Birdathon #2 My home terrain

At last count, we have raised $3045 for the Corvid-23 team of the Great Canadian Birdathon. That is wonderful!  We are closing in on our target of $4,000.  If you have not sponsored my Corvid-23 team, I hope that you will now through this link.  Donate over $15 and you will get a tax receipt from Birds Canada. More importantly, you will be making a significant contribution to support the migration monitoring operations of the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory. Please read the two previous blog posts for more information about BPBO, and please be generous with your support.

I want to tell you now about my second birdathon day this spring.  On May 23, one day after returning home to Gatineau from Cabot Head, I took the day off work for another birdathon. I wanted to see how many species of birds I could find within about three kilometres of our house, as I had done the past few years.  The 78 species that I had observed during last year’s birdathon was a memorable moment for me. At the time, only my left eye had good vision (vision in my right eye was obscured due to a tear in the retina), and the famous “Derecho” storm that wreaked havoc in Gatineau and a wider swath of land in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, interrupted birdathon for about two hours in the afternoon. The previous year, I had counted 84 species in the same area.

I was up at 4:15 am, and shortly after, riding along the bike trail through the Corridor Champlain, a beautiful forest that borders my neighbourhood. The sky was already bright at 4:30 am but the trail through the forest was quite dark. The load chorus of songbirds suggested to me that I was likely too late for owls and woodcocks. Forever hopeful, I rushed to get to a scrubby wooded area to the south of the forest, about 2 km away that had potential for woodcock. As I raced down a small steep valley, crossing a small creek on a wooden bridge at the bottom, my bike was jarred by the bump onto and off the bridge. I heard a gentle thud that barely caught my attention.  Instinctively, I stopped before cresting the hill. Jogging back down, I found my phone, face up along the rough pavement just after the bridge. I picked it up and the screen lit up – everything worked still. Relief and a reminder to me to relax. After all, this was supposed to be fun. Accidents happen when we rush. I know that all too well.

By the time I returned home at 6:15, I had 34 species on my list. Although there were many birds around, I could tell that I had missed the big migration days, as many of the migrants were gone. When my friends Stephen and Cheryl arrived with their bicycles at 7:00, I had added a few more species in our yard. I invited them to join me because they had the winning bid to spend a spring morning birding with me. This was from a Nature Canada fundraising auction a few months earlier. What could be better than taking a day off work in mid-May to go birding with friends?  I even spiced up the occasion with a few delicious croissants and pastries from the wonderful nearby boulangerie.

I had planned a bike route that would take us through the neighbourhood forest into Gatineau Park for deeper forest birds. We would then head to the Ottawa River before returning home.

We executed the plan as intended, and we were rewarded by several good bird observations.

Highlight birds for us were several warbler species including Black and White, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Tennessee, Pine, Yellow, Common Yellowthroat and American Redstart. A Wood Thrush serenaded us with its beautiful, melodic song near the Sentier des Pionniers, just returning from its wintering grounds in Central America. Shortly after a gorgeous pair of Scarlet Tanagers came so close we could inspect each other as we rested in the shade of the deep forest along the bike paths in the south part of the Gatineau Park.  A Broad-winged Hawk announced its presence high above with its two-part whistle.  We then headed through the south extension of the Park to intersect with the Ottawa River. There, we perched ourselves on a cliff, high above the River behind the Université du Québec en Outaouais main campus. From our excellent viewpoint, we were able to observe a large colony of Ring-billed Gulls and Double Crested Cormorants.  One pair of Herring Gulls ruled over the other species from the very top of the island.  We also spotted Baltimore Orioles and Eastern Kingbirds.  When we returned home around lunch, we had ridden 13.33 kilometres, and tallied 48 species.

At that point, my day total was just over 60 species.  Cheryl and Stephen left, and I took a break as the warm and sunny weather seemed to have suppressed bird activity. After birding from the yard for a couple of hours, I reviewed my list and came up with a plan for the final three or four hours.  After a nap and a quick supper, I headed back out around 6 pm, again through Corridor Champlain to another area along the Ottawa River. I was fortunate to pick up a few new species including Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cliff Swallow and Killdeer. The water level in the Ottawa River was very high, meaning no exposed areas for shorebirds.  In addition, there were virtually no ducks anywhere along the river, except for the usual suspects: Wood Duck, Mallard and Hooded Merganser. The final species of the day was a Swamp Sparrow, which I worked hard to find in suitable habitat just as it was getting dark. It was time to stop. I fell short of the numbers from the last few years, but felt the satisfaction that comes from knowing that I had made a good effort.

Numbers for the day:

Time birding:  13H40

Distance travelled by bike: 29 km

Species: 73

Thank you so much for your support. It is deeply appreciated.