April 4 2026 (Saturday) Ottawa Spring Waterfowl Trip

Leader: Bernie Ladouceur.

Spring Waterfowl East of Ottawa field trip, Saturday, April 4, 2026.

It was close to a full house again for this trip with at least 22 participants. We met at 8 a.m at the Petrie Island causeway. The marsh was still frozen over so there weren?t any highlight; except one observer had a flyby Osprey before people started to arrive. The plan was to focus on two areas: the Bear Brook flood plain in Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa) and the Cobb?s Lake flood plain, east of Bourget (Prescott-Russell county).

By the time we arrived at the Bear Brook flood plain, the winds had picked up considerably, augmenting the discomfort of below zero temperatures. There were about 5,000 Canada Geese with a few other waterfowl species interspersed among them. Highlights included 2 adult Bald Eagles and 2 Northern Harriers.

The Cobb?s Lake flood plain was much more productive. Highlights included 16 Tundra Swans, 25 Sandhill Cranes, over 500 Snow Geese, a Cackling Goose, and at least 65 Northern Pintail.

In all, we found 32 species, although a few of the species were only observed by single parties, en route.

I would like to thank the participants for being such hardy souls on an unseasonably cold day, and thank you to Bill Bowman for providing the photographs for this report. A species list follows.

Bernie Ladouceur, OFO trip leader

Snow Goose 513 Cackling Goose 1 Canada Goose 7,000 Tundra Swan 16 Wood Duck 4 American Wigeon 5 Mallard 16 American Black Duck 27 Northern Pintail 111 Green-winged Teal 14 Ring-necked Duck 1 Wild Turkey, en route Ruffed Grouse 1, en route Rock Pigeon 4 Mourning Dove 2, en route Sandhill Crane 25 Killdeer 1 Ring-billed Gull 45 Turkey Vulture 3 Osprey 1 Northern Harrier 3 Bald Eagle 2 Red-tailed Hawk 1, en route American Crow, en route Common Raven 9 Horned Lark 1 Tree Swallow 2 European Starling, en route American Robin 2, more en route Song Sparrow 6 Common Grackle 20; and more en route Northern Cardinal 1, en route

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