vendredi 3 octobre 2014

OFO Ottawa Convention Field Trips (Sept 26 -27) in Far Eastern Ontario (FEO), N. Wheatear (22 Sept) in FEO 50 km circle et plus...


Hi faithful followers of this blog,

We and the following 3 other co-leaders, Rémy, Langis and Hervé, showed 30 or so out-of-town birders, once on Friday and again on Saturday, the following sites of FEO in chronological order : the Alfred lagoons, the Alfred Bog boardwalk, the St-Isidore lagoons, the Laflèche dump fields and finally the Casselman lagoons. In all we saw 76 species; our best day was Friday with 70 species.  

Our best birds were 2 CACKLING GEESE in Casselman; it was one of our 21 species of swimming birds.  We had 5 species of raptors of which BALD EAGLE (photo attached was taken while scouting on Friday) was our best. This 1.5 year old individual (+ or -) is called a Basic I (White Belly I) Bald Eagle; note the whitish belly that contrasts with the dark breast.  The saw-tooth trailing edge of the wing is due to a mixture of longer juvenile and shorter replacement secondary feathers.

Because shorebird habitat was lacking elsewhere in the Ottawa area we may have been the group with most shorebird species with a SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER and 2 GOLDEN PLOVERS being our best.  Eight (8) of our 10 species were found at the St-Isidore sewage lagoons where the shorebird habitat was excellent.  We did manage to find 4 of Ontario's 5 regularly-occurring plovers.  The only plover we did not get was Piping Plover.  LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was the best of 5 species of gulls.  LINCOLN and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were the best of our 6 sparrow species.  Another good species was a single RUSTY BLACKBIRD and 2 SANDHILL CRANES at Alfred.  Thanks to all of you who contacted the leaders before the trip with your good sightings.

Thanks to Drew, a Friday participant, for providing a few dozen photos of the field trip at OFO

 
Thanks to Bob Cermak and Rémy Poulin for putting the OFO conference and the OFO field trips together; and thanks to all co-leaders for helping out with these two field trips.

See Checklist section for Sept 26 and 27 in BirdTrax (on right) for complete results by location in FEO.

  



MORE after signatures....

Jacques and Christine

St-Isidore ON and Hawkesbury ON


Pygargue à tête blanche (1.5 ans + ou -)
à St-Isidore le 26 septembre 2014
Bald Eagle (1.5 or so years old)

SORRY...

I have not added much to the blog in the past 5 months.  Much of my time has been devoted to completing the online list of the birds of FEO. Click on link in ''Sites Intéressants'' section on right (title below)


I expect to add another 500 photos and to be finished (1st draft) just after Christmas. So far about 300 species have been found in the 50-km circle. See map of circle here:


I believe Bruce Di Labio and Bernie Ladouceur have seen most of the 300 species in this FEO 50-km Birding Circle. My list is not anywhere close to 300.

If you are familiar with the new SmugMug and have time, I need help transferring my old SmugMug to my new SmugMug. Hope to hear from you soon ;-)

I have also been de-cluttering my house ;-) If you have tips to help me de-clutter please send them to me ASAP.  I need all the help I can get. Thanks to Christine Trudeau-Brunet and to Lissa Deslandes for their expert advice to date.

MORE BLOG POSTS to come in 2015 ???

As of January 1, 2015 Christine and I will be birding more in the FEO birding circle and consequently I will be posting more of our results in this blog.  Until then, the only birding we will be doing will be during the upcoming Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) in the FEO birding circle:

December 14, 2014 Vankleek Hill ON
December 26, 2014 Alfred ON-Montebello QC
January 3, 2015, Casselman- Forêt Larose.

For more information (participants needed) on these three FEO CBCs contact the compiler Christine Trudeau-Brunet at 613-632-8356 or at  Christinetb5@aol.com

Bruce Di Labio at  dilabiobirding@gmail.com will again be compiling the:

December 27 (Sat), 2014 Massena NY-Cornwall ON CBC

Although Christine and I will spending most of 2015 birding in the FEO 50-km birding circle, we plan a week-long trip to Point Pelee in the spring and possibly a trip out east to photograph the missing seabirds for my online annotated list of FEO birds.

Finalement Christine et moi avons ajouté le TRAQUET MOTTEUX (voir photo) à notre liste du cercle de 50 km.  En plus c'était une prime coche pour Christine.

TRAQUET MOTTEUX mâle adulte en plumage d'hiver le 22 septembre sur le chemin Milton près de  Navan ON
Northern Wheatear (adult male in fall plumage) in Navan on 22 September 2014.

NOTE

Depuis 2006 à aujourd 'hui, mon blogue a été visité 69 470 fois.  Merci à tous et à toutes pour votre intérêt.  Jacques Bouvier le 3 octobre 2014.