Early in the month, over a couple of days, we visited Nepean Pond Park and Monahan Drain in Ottawa, then Deschenes Rapids and Parc Guillot in Aylmer. Later in the month we went back to the Nepean Pond Park for another visit
Nepean Pond Park's storm water ponds, on Colonnade Rd, are sometimes a good place to find green herons. Not this time however....
But we found our first goslings of the year, a couple of herons and many red-winged blackbirds
The first find was a Canada Goose on nest with at least two eggs.
The family with the goslings were down at the west end. One meandered off on its own towards the water so Dad went to keep an eye on it.
By the end of the month the goslings had grown well past the cute stage. In the second photo, the goose family was walking determinedly towards us. They wanted to take over the spot where we were standing.
A great blue heron was resting on the far shore, while a black-crowned heron was intent on finding breakfast
On the second visit, a dull morning, a (the?) great blue heron was in a more normal situation, up in a tree asleep when we first arrived and then started its morning preenings eventually looking more awake.
The red-winged blackbirds were singing loudly as they always do....
A cormorant was also preening itself up high in a distant dead tree. Enlarging the photo, you could see the teal blue breeding colour in its eyes.
There were some mallards in the ponds, one pair with 2 ducklings, but mainly males. One of which looked a bit scruffy, perhaps getting ready to molt. Another was enjoying a fresh worm for breakfast
AT the western end of the ponds, a group of perhaps 7-8 ducklings had no adults with them. They were constantly calling for their parents, at one point they quickly moved over to a pair of males, but that didn't last long.
A belted kingfisher, well off on the far shore, had just caught a minnow for a early morning snack
Also in the distance, a male and female goldfinch in their breeding colours were close together in a tree
At the end of the month's visit, after a day with lots of rain, a nice crop of mushrooms were growing. The yellow flag iris were also in bloom
Monahan Drain, also a stormwater retention facility, is in Kanata. Egrets are quite often seen there. We arrived mid morning to find it VERY quiet. There were a few Canada geese, several cormorants and a few tree sparrows.
Deschenes Rapids in the Ottawa River across from Mud Lake has an island that every year hosts 100's of nesting ring-billed gulls, a few dozen cormorants on nests and egrets. This year at least five egrets were on nest. The island is not close enough to enable full frame shots of the birds, but at least I could get record shots.
Parc Guillot is a heavily wooded area with some shallow ponds in the middle. We had heard promising things about birds in the area. We arrived mid morning and found lots of red-winged blackbirds, including a female not on a nest. There was one duck in evidence. It was a ring-billed duck which I had never seen in this area before.
