Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club (OFNC) Ottawa/Gatineau (50km radius from Parliament Hill) E. Ontario, W. Quebec Compiler: Al Caughey at sightings@ofnc.ca Update for 2026.03.12 (season 1; episode 6) Sorry for getting this update out a little later than usual. I was at Wildbirds Unlimited in Kanata last night giving a presentation on `Owls in Ottawa`. On the birding front, what a difference a week makes! As I guessed in my last update, the warm weather and strong south winds blew a number of new species into the area. The number of `notable` birds doubled and the total number of species reported jumped from 81 to 105! Hopefully the cooler weather this coming week will slow their northward movements for a couple of days. For the first time in several months, the Tufted Titmouse was not reported this week - maybe because it has moved on or (more likely) birders were out padding their year lists with the new arrivals. Now is the time of year to carefully check all of the birds in the flooded fields as there are often surprises hiding amongst the thousands of Canada Geese - i.e., there have already been numerous reports of Cackling and/or Snow Geese (including both blue & white morphs) Notable Birds: Greater White-fronted Goose: 4 reports along Milton Rd, Ottawa all on Mar 10 Cackling Goose*: reports on the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail on and on St-Joseph Rd, Russell on Mar 10; plus several locations around Ottawa Snow x Canada Goose (hybrid): 3 reports along Milton Rd, Ottawa (Mar 9-10); Trumpeter Swan: 10 reports at several locations - Dilworth Rd Vernal Pond (Mar 12); Diamondview Rd (Mar 12); County Rd 22 (Mar 10); John Shaw Rd (multiple dates; most recently Mar 10); Thomas a Dolan Pky (Mar 09); Tundra Swan: a single report at the Cobb Lake Creek flood plain near Bourget in Prescott and Russell on Mar 09 Wood Duck*: a single report at the CR29 farm field pond in Carleton Place on Mar 10; plus a variety of locations around Ottawa Northern Shoveler: a single report at Etang Grimes in Gatineau on Mar 11 Gadwall: 4 reports at 2 locations - Ottawa--Bate Island (Mar 08); Parc Guillot & Marais Lamoureux (Mar 08) Northern Pintail*: 9 reports at 3 locations - continuing at Etang Grimes (Mar 09); Rapides Deschênes (incluant Parc) (multiple dates; most recently Mar 09); Parc Guillot & Marais Lamoureux (Mar 08); plus several locations in Ottawa Green-winged Teal: 10 reports at several locations - Dilworth Rd (Mar 10-12); Milton Rd, Ottawa--Britannia Yacht Club & Mud Lake CA (Mar 09) Canvasback: 37 reports at Brewer Park (Mar 12) Ring-necked Duck: 23 reports at several locations - Milton Rd, Ottawa ON (multiple dates; most recently Mar 10); Bate Island (Mar 10); Britannia Yacht Club & Mud Lake CA (multiple dates; most recently Mar 09); continuing at Watson's Mill (multiple dates; most recently Mar 07); Remic Rapids Lookout (Mar 07); Rapides Deschênes (multiple dates; most recently Mar 07) Greater Scaup: 2 reports at Bate Island (Mar 08) Barrow's Goldeneye: 5 reports along the Rideau River between the Hurdman Bridge and Adàwe Crossing (Mar 10); Parc Moussette (Mar 6); Bate Island (Mar 6); Rideau River & Carleton University (Mar 6); Remic Rapids Lookout (Mar 09) Ruddy Duck: a single report at South Island Park Dr in Manotick on Mar 12 Sandhill Crane: a single report at Wolf Grove Rd on Mar 11 Killdeer: 11 reports at Brewer Park (Mar 12) American Woodcock: a single report at Ken Steele Park in Ottawa on Mar 09 Lesser Black-backed Gull: 4 reports at 2 locations - Parc Moussette (multiple dates; most recently Mar 10); Parc Brébeuf<->Pont Champlain (Mar 09) Horned Grebe: 3 reports at 2 locations - Parc Moussette (Mar 10); Ottawa--Bate Island (Mar 10) Great Blue Heron: a single report at Petrie Island on Mar 10 Turkey Vulture: 24 reports at several locations - Fourth Line Rd and Callendor Rd (Mar 10); ; Cumberland Ridge Drive Dog Walk Loop (Mar 10); Thomas Dolan and Sixth Line (Mar 10);Mud Lake (Mar 10); Greenland Rd Hawkwatch (Mar 10); Milton Rd, Ottawa ON (Mar 10); Domaine de la ferme Moore (Mar 10); rue du Panorama, Gatineau (Mar 10); Nepean Creek Trail (Mar 10); Richmond CA (Mar 09); Etang Grimes (Mar 09); Bank St (Mar 09); Fernbank Rd (Mar 09); Aviation Pky (Mar 09); Navan Rd (Mar 09); Rapides Deschênes (Mar 09); Herriott St, Carleton Place ON (Mar 08) Golden Eagle: 3 reports at 3 locations -Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail (Mar 10); Embrun (Mar 09); Milton Rd, Ottawa ON (Mar 09) Red-shouldered Hawk: 21 reports - most at the Greenland Rd Hawkwatch (multiple dates; most recently Mar 10) - but also: -Klondike Rd (Mar 10); Torwood Dr (Mar 10); Ramsay Conc. 7A (Mar 09) Northern Flicker: 8 reports at several locations - Cope Drive pond (Mar 10); Richmond CA (multiple dates; most recently Mar 10); Greenland Rd Hawkwatch (Mar 08); Mud Lake CA (multiple dates; most recently Mar 08); Ottawa River Pathway (Mar 07); Forêt Boucher (Mar 07) Eastern Bluebird: 3 reports at 2 locations - Klondike Rd (Mar 12-13); Drummond Rd, Mississippi Mills (Mar 12) Hermit Thrush: 2 reports at 2 locations - Allen Boulevard (Mar 08); Britannia CA (Mar 06) Fox Sparrow: continuing in the southwest corner of the Mud Lake CA (Mar 07) White-crowned Sparrow: 2 reports at the Central Experimental Farm (multiple dates; most recently Mar 10) Swamp Sparrow: a single report at Ottawa--Stony Swamp (Chipmunk Trail) on Mar 06 Western Meadowlark: a single report at Panmure Rd, Ottawa ON on Mar 08 ------------------ NB - species marked with an asterisk `*` are flagged as rarities in some but not all of the eBird regions included in the 50km circle around Parliament Hill Good birding! Al