 |
| Panorama picture at Ottawa beach |
I had the pleasure of attending an
Ottawa Field Naturalist's Club (OFNC) free birding event last weekend.
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
 |
Ottawa Naturalist: Roy John
My art journal sketch |
Our leader was Roy John who I met for the very first time. Roy reminded me of
Gerald Durrell who wrote one of my favourite nature books called "The Amateur Naturalist" (published 1989) and also had a famous CBC television series (1983) of the same name that I taped religiously (and probably still have in a box somewhere?) (
More on Gerald Durrell on Wiki)
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.
 |
| My Petersen Bird Guide and some Ottawa Birder's checklists |
Here are my sketches from the day (created from photos) in my art journal:
 |
| The two-page spread in my art journal |
 |
The first page of a two-page art journal spread
on OFNC birdwatching outing Oct 4, 2015
My art journal sketch
|
 |
The second page of a two-page art journal spread
on OFNC birdwatching outing Oct 4, 2015
My art journal sketch
|
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)
Links
