March in Ottawa

As spring approaches the northern migrant birds are starting to move back north and the photography opportunities for birds will become scarce for a few weeks until the warblers, sparrows, water fowl and shorebirds move back into the area from their summer homes south of us. As of writing this the Northern Hawk Owl has not been seen for a couple of days so it is believed to have moved on. The Great Gray Owls are still been seen on Greenland Rd. I have not had a chance to look for the one I saw on Torwood a couple of weeks ago so its hard to say if it still still around.

A young Cooper's Hawk has been seen in the Mud Lake woods. I saw a Rough Legged Hawk flying around the Hilda road feeders today. Red Winged Black Birds have started to move into the feeder area as well as a Common Grackle. The Redpolls are still around in numbers but the Pine Siskins seemed to have moved off.

I have not heard yet of any Snow Geese coming in yet but will probably go out to Long Sault soon to check it out as this is where I saw them in great numbers last season.

Amherst Island still has a number of Small Owls in the Owl woods. A couple of Saw Whet were seen on Friday as well as a Boreal Owl. No sign of the Barred, Long Eared or Short Eared. The Red Bellied Woodpecker seems to have found a friend as two are now seen by the feeders. Snowy Owls, Red Tailed and Rough Legged Hawks are still present in numbers.

Algonquin Park

I had a chance to visit Algonquin Park a week or two ago. From Ottawa it's about a three hour trip. Take highway 17 north to Cobden. Turn left to the highway 60 and then turn right onto highway 60. Follow this to the East gate through Whitney. You will have to purchase a day pass which cost around $13.85. Once in the park there are only a few good birding places. The first you come to is Opeongo Rd. take it to the gate, there is a parking lot to the right that you will often find Gray Jays, Blue Jays, Black Capped Chickadees. Also Boreal Chickadees and Spruce Grouse are in the area.

The next area is the Spruce Bog trails. We did not see much there but reports of Spruce Grouse have been coming in. The best area we found was at the visitors center. It is not open during the week but there is usually someone there and if you ask they will let you inside to the rear observation area. In the back there a number of bird feeders that attract a large crowd of birds. We found alot and I mean alot of Blue jays there which gave excellent possibities to get nice photos of them. Also there were Black Capped Chickadees, Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks. The Evening Grosbeaks were a pleasant suprise as we have not had many up in Ottawa this winter. I was able to get some excellent shots of both the Pine and Evening Grosbeaks. These shots can be found on my website www.mtcmediaproductions.com.

We also had a visit from the Pine Martin and it came in very close for some good shots. If you want to get to ground level below the decking go around the left side of the building as it has better access. On the right side is a small straight drop of about six feet so stay away from there.

All in all it was an excellent trip and I would recommend going before the migrant birds move back north