HI everyone,
 
Yesterday (March 31) I went out to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to attend
a spring event of the ONWR Association. I was interested to see some of the
recent developments there, and encouraged to see the refuge has acquired
some nearby plots which are being saved or restored as wetlands. Thanks for
all the good work by staff and ONWRA volunteersŠ
 
Naturally, I took advantage of the trip to do some birding there. The day
was gray and cold‹or maybe I¹ve just been spoiled by the eerily warm year so
farŠI think the temperature never rose above the low 40s.
 
Here¹s what I saw:
 
Canada Goose
Mute Swan‹lots; too many reallyŠ
Trumpeter Swan‹a large number, and a lot of flying and vocalizing, really
terrific
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon‹realtively few‹most of the rest of the duck species were
present in good numbers
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead‹few of these‹I only saw two pair
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Bald Eagle‹lots of activity, many adults flying, and one nest with a birds
apparently on egg
Read-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs‹a couple on Krause Road, then a few in the new refuge
property of Benton-Carroll Road
Lesser Yellowlegs‹quite a few on the new property
Pectoral Sandpiper‹a good-sized group at the same place
Wilson¹s Snipe‹2, one of which was obligingly posing not two yards from our
bus on Benton-Carroll Road
Mourning Dove
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker‹lots of Œem
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow‹in good numbers over the impoundments
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
 
Plus one species I¹m not entirely confident about‹I thought I saw a Horned
Grebe in one of the impoundments‹got a brief look, then the bird dived and I
never found it againŠ
 
Best wishes,
 
Steve Cagan
Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga County




--------------------------------------------

Steve Cagan, photographer
[log in to unmask] € www.stevecagan.com
www.pbase.com/stevecagan € www.stevecagan.blogspot.com
216-932-2753 (USA)








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