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| Panorama picture at Ottawa beach |
In the 1980s and early 1990s I was an avid birder and I am looking to return to birdwatching more regularly. This was such a wonderful way to return!
Sunday, October 4th, 2015 was a beautiful day for birdwatching. We looked for fall migrants: geese, ducks and gulls at many stops along the Ottawa river and we saw so much more!
Our Leader Roy John
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| Ottawa Naturalist: Roy John My art journal sketch |
I learned later that our leader Roy John has been a naturalist for 60 years. Roy has traveled widely looking for wildlife. He has served on a number of wildlife organizations across Canada. He has participated in numerous surveys and environmental programs. Currently, he is the Book Review Editor for the OFNC journal, the Canadian Field Naturalist and Editor of the Ontario Field Ornithologists News.
Every child should be given a copy of the Amateur Naturalist.
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| "Amateur Naturalist" by Gerald Durrell |
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| My Petersen Bird Guide and some Ottawa Birder's checklists |
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| The two-page spread in my art journal |
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The first page of a two-page art journal spread
on OFNC birdwatching outing Oct 4, 2015
My art journal sketch
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The second page of a two-page art journal spread
on OFNC birdwatching outing Oct 4, 2015
My art journal sketch
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The birds that we saw on October 4, 2015 included:
- Canada geese
- snow goose
- mallards
- wood ducks
- green teal winged ducks
- ring-necked duck
- ruddy duck (male)
- ring billed gulls
- wigeon
- great black-backed gulls
- pie-billed grebe
- red necked grebe
- common loon
- common mergansers
- hooded mergansers
- cormorants
- great blue heron
- sandpipers
- semipalmated plover
- merlin
- northen parula warbler (*a first for me)
- yellow-rumped warbler
- blackburnian warbler
- common yellowthroat warbler
- white-throated sparrow
- white-crowned sparrow
- cedar waxwing
- kingfisher (calling - not seen)
- rusty blackbird (*a first for me and one of N. America’s most rapidly declining species, sadly)
- northern harrier
- red-tailed hawk
Roy played a recorded bird call to flush out the extremely secretive Nelson sparrow that has been spotted on Ottawa beach previously (to no avail sadly)
Plants Notes:
Roy pointed out the "evil" Buckthorn which is an invasive plant that has overtaken the native Honeysuckle around Mud lake. Equally invasive, we saw plenty of Japanese "bamboo" (knotwood).
And we saw lots of beautiful, bright red, staghorn sumac...and some folks even tasted it!
It was a wonderful day! The Ottawa Field Naturalist's club welcomes members and non-members of all ages and skills to join them on their free outings (and their monthly meetings). Why not have a look and see if one of their events interests you? http://www.ofnc.ca/events.php#.VhKbf_lViko
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| Clockwise from top left: Buckhorn, "bamboo", birders and sumac |
Roy pointed out the "evil" Buckthorn which is an invasive plant that has overtaken the native Honeysuckle around Mud lake. Equally invasive, we saw plenty of Japanese "bamboo" (knotwood).
And we saw lots of beautiful, bright red, staghorn sumac...and some folks even tasted it!
It was a wonderful day! The Ottawa Field Naturalist's club welcomes members and non-members of all ages and skills to join them on their free outings (and their monthly meetings). Why not have a look and see if one of their events interests you? http://www.ofnc.ca/events.php#.VhKbf_lViko
Links
- The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club http://www.ofnc.ca/index.html#.VhJcBPlViko
- OFNC member Larry Neily's website: NeilyWorld: http://www.neilyworld.com/
- The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club ;list of links: http://www.ofnc.ca/links.php#birding
- Blog: Ottawa Area Birding: http://bill-ottawaareabirding.blogspot.ca/
- Ontario Field Ornithologists: http://www.ofo.ca/index.php
- The Canadian Field-Naturalist http://canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/index
- Ontario Trees and Shrubs: http://www.ontariotrees.com/
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| A beautiful 1980 painting Gerald Durrell (1925–1995) by artist Ken Howard. |
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| The Amateur Naturalist TV series was shot July 25, 1982 - June 1983 creating 13 half hour programs |
I have seen Ring Billed Gulls and they like to hang around the fast food restruants like McDonalds,Burger King and KFC as well as a park in Yreka California buts mostly the adult birds i have seen no immatute ones
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving a comment on my blog - lots of ring-billed gulls here in Ontario ! My fascination of them was enhanced by reading the book " Jonathan Livingston Seagull" when I was younger - never forgot that book!
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