- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 17 December 2002 * ONOT0212.17 - Birds mentioned Bufflehead Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Lesser Black-backed Gull American Crow American Robin HARLEQUIN DUCK BARROW'S GOLDENEYE Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Black-backed Woodpecker Barred Owl Carolina Wren White-crowned Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird White-winged Crossbill GYRFALCON Rough-legged Hawk Common Raven Ring-necked Duck Snowy Owl GRAY JAY - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 17 December 2002 number: 613-860-9000 press 2 to report: 613-860-9000 press # coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Can. Nat. Capital Reg.), E.Ont., W.Que. compilers : Bev McBride bmcbride@netcom.ca : Colin Bowen colin.bowen@sympatico.ca : Chris Lewis transcriber: Michelle Martin PMMartin@netcom.ca internet : Gordon Pringle parula@magma.ca OFNC BIRD STATUS LINE - DEC 17 2002 AT 5:00 PM The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Bird Status Line at 5:00 PM on Tuesday December 17, 2002. This is Chris Lewis reporting. The Ottawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count was held Sunday December 15. 72 species were counted. Several record high numbers were recorded including 9 Bufflehead, 16 Sharp-shinned & 12 Cooper's Hawks, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 8,686 American Crows and 199 American Robins. Other highlights were the female HARLEQUIN DUCK still present on the Rideau River, 3 Barrow's Goldeneye on the Ottawa River between Remic Rapids and Lemieux Island, and huge numbers of gulls including at least 30 Glaucous and 8 Iceland Gulls in the same area. A Black-backed Woodpecker was found along a path which runs west then north then west again from the parking lot at the Anderson Rd. trail. A Barred Owl was perched in a tree along the fence- line behind the RCMP headquarters just north of the Hurdman bridge. Two Carolina Wrens were discovered - one of them along Oriole Dr. in the Beacon Hill area, and there were reports of White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows in various locations, a Chipping Sparrow in the Britannia sector, and a single Red-winged Blackbird in the creek behind the National Research Council building on Montreal Rd. 15 White-winged Crossbills were reported form the Aylmer sector in Quebec but the specific location is unknown. Official results should be on the OFNC web site sometime next month. Some sightings from earlier last week: On December 14, an immature grey morph GYRFALCON was harassing a Rough-legged Hawk in the fields along March Valley Rd. in Kanata - it was in turn being harassed by a Common Raven. Also on the 14th a late Ring-necked Duck was on the Rideau River behind Carleton Lodge along Hwy 16, and another Carolina Wren was discovered in Rockcliffe at Lyttleton Gardens in the hedges where the street bends. On the 13th a Carolina Wren returned to a feeder at 868 Acadian Gardens in Orleans, and also on the 13th there was a Rough-legged Hawk in the fields between Merivale Rd. and Woodroffe Ave. as well as a Snowy Owl along Greenbank Rd. between Fallowfield & Hunt Club Rds. A pair of GRAY JAYS found on 11 December in the P-16 ski trail parking lot in the Gatineau Park south of Wakefield, Quebec, have not been reported since then but these birds are worth looking for. Thank you - good birding! - End transcript Gordon Pringle <parula@magma.ca>