we all eventually did. A little further in, the resident Screech Owl sat rigidly still for all to see. Dave Moore did his turkey call and pulled a Wild Turkey out of the woods.

We continued around Mud Lake, finding many new species. At the east fence we saw a Raccoon’s nose poking out the hole of a garbage skip, obviously trapped (the city were informed). So we had a beautiful morning with many good birds.

A number of species were strangely missing. Although we heard a Great Crested Flycatcher many times, we never could see it. We saw only a few Tree Swallows (a pair at a nest), but no others – very odd for Mud Lake. There were no Green Herons and only one Great Blue – yet Great Egrets were easy to find.

All in all, a warm, sunny day with 43 bird species seen (plus 4 heard).

DUCKS, GEESE, AND WATERFOWL
Canada Goose
Wood Duck (photo above)
Mallard

PHEASANTS, GROUSE, TURKEYS, ALLIES
Wild Turkey

CORMORANTS AND SHAGS
Double-crested Cormorant

HERONS, EGRETS, AND BITTERNS
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron

GULLS, TERNS, AND SKIMMERS
Ring-billed Gull

OWLS
Eastern Screech-Owl (photo at right)

KINGFISHERS
Belted Kingfisher

WOODPECKERS
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker

TYRANT FLYCATCHERS
Eastern Phoebe (heard only)
Great Crested Flycatcher (heard only)

VIREOS
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo

CROWS, JAYS, AND MAGPIES
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven

SWALLOWS
Tree Swallow

CHICKADEES AND TITS
Black-capped Chickadee

NUTHATCHES
White-breasted Nuthatch

THRUSHES AND ALLIES
American Robin

MOCKINGBIRDS AND THRASHERS
Gray Catbird (photo at right)

STARLINGS
European Starling

WAXWINGS
Cedar Waxwing (photo below right)

NEW WORLD WARBLERS (11 species + 2 not seen or confirmed)
Tennessee Warbler
Common Yellowthroat (heard only)
American Redstart
Northern Parula
(Magnolia Warbler – not confirmed)
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler

BUNTINGS AND NEW WORLD SPARROWS
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow

CARDINALS AND ALLIES
Northern Cardinal

TROUPIALS AND ALLIES
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

SISKINS, CROSSBILLS, AND ALLIES
Pine Siskin (very late)
American Goldfinch

Non-bird species
Racoon
Midland Painted Turtle
Water Snake
Spiny Baskettail (photo below)