Rare lazuli bunting attracts bird-watching frenzy to Ottawa woman’s backyard

ROY MACGREGOR

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 11, 2019 UPDATED FEBRUARY 11, 2019

 “I don’t know what I got myself into.”

Denise Smith is laughing lightly, though most people would hardly find funny what has happened to her over the past couple of weeks.

The grandmother and 30-year daycare provider loves birds. She and husband James live in a tidy bungalow that backs onto wooded parkland in Ottawa’s Pinecrest Creek area, and for years they have kept feeders in the backyard.

Their house has no curtains on the rear windows and she says there is nothing she likes better than “sitting in my La-Z-Boy looking out on nature.”

She just had no idea that one day there would be 100 people staring back at her.

Visitors of the human species were not what those feeders were intended to attract.

Here’s what happened: A small songbird Ms. Smith could not recognize landed on one of the feeders in late January. It was very tiny, with white wing bars and a hint of blue. She took a photograph and sent it off to a friend seeking identification.

The bird, it turned out, was a rare lazuli bunting, a male whose plumage will turn bright blue come spring. It should be wintering in Mexico. It has been spotted in this part of the world only 11 times – and never in the dead of winter.

The bunting’s discovery marked the highlight of months of strange sightings in the National Capital Region.

Read on

Tiny bird threatens one of Canada's biggest music festivals

The killdeer, a protected bird that weighs less than five ounces, laid eggs in area where the main stage will be for Ottawa’s Bluesfest

Ashifa Kassam in Toronto

Tue 26 Jun 2018 18.04 BSTLast modified on Tue 26 Jun 201819.15 BST

A diminutive bird known for its shrill, high pitched call is threatening to derail one of Canada’s biggest music festivals after it built a nest in the same location as the main stage was slated to be erected.

The first hint of trouble for Ottawa’s Bluesfest, an outdoor festival that draws some 300,000 people each year in the nation’s capital, came last week after workers at the site stumbled across an agitated killdeer, a brown and white bird that weighs less than five ounces.

The bird – which enjoys protected status in Canada – had laid four speckled eggs on a cobblestone patch, effectively claiming the main stage area as its nesting grounds.

“This is one of the most challenging problems we’ve been presented with, but we feel we can work through this,” said Mark Monahan, the executive director of the festival, which is due to start on 5 July. “Anything that disrupts the schedule has a major effect, so we’re taking it very seriously.”

Read on  

Bohemian waxwings killed after striking city hall walkway, says group

Similar incident happened in 2013

CBC News Posted: Apr 03, 2016 11:08 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 03, 2016 3:55 PM ET

More than 30 bohemian waxwings were killed after colliding with a glass walkway at Ottawa City Hall, according to a local group devoted to reducing bird deaths.

Safe Wings Ottawa began tweeting photographic evidence Saturday of the discovery of dead and injured bohemian waