Recent bird sightings

Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Vars, Erin Durant. Obviously a woodpecker tail, but otherwise a first encounter with a brown woodpecker is always confusing.

Common Nighthawk, Queensway Terrace South, Alan Short. Not a hawk, no longer common. Otherwise, great name ornithology!

Lincoln Sparrow, Gatineau, Margaret Kenny. Short, fine and regular streaks and the nice beige wash on the flanks – a song sparrow in formal wear. Until the third week of September when they migrate through, a photo really helps with confirmation anywhere away from Mer Bleue.

Sparrow, Gatineau, Margaret Kenny.

Olive-sided Flycatcher, Terry Carisse Park, Nina Stavlund. Birds Canada’s 2024 Avian Ambassador.

Philadelphia Vireo, Ottawa, Sanam Goudarzi. Many of our fall vireos have a noticeable yellow wash, but this Philly is saturated with yellow.

Empidonax flycatcher, Ottawa, Sanam Goudarzi. Vacation Derek isn’t even going to try with this one.

Red-eyed Vireo, Ottawa, Sanam Goudarzi. Our most noticeable and large vireo. The red eye is not always easy to see, but that black edge to the crown is an easier mark.

Black-throated Green Warbler, Mud Lake, Scott Haldane.

Molting Eastern Bluebird, Vars, Erin Durant.

Redhead, Findlay Creek, Ielca Torok.

Tennessee Warblers, Mud Lake. Gillan Wright. Yellow morph on top, gray morph on bottom.

Juvenile Caspian Tern, Deschênes Rapids, Alan Short. Harassing some Ring-billed Gulls, this large tern does not respect the gull-tern hierarchy.

Black-throated Green Warbler, Rockcliffe Airport Woods, Gillian Wright.

Caspian Tern, Deschenes Rapids, Alan Short.

Spotted Sandpiper, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi. Zoom in and see how worn the feathers appear.

Wilson Warbler, Rockcliffe Airport Woods, Gillian Wright.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Mud Lake, Alan Short.

Chestnut-sided warbler, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi. This bird sports clean and fresh adult non-breeding plumage, but the yellow gape at the base of the bill gives away that it was born this summer.

Downy Woodpecker, Rockcliffe Airport Woods, Gillian Wright. Most birds examining sumac this time of year are gleaning insects. By late winter though, many residents will switch to eating the sumac itself. And then propagating the seeds far from the parent tree.

Herring Gulls, Deschenes Rapids, Alan Short. Herring Gulls have brown feathers and black bill tips into their second winter. Full crisp adult plumage will wait for year 4.

Blackburnian Warbler, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi.

Great Blue Heron, Deschenes Rapids, Alan Short.

Cape May Warbler, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi.

Osprey, Deschenes Rapids, Alan Short.

Northern Parula, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi.

Red-eyed Vireo, Alta Vista, Christopher Clunas. The brilliant red eye needs just the right conditions to be visible in the field. But the dark border on the gray crown makes for an easy ID even without the red.

Common Loon, Tay River, Janet McCullough. Instead of the tiny black chick of a month ago, the juvenile is approaching adult size and has overgrown the juvenile plumage.

Eastern Kingbird, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi. Young bird eating a berry, probably Buckthorn.

Cape May Warbler, Mud Lake, Alan Short.

Bonaparte’s Gull, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi.

Bay-breasted Warbler, Mud Lake, Alan Short. In the fall they can look like Pine Warblers, so it’s not surprising that they are part of the same genus.

Least Flycatcher, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi.

Blackburnian Warbler, Mud Lake, Alan Short.

Orange-crowned Warbler, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi. One of migration’s later and more sought after warblers, no one will believe a record before mid-September without a photo.

Warbling Vireo, Mud Lake, Sanam Goudarzi. Many vireos show a yellow wash in the fall, the amount varying between species and even individuals of the same species. Warbling tend to have more yellow on the sides. Phillies will show the most yellow in the throat, although some very bright birds just drip with yellow everywhere.

Great Blue Heron, Andrew Haydon, Alan Short. Immature.

Scarlet Tanager, Alta Vista, Christopher Clunas. First year bird – mind the gape. Another bird spreading Buckthorn.

Common Gallinule, Tay River, Janet McCullough. Like the loon chicks, the gallinule young have outgrown their initial black plumage and molted into a dull gray. In both cases their new low contrast appearances should help survival.

