NeilyWorld      Birding Ottawa - Winter Birding


    OTTAWA WINTER LIST: 2007 - 2008
Count to February 29, 2008:    109 + 2
See complete list below. Please email your sightings of birds not yet reported.


Many birders try to make the best of our long, COLD winters here in Ottawa by keeping a "Winter List". Birders have arbitrarily set the temporal bounds of "their" winter to include the three months of December, January and February; this despite the thousands of years old convention of reckoning the seasons. A winter list of 90 or more in the Ottawa checklist circle is excellent, but the goal serious listing usually gun for is the 100 species mark.
One serious drawback to winter birding, especially in a place like Ottawa, where winter keeps getting worse through the entire three month period, is that the law of deminishing returns eventually sets in. The first weeks of December are the most critical for building a large winter list. Lingering birds, not yet cold enough or lacking in food supplies, make up a large portion of the variety in a "winter" list. This is the major argument for sticking to the old seasonal "winter", most of those birds have departed by the time winter really begins on the 21st or 22nd of December. By mid-January (if not by mid-December), Ottawa birders can predict their final winter species count fairly accurately. It can make February birding somewhat less interesting (but then, you could work on your February list!).
Despite this, interest in winter listing has grown in leaps and bounds here in Canada. Most provinces now keep winter lists. See Blake Maybank's Winter Listing Web Pages for links to these and several reional lists. These lists help generate interest in an otherwise quiet season, birdwise. And they provide listers with a list of possibilities for their next outing. These may be either birds seen that they need for their winter list or birds that should have been seen but haven't yet been reported. Thus the Birding Ottawa Ottawa Winter List page. It will require your input. If you see any species not listed as seen this winter, please let me know so that they can be included. If the species is not easily found in the area, the location of the sighting or sightings may be given. If the location has its own page, you can access more details and directions by clicking its link.

Check the Birding Ottawa  Current Ottawa Winter List.
Check the Birding Ottawa  Past Years' Ottawa Winter Lists.
Birding Ottawa's Cumulative Ottawa Winter Lists
Check the last Birding Ottawa Winter Specialty Status page.
Review Past Years' Winter Specialty Status Pages.
See the Birding Ottawa  Ottawa Winter Listing page.
Review the Birding Ottawa  Current RBA or Older RBAs.
Check the Current Winter Finch Forecast or Past Winter Finch Forecasts courtesy Ron Pittaway.
Return to Birding Ottawa  Where and When to See Guide.
Return to Birding Ottawa  Table of Contents.


2007 - 2008:      OTTAWA WINTER BIRD LIST      Count to February 29, 2008:    109 + 2
         This is meant to be a combined list for all Ottawa birders to submit to, and hopefully will be an accurate reflection of which species have been seen this winter within our OFNC checklist circle (50 km radius from the Peace Tower).
     Species Location Date
     Snow Goose Dick Bell Park Dec. 1
     Canada Goose common Dec. 1
     Wood Duck Aylmer Dec. 1
     American Black Duck various Dec. 1
     Mallard common Dec. 1
     Green-winged Teal March Valley Road Dec. 1
     Redhead Shirleys Bay Dec. 1
     Ring-necked Duck below Deschênes Rapids (QC side), Shirleys Bay Dec. 2
     Greater Scaup Shirleys Bay Dec. 7
     Lesser Scaup Deschênes Rapids (QC side), Shirleys Bay Dec. 1
     Harlequin Duck Champlain Bridge (QC side) Dec. 14
     Surf Scoter Dick Bell Park Dec. 1
     White-winged Scoter Dick Bell Park Dec. 1
     Black Scoter Dick Bell Park Dec. 1
     Long-tailed Duck Deschênes Rapids Dec. 4
     Bufflehead Deschênes Rapids (QC side) Dec. 2
     Common Goldeneye various Dec. 1
     Barrow's Goldeneye Deschênes Rapids/Riverain Park Dec. 5
     Hooded Merganser Strathcona Park Dec. 1
     Common Merganser various Dec. 1
     Red-breasted Merganser Aylmer Marina/Lac Leamy Dec. 1/Dec. 4
     Ruffed Grouse Hilda Road Dec. 27
     Gray Partridge Maple Grove Road Dec. 2
     Red-throated Loon Deschênes Rapids, QC Dec. 10
     Common Loon Shirleys Bay Dec. 1
     Red-necked Grebe Shirleys Bay Dec. 1
     Double-crested Cormorant Deschênes Rapids Dec. 2
     Great Blue Heron Gatineau sector CBC Dec. 16
     Turkey Vulture Tulip Valley exit, Autoroute 5 Feb. 20
     Bald Eagle Shirleys Bay Dec. 1
     Northern Harrier Chemin Papineau, S. of Luskville Jan. 19
     Sharp-shinned Hawk Hull Dec. 1
     Cooper's Hawk Aylmer Dec. 1
     Northern Goshawk Rue des Canotiers, Aylmer Dec. 8
     Red-shouldered Hawk Old Carp, Gourlay Lane and Huntmar Roads Dec. 22
     Red-tailed Hawk various Dec. 1
     Rough-legged Hawk various Dec. 1
     Golden Eagle Huntmar Road Dec. 4
     American Kestrel Eagleson Road Dec. 2
     Merlin Shirley Bay Feeders Dec. 1
     Peregrine Falcon Billings Bridge Dec. 1
     Gyrfalcon Deschênes Rapids, QC and ON Feb. 25
     Ring-billed Gull Ottawa and Rideau Rivers Dec. 1
     Herring Gull Ottawa and Rideau Rivers Dec. 1
     Iceland Gull below Deschênes Rapids Dec. 5
     Thayer's Gull Remic Rapids Dec. 25
     Lesser Black-backed Gull below Deschênes Rapids Dec. 5
     Glaucous Gull below Deschênes Rapids Dec. 5
     Great Black-backed Gull Ottawa River Dec. 1
     Rock Pigeon common Dec. 1
     Mourning Dove common Dec. 1
     Eastern Screech-Owl Dunrobin-Beckenridge CBC Dec. 22
     Great Horned Owl Parc Champlain, Aylmer Dec. 31
     Snowy Owl Deschênes Rapids Jan. 15
     Barred Owl Rifle Road Dec. 8
     Short-eared Owl Breckinridge Dec. 1
     Northern Saw-whet Owl Jack Pine Trail Jan. 11
     Belted Kingfisher Flewellyn Road, just W of Shea Road Feb. 16
     Red-bellied Woodpecker Rue Limbour, Gatineau Jan. 5
     Yellow-bellied Sapsucker The Arboretum Dec. 11
     Downy Woodpecker various Dec. 1
     Hairy Woodpecker various Dec. 1
     American Three-toed Woodpecker Ramsey Lake Road Jan. 12
     Black-backed Woodpecker Jack Pine Trail Jan. 11
     Northern Flicker Britannia sector CBC Dec. 16
     Pileated Woodpecker Constance Bay Dec. 2
     Northern Shrike Luskville Dec. 2
     Blue Jay common Dec. 1
     American Crow common Dec. 1
     Common Raven Milton Road Dec. 1
     Horned Lark Diamondview Road Dec. 9
     Black-capped Chickadee common Dec. 1
     Tufted Titmouse 103 Manitou Street, Forest Park, Embrun Dec. 22
     Red-breasted Nuthatch Fletcher Wildlife Garden Dec. 1
     White-breasted Nuthatch various Dec. 1
     Brown Creeper Ottawa West Dec. 4
     Winter Wren Britannia Dec. 15
     Carolina Wren Graham Park / Qualcomm Dec. 8-11
     Golden-crowned Kinglet Lascelles, QC Dec. 21
     Townsend's Solitaire Fisher Heights Dec. 21
     Hermit Thrush Britannia Dec. 9
     American Robin Britannia Dec. 1
     Gray Catbird Constance Bay Dec. 8
     Northern Mockingbird Crestview Greenspace Jan. 5
     European Starling common Dec. 1
     Bohemian Waxwing various Dec. 1
     Cedar Waxwing Britannia Dec. 1
     Yellow-rumped Warbler South of Manotick Feb. 29
     American Tree Sparrow Shirleys Bay Feeders Dec. 1
     Song Sparrow three on CBC Dec. 16
     White-throated Sparrow Fletcher Wildlife Garden Dec. 1
     White-crowned Sparrow Rue des Canotiers, Aylmer Feb. 12
     Dark-eyed Junco "Slate-colored" subspecies Fletcher Wildlife Garden Dec. 1
                                       "Oregon" subspecies Fletcher Wildlife Garden Dec. 1
     Lapland Longspur Rue Victor-Hugo, Gatineau Dec. 19
     Snow Bunting French Hill & O'Toole Rds Dec. 1
     Northern Cardinal various Dec. 1
     Red-winged Blackbird Riverview Park Dec. 6
     Rusty Blackbird Rockland Dec. 2
     Common Grackle Wychwood Dec. 8
     Brown-headed Cowbird Carlsbad Springs Jan. 6
     Pine Grosbeak Carlsbad Springs Dec. 1
     Purple Finch Gloucester sector CBC Dec. 16
     House Finch Fletcher Wildlife Garden Dec. 1
     White-winged Crossbill Henry Farm Drive Jan. 26
     Common Redpoll Fletcher Wildlife Garden Dec. 2
     Hoary Redpoll Baillie Road, Aylmer Dec. 2
     Pine Siskin Constance Bay Dec. 2
     American Goldfinch various Dec. 1
     House Sparrow common Dec. 1
    
     Not on Checklist
     Wild Turkey Luskville Dec. 2
     Europian Goldfinch Rue de la Brunante, Gatineau Jan. 5

Check the Birding Ottawa  Current Ottawa Winter List.
Check the Birding Ottawa  Past Years' Ottawa Winter Lists.
Birding Ottawa's Cumulative Ottawa Winter Lists
Check the last Birding Ottawa Winter Specialty Status page.
Review Past Years' Winter Specialty Status Pages.
See the Birding Ottawa  Ottawa Winter Listing page.
Review the Birding Ottawa  Current RBA or Older RBAs.
Check the Current Winter Finch Forecast or Past Winter Finch Forecasts courtesy Ron Pittaway.
Return to Birding Ottawa  Where and When to See Guide.
Return to Birding Ottawa  Table of Contents.


Copyright © 2000 - 2011     Larry E. Neily