- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 20 May 2007 * ONOT0705.20 - Birds mentioned Snow Goose Brant GLOSSY IBIS Merlin Peregrine Falcon WHOOPING CRANE Semipalmated Plover Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Dunlin Short-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope Black Tern Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eastern Wood-Pewee Alder Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird House Wren Marsh Wren BLUE-WINGED WARBLER Orange-crowned Warbler Cape May Warbler Wilson's Warbler Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Clay-colored Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Bobolink - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 20 May 2007 number: 613-860-9000 for the status line : press 2 for rare bird alerts: press 1 to report a sighting: press # coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Can. Nat. Capital Reg.), E.Ont., W.Que. compiler & transcriber: Chris Lewis hagenius@primus.ca internet: Gordon Pringle parula@magma.ca THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS' BIRD STATUS LINE - 8:30 PM 20 May, 2007 This is Chris Lewis reporting. As forecast, some dynamic weather did occur this week, several more migrants arrived, and a few rarities dropped in for good measure. The most exciting discovery was a radio-tagged WHOOPING CRANE from Wisconsin in a field along Timm Rd. west of Moodie Dr. in Bells Corners on the 16th. On the same day, a GLOSSY IBIS flew over Corkstown Rd., heading toward a marsh near the Nepean Campground. Neither of these birds has been subsequently reported. However, on the 20th, an adult GLOSSY IBIS was found in the SE cell of the Casselman sewage lagoons and is hopefully still present. Another rarity occurred on the 19th - for the 1st time in modern hockey history the Ottawa Senators made it into the Stanley Cup finals. On the 15th and 16th, a large number of Brant flew by Britannia and ended up on the Ottawa River at Remic rapids where an estimated 1000+ birds lingered briefly during strong NE winds and rain on the 16th. The 1st report of Black Tern in the marshes west of Masson, Quebec came in on the 15th. The 1st hatch of a Peregrine Falcon chick on the Crowne Plaza hotel was reported on the 16th. Both a Merlin and a Peregrine Falcon were hunting birds at the Winchester sewage lagoons where the shorebird habitat is excellent, and 2 very late (for Ottawa) Lesser Snow Geese were here on the 20th. The Embrun sewage lagoons also have good habitat and the Casselman lagoon is habitat is the best it's been in many years. Eleven species of Shorebirds were collectively reported from all 3 of these lagoons from the 15th through the 20th, including several Semipalmated Plovers and many Least Sandpipers, the 1st White-rumped Sandpipers, Dunlin and Short-billed Dowitchers, and numbers of Wilson's Phalaropes who were joined at Embrun by a Red-necked Phalarope on the 20th. Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Chimney Swift, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Alder and Willow Flycatcher, House Wren, Marsh Wren, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Towhee and Bobolink are all back, right on time. New warbler arrivals this week were Orange-crowned, Cape May and Wilson's, bringing our total of expected migrants and breeders to 25 species…and a 26th was an unexpected BLUE-WINGED WARBLER banded at the Innis Point Bird Observatory on the 15th. Nine species of sparrows were found south of the international airport on the 20th including the 1st report of Clay-colored and Grasshopper. Thank you - Good Birding…and Go SENS GO! - End transcript