Ottawa Fine Feathered Friends

The Audubon app has been sooooooo slow on my admittedly ancient phone.  This, plus the BirdNET call id app is having a really low hit rate for me recently, nudged me into trying Merlin, which has a call id feature too.

My first time at Mud Lake.  Magical.  Birds, birds, everywhere, birds.  So cool.  Like being in a zoo -- everywhere you turn, more and more. Saw so many!  Including... Lifer:  Black-crowned Night-Heron (three of them resting near the edge of the lake) Lifer:  Baltimore Oriole (at the really cool spot toward the east where tons of birds of all sorts kept swooping through to catch insects American Golfinches American Redstart American Robins Black-capped Chickadee Blue Jays Canada Geese (a-plenty) Cedar Waxwings Common Yellowthroat Downy Woodpecker (maybe some Hairys too) Great Blue Heron an Egret of some sort (I'm not sure which) Mallards Wood Ducks (immature -- and maybe some mature females -- didn't see any mature males  **Edit:  Ah, google says the males are absent by hatching time, but also, that they mold mid-summer and take on a drab appearance like the females -- one or the other of these must explain it.) Northern Cardinals Northern Fl...

^^^

Great walk! Lifers: - Chestnut Sided Warbler (had heard them before thanks to the BirdNET app, but hadn't seen; today, saw one with a nice yellow hat) -- was hopping from branch to branch on the trees in the old apple orchard - Common Yellowthroat (not common looking at all!  such a neat looking bird) -- was hopping about the tall grass after we descended from the lookout, wasn't very bothered by us, I had lots of good looks. - Wood Thrush -- really different type of sound.  

Started off great with two bluejays and a cardinal in one tree. Heard a raven!  (Second time, first being last weekend along the river in Orleans.)  Saw him/her flying afterward but from a distance through the trees.  Love ravens. Goldfinch!  In a tree in the open area.  My first sighting of the year. Yellow-bellied sapsucker!  A lifer!  Well, at least I'm pretty sure that's what it was.  Vibrant red over the head, much larger red area than on the downies/hairies and definitely wasn't a pileated, and the call was totally consistent with the one on my Audubon app. Also several garter snakes and a toad.

Decided to keep track of the birds I see during walks throughout the Ottawa region and wherever else I happen to go.