Pied-billed Grebe, Tay River, Janet McCullough. Another immature.

Mourning Warbler, Gatineau Park, Margaret Kenny. The black flecks in what will eventually be the classic necklace reveal this young bird as a first fall male.

Broadwing Hawk, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. The dark eyes of this juvenile will become brighter and lighter as it matures. #YouCanAtlasThat

Solitary Sandpiper, South Nation River, Scott Haldane.

Lesser Yellowlegs, South Nation River, Scott Haldane.

American Redstart, Rockcliffe Airport Woods, Gregory Zbitnew. Greg shares: Although migration is well underway, at the Rockcliffe airport woods this young bird, still with some downy feathers, was sitting almost motionless on a fairly exposed branch making the occasional high-pitched call. The mother was coming by regularly with some delicious looking insects. This species is a common nester in this spot, as it is in so many places. #YouCanAtlasThat

Green Heron, Tay River, Perth, Janet McCullough.

Northern Waterthrush, Britannia Ridge, Sanam Goudarzi. The river shoreline at Britannia is a great spot to catch southbound waterthrush.

Caspian Tern, Deschênes Rapids, Alan Short. Most terns are small, delicate flyers that glean small fish or invertebrates from the water. The Caspian never got the memo.

Double-crested Cormorants, Deschênes Rapids, Alan Short. It’s always worth scanning through the rapids. How many species can you pick out?

Ring-billed Gulls, Deschênes Rapids, Alan Short.

Bonaparte Gull, Britannia, Alan Short.

American Goldfinch, Britannia Ridge, Alan Short. Not just a great photo op, Viper’s Bugloss is used by many pollinators as well.

Mourning Warbler, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Pretty sure we’ve never had two people submit Mourning Warbler photos in the same week. They are generally too skulky. Unlike the Gatineau bird, this young Ontario bird can be atlassed.

Adult Black-billed Cuckoo, Kilmaurs Side Road, Tony Beck. Returning South, a wave of Black-billed Cuckoos arrived recently and are easier heard than seen. Unlike Brown-headed Cowbirds which are obligate brood parasites, North American cuckoos raise most of their young themselves in ordinary bird nests like ordinary song birds.

Bay-breasted Warbler, Mud Lake, Catherine Lawrence. Non-breeding Bay-breasted and non-breeding Blackpoll warblers look so alike that there is a special category for them in eBird. They can be told apart, especially with good photos, and right now is a great time to study Bay-breasted, as they migrate earlier than Blackpolls.

Female Black-and-white Warbler, Penyck Lake, Janet McCullough. This is a female as revealed by the white throat and pale auriculars (feather track covering the ears).

Grasshopper Sparrow, Burnt Lands, Sanam Goudarzi. This beautiful species will eventually reveal itself as the males love to sing their mysterious song while perched visibly in overgrown fields full of low bunches. Brunt Lands is a great spot for them in July and careful patience will result in tripping the eBird numbers filter.

American Redstart, Britannia Ridge, Sanam Goudarzi.

Cedar Waxwing, Britannia Ridge, Sanam Goudarzi.

Bald Eagle, Mud lake, Alan Short.

Osprey, Mud lake, Alan Short.

House Finch, Mud lake, Alan Short.

House Sparrows, Queensway Terrace South, ALan Short. Parent feeding three young birds. Many species are still displaying breeding behaviour that is atlasible. And there is a whole year left for the atlas project. It is not too late to join. At least one OFNC member did join this week, adding their valuable contributions.

Spotted Sandpiper, Mud lake, Alan Short. Plumage-wise, this gorgeous bird does not look like those breeding birds that showed up in Spring and hung around all Summer. Non-breeding and immature birds have no spots. They do have that lovely white spur at the shoulder. When visible, it is a dead giveaway.

Song Sparrow, Mud Lake, Scott Haldane. Buffy color everywhere, no center spot, surely this must be something more exotic than a Song Sparrow? Song Sparrows show incredible variability in plumage and surprising differences in size.

Spotted Sandpiper, Nepean pond Park, Jim Robertson. Another way to identify a Spottie at a distance is the distinctive up and down tail bob. A few other shorebirds bob, especially with the front of their body, but the Spottie’s tail bob is very easy to id, and this individual is at the bottom of the bob. Compare to the mid-bob position of bird 11. The bob is so ingrained that it starts in the egg before hatching.

Blackburnian Warbler, Gatineau Park, Margaret Kenny. Adult female or young male. An adult male’s lower wingbar can grow into a bigger patch, or even merge into the top bar.

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Gatineau Park, Margaret Kenny. Adult male still in breeding plumage? Nope, first winter male still showing that juvenile gap.

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Gatineau Park, Margaret Kenny. First winter female plumage? Still showing a hint of juvenile gape.

Hooded Mergansers, Britannia, Jim Robertson. Jim photographed this family in the Ottawa River at the water filtration plant.

Red-tailed Hawk, Claybank, Janet McCullough. The non-red tail reveals this as a juvenile.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Fletcher, Sai Wai Ip. If you ever find a band, or can even reconstruct the whole number from one or more photos, you can submit the number to www.reportband.gov and they will tell you where and when the bird was banded.

Eastern Meadowlark, High Road, Scott Haldane.

Alder/Willow Flycatcher, Earl Armstrong Road, Scott Haldane. This species pair is so hard to visually tell apart in the field that there is a special entry in eBird: “Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill’s Flycatcher).” On the other hand, when the adults are calling they are easy to differentiate.

Sedge Wren, Stitsville, Tony Beck. A very atalasible juvenile. The bars on the wings and tail are much darker in the juveniles than on the more muted adults.

Black-crowned Night-Heron, Mud Lake, Ielca Torok. It is not too late to join the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. And these juveniles are very atalsible.

Great Blue Heron, Stitsville, Gillian Wright.

Common Gallinule, Stonecrest, Gillian Wright. This is probably a second brood as the first chicks were swimming a month ago. Within hours of hatching gallinules are swimming and within a month they may be assisting their parents feed another brood. You can just see the wing spur on the chicks that helps them climb over vegetation.

Green heron, Clyde River, Janet McCullough.

Red-headed Woodpecker, Constance Bay, Janet McCullough. Where’s the red? It is a juvenile!

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Fletcher, Gillian Wright. Their tiny nests are camouflaged with lichen and held together with spiderwebs, allowing the nest to stretch as the nestlings grow.

Black-billed Cuckoo, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright.

Common Yellowthroat fledgling, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Fledglings can be very hard to identify. Watch for the parent feeding it.

Common Yellowthroat adult male, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Carrying food.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Rockcliffe Airport, Gregory Zbitnew. These swallows use burrows created by other birds or mammals such as ground squirrels or humans (for example pipes) in vertical surfaces. Greg shares that they nest under the nearby waterfall. Note the yellow gap of a young bird.

Eastern Phoebe, High Lonesome, Janet McCullough. Note the frayed brown juvenile tail feathers and general unkempt look. This bird was accompanying two well-dressed adults.

American Robin fledgling, Nepean, Derek Dunnett. The spotted breast of a young bird is reminiscent of its thrush relatives. A water feature in a yard will draw in birds that will not come to a feeder

Chipping Sparrow fledgling, Nepean, Derek Dunnett. The plumage seems so unlike the clean look of the parents, and in fact with the looseness of the feathers, they often seem larger than the adults. They have such a distinctive begging song that one can identify the approaching fledglings long before seeing them.

Common Gallinule, Petrie Island, Jim Robertson. Surprisingly common, yet normally challenging to see. The wing spur is more evident on this freshly hatched chick. Jim posted a video of the adult interacting with two chicks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFgPC_vi6bc.

Yellow Warbler fledgling, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Gillian reports that Pine Grove has lots of fledgling warblers now. A fledgling confirms breeding. #YouCanAtlasThat

Common Loon, Eastern Ontario, Aaron Hywarren.

Blackburnian Warbler, Eastern Ontario, Aaron Hywarren. Carrying food–as opposed to just eating it immediately–confirms breeding in eBird or the Atlas. #YouCanAtlasThat

Pied-billed Grebe, Eastern Ontario, Ielca Torok. Grebe chicks are well protected from most land-based predators, but the bright colours and stripes still serve as camouflage in their world of reeds and shadows. #YouCanAtlasThat. *Admin note: This photo is posted as an exception from the posting rules (Rule #7) for educational purposes.

Mourning Warbler fledgling, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Gillian reports that Pine Grove has many fledgling warblers this week. #YouCanAtlasThat

Hooded Merganser juvenile, Mud Lake, Jim Robertson. Note how the bill hasn’t grown into its final shape yet. Also, out of water like this, the countershading (dark on top/white underneath) pattern is visible. That pattern shows up again and again across waterbirds, sea mammals and fish. #YouCanAtlasThat

Great Egret (and Pied-billed Grebe), Eastern Ontario, Ielca Torok. What’s with the Grebe’s posture? Grebe legs are very far back on their body – they cannot do the Mallard horizontal saunter, and never look graceful on land. But that leg placement allows them to swim powerfully underwater and some species can even run on water during their amazing mating dances.

Yellow-throated Vireo, Murphy’s Point, Nui Esser. Yellow-throated Vireos usually build their nests in mature trees near or over water, so Murphy’s Point has a good population.

Spotted Sandpiper, Giroux Road Pond, Scott Haldane. A few shorebirds breed in the OFNC Circle – American Woodcock, Upland Sandpiper, Killdeer, but the Spotted Sandpiper is the only one of them to actually use shorelines, although they don’t need much of a shore, capable of breeding on muddy ponds and fairly small creeks.

Swamp Sparrow, Old Almonte Road, Arlene Harrold. carrying food. You know the drill – #YouCanAtlasThat.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pine Grove, Christopher Clunas. It is easy to anthropomorphize this somber looking bird. Regretting some life choices perhaps?

Savannah Sparrow, Frank Kenny Rd, Scott Haldane. Scott’s image shows an alert Savannah Sparrow: as is, it can be added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas as a possible breeding bird in suitable habitat with the press of a button using the Nature Counts app.

Killdeer, Milton Rd, Scott Haldane. This watchful adult Killdeer in the uncultivated part of the field is an appropriate breeding location and could be added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas as a possible breeding bird. Spending a bit more time at the location might reveal young birds.

Least Flycatcher, Stonecrest, Gillian Wright. Not all contributions to the Atlas require confirmed breeding evidence. This singing Least Flycatcher can be added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas as a possible breeding bird. But if Gillian returns to the same site and the same bird is still singing a week later, the breeding evidence is enhanced to a probable breeding bird holding territory.

American Bittern, Stonecrest, Gillian Wright. The Ottawa Region of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas covers 86 10×10 km squares in seven counties, including much of Ottawa. American Bitterns have been detected in 49 of 86 squares. Regardless of where located, the Atlas would welcome more reports of this sometimes difficult to find bird.

Veery, Pine Grove, Scott Haldane. The unmistakable and some say haunting song of the Veery can be heard in most sizable woodlots in our region: even singing birds can be added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas as a possible breeding bird.

Northern Waterthrush fledgling, Pine Grove, Scott Haldane. A fledged young bird is confirmed breeding evidence at that location, and would be most welcome in the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.

Northern Waterthrush fledgling and adult, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Gillian’s observation: The Northern Waterthrush fledgling seemed to still be expecting the adult to shove the food down its throat. The adult patiently kept picking it up and giving it to the chick, while the chick kept dropping it rather than eating it.

Female Canada with fledgling Canada Warbler, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Gillian’s sighting is important as the Canada Warbler is Regionally Rare. By adding her observation of confirmed breeding to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas at that location, Gillian would be providing important data that will help inform conservation efforts.

Magnolia Warbler, Pine Grove, Gillian Wright. Gillian’s image of an alert Magnolia Warbler in suitable habitat can be easily added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas as a possible breeding bird with the Nature Counts app.

Common Yellowthroat, Pine Grove, Scott Haldane. This singing Common Yellowthroat can be added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas as a possible breeding bird. But if Scott returns to the same site and the same bird is still singing a week later, the breeding evidence is enhanced to a probable breeding bird holding territory

Common Yellowthroat, Beckwith, Sheila Craig. Sheila’s image of an adult carrying food confirms breeding of this Common Yellowthroat: a species that has been found in all 86 squares that make up the Ottawa Region of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. Though common, adding this observation to the Atlas is valuable as it helps to paint a picture of species distribution.

Janet McCullough Eastern Kingbird at Burnt Lands. Janet’s image of an adult Eastern Kingbird carrying food is confirmed breeding evidence at that location and would be most welcome in the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.

Janet McCullough Savannah Sparrows at Burnt Lands Janet’s image of an adult Savannah Sparrow carrying food confirms breeding and can be added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas at the press of a button using the Nature Counts app.