Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club (OFNC) – Weekly Birding Report Sightings within a 50km radius of Parliament Hill - including eastern Ontario and western Quebec *Compiled by Al Caughey at sightings@ofnc.ca <sightings@ofnc.ca>* *Update for the week ending on 2026.07.09 (season 1; episode 23)* *The number of reported species in the 50km Circle held steady this week (increasing insignificantly from 164 to 165) and the number of notable species bounced back up to 16 (from 11). * *As expected, Canada Day's heavy rainfall has created good habitat for early returning shorebirds - notable appearances included Semipalmated Plover & Greater Yellowlegs and non-notably, Lesser Yellowlegs and various sandpipers including Solitary & Least. * *The Brant is new to the list while the Common Loon, Least Bittern, Carolina Wren, Clay-colored Sparrow, Golden-winged Warbler have shown up (again) in regions where they are not common.* *The following were not reported in the past week: Greater White-fronted Goose & Lesser Scaup (although I did see a solitary Scaup at the Moodie Quarry a couple of days ago but it was too far away and there was too much heat haze for me to distinguish between Greater & Lesser)* *Caspian Terns & Pine Siskin are still being reported in various regions but are not tripping the notable flag.* *It looks like there could be good birding conditions this weekend - light winds from the north **will **hopefully bring more shorebirds to mud flats, storm ponds and flooded fields. Tuesday/Wednesday look like they'll be oppressively hot so if you're going out, I suggest early morning visits to shaded forest interiors & open water boundaries to look for fledglings and adults as they congregate to forage and bathe.* Current Notable Birds: *Brant (Pale-bellied)*🆕: a single report of 1 at the White Sands Golf Course [Ottawa] on Jul 3 *Trumpeter Swan*: 4 reports of 1 at étang du stationnement P8 [Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais] between Jul 3-8 *Semipalmated Plover*🆕: 2 reports of 4 along Moodie Dr [Ottawa] on Jul 9 *Greater Yellowlegs*🆕: a single report of 1 at the Hwy 7 Storm Pond [Lanark] on Jul 5; plus a single non-notable report in Ottawa on Jul 6 *Great Black-backed Gull*🆕: a single report of 1 at the Moodie Quarry [Ottawa] on Jul 6 *Lesser Black-backed Gull*🆕: 5 reports of 1 at the Moodie Quarry [Ottawa] between Jul 6-9 *Common Loon*🆕: 2 reports of 1 at Lac Pink [Gatineau] between Jul 4-8; plus several non-notable reports at locations in Ottawa [3], Lanark [3] & Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais [7] *Least Bittern*🆕: a single report of 1 at Hwy 7 Storm Pond [Lanark] on Jul 9; plus several non-notable reports in Ottawa [7] & Gatineau [1] *Red-headed Woodpecker*: 5 reports continuing at 2 locations - 1 at Whistler Rd in Constance Bay [Ottawa] (3 times between Jul 4-5); as many as 2 in the Torbolton Forest [Ottawa] (twice on Jul 4) *Olive-sided Flycatcher*: a single report of 1 at Gloaming Cres [Ottawa] on Jul 6; plus a single non-notable report in Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais on Jul 4 *Yellow-throated Vireo*: a single report of 1 at South March Highlands Conservation Forest [Ottawa] on Jul 8; plus 1 non-notable report in Lanark also on Jul 8. Interestingly, no reports from Sheila McKee Park *Carolina Wren*🆕: 3 reports of 1 at the Hiking trail in Val des Monts [Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais] between Jul 3-5; plus several non-notable reports in Ottawa [3] & Gatineau [6] *Northern Mockingbird*: 11 reports at 4 locations - as many as 2 continuing along Route 148 in Thurso QC [Papineau] (5 times between Jul 3-8); 1 on Rideau River Ln [Ottawa] (on Jul 7); 1 continuing along Innovation Drive [Ottawa] (3 times between Jul 4-7) & 1 along March Valley Rd [Ottawa] (twice on Jul 4) *Clay-colored Sparrow*🆕: 7 reports at 2 locations - 1 on Panmure Rd between Ridge Rd and Con. 12 [Lanark] (5 times between Jul 3-6) & 2 non-notable reports at Burnt Lands Provincial Park in Ottawa on Jul 6 *Golden-winged Warbler*🆕: 4 reports of 1 at Ch Schnob in La Pêche QC [Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais] between Jul 5-8 As always, send questions, comments or photos to sightings@ofnc.ca. Your feedback is appreciated. Good birding, Al