Spring is breaking out all over
April 10th, 2011
All of a sudden spring is here. Out in a sweatshirt, no jacket, with sleeves rolled up half the time. Buds on the trees and bushes. Mud Lake is now largely ice-free and new migrants are coming in one after the other! Killdeers and a Barn Swallow in the east end yesterday; Belted Kingfisher over the Rideau in the morning, all new. Today, my first Flicker of spring, and Tree Swallows swooping over Mud Lake and the Ottawa River, hawking the insects that are now emerging everywhere. Apparently someone saw ten (!) Black-Crowned Night Herons in a tree across the river, in the area where that species typically nests, but my binoculars weren't strong enough to pick them out.
I don't think of Mud Lake as a duck magnet in spring--migrant ducks usually prefer the nearby Ottawa River, which thaws earlier--but today the lake was the duckiest I've ever seen it in April, with small groups of Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers and Ring-Necked Ducks joining the resident waterfowl.
A Cooper's Hawk was making mating calls in the pine woods, suggesting that a pair of them will once again breed there this summer. I find it interesting that they and the raven pair nest so close to each other. Surely neither one is particularly comfortable with the other: a Cooper's Hawk would happily eat a raven nestling and a raven would just as happily eat a baby Cooper's Hawk!
Another week or so and the first Yellow-Rumped Warblers will start trickling in. Then, in May, their many cousins. I've made it my mission to get more warbler photos this spring.
Spring Migration 2011:
Ring-Billed Gull: March 12, Billings Bridge parking lot
Canada Goose: March 15, Britannia Conservation Area
Hooded Merganser: March 15, Britannia Conservation Area (river)
Red-Winged Blackbird (male): March 15, Britannia Conservation Area (ridge)
Wood Duck: March 15, Britannia Conservation Area (in flight)
Common Grackle: March 17, Rideau Tennis Club
Song Sparrow: March 17, Hurdman feeders
Bufflehead: March 26, Britannia Point
Turkey Vulture: April 1, field near Eagleson Park&Ride
Northern Harrier: April 1, Constance Creek
Ring-Necked Duck: April 1, Constance Creek
American Wigeon: April 1, Constance Creek
Great Blue Heron: April 5, Bank & Heron (in flight)
Eastern Meadowlark: April 6, rural Gatineau
American Kestrel: April 6, rural Gatineau
Belted Kingfisher: April 9, Rideau River near Hurdman
Eastern Phoebe (heard): April 9, driving on Ridge Rd. near Mer Bleue
Golden-Crowned Kinglet: April 9, trail 53 at Mer Bleue
Barn Swallow: April 9, Ridge Rd. (near barn)
Killdeer: April 9, farmer's fields off Milton Rd.
Northern Flicker: April 10, Britannia Conservation Area (ridge)
Tree Swallow: April 10, Britannia Point
Total: 22
April 10th, 2011
All of a sudden spring is here. Out in a sweatshirt, no jacket, with sleeves rolled up half the time. Buds on the trees and bushes. Mud Lake is now largely ice-free and new migrants are coming in one after the other! Killdeers and a Barn Swallow in the east end yesterday; Belted Kingfisher over the Rideau in the morning, all new. Today, my first Flicker of spring, and Tree Swallows swooping over Mud Lake and the Ottawa River, hawking the insects that are now emerging everywhere. Apparently someone saw ten (!) Black-Crowned Night Herons in a tree across the river, in the area where that species typically nests, but my binoculars weren't strong enough to pick them out.
I don't think of Mud Lake as a duck magnet in spring--migrant ducks usually prefer the nearby Ottawa River, which thaws earlier--but today the lake was the duckiest I've ever seen it in April, with small groups of Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers and Ring-Necked Ducks joining the resident waterfowl.
A Cooper's Hawk was making mating calls in the pine woods, suggesting that a pair of them will once again breed there this summer. I find it interesting that they and the raven pair nest so close to each other. Surely neither one is particularly comfortable with the other: a Cooper's Hawk would happily eat a raven nestling and a raven would just as happily eat a baby Cooper's Hawk!
Another week or so and the first Yellow-Rumped Warblers will start trickling in. Then, in May, their many cousins. I've made it my mission to get more warbler photos this spring.
Spring Migration 2011:
Ring-Billed Gull: March 12, Billings Bridge parking lot
Canada Goose: March 15, Britannia Conservation Area
Hooded Merganser: March 15, Britannia Conservation Area (river)
Red-Winged Blackbird (male): March 15, Britannia Conservation Area (ridge)
Wood Duck: March 15, Britannia Conservation Area (in flight)
Common Grackle: March 17, Rideau Tennis Club
Song Sparrow: March 17, Hurdman feeders
Bufflehead: March 26, Britannia Point
Turkey Vulture: April 1, field near Eagleson Park&Ride
Northern Harrier: April 1, Constance Creek
Ring-Necked Duck: April 1, Constance Creek
American Wigeon: April 1, Constance Creek
Great Blue Heron: April 5, Bank & Heron (in flight)
Eastern Meadowlark: April 6, rural Gatineau
American Kestrel: April 6, rural Gatineau
Belted Kingfisher: April 9, Rideau River near Hurdman
Eastern Phoebe (heard): April 9, driving on Ridge Rd. near Mer Bleue
Golden-Crowned Kinglet: April 9, trail 53 at Mer Bleue
Barn Swallow: April 9, Ridge Rd. (near barn)
Killdeer: April 9, farmer's fields off Milton Rd.
Northern Flicker: April 10, Britannia Conservation Area (ridge)
Tree Swallow: April 10, Britannia Point
Total: 22
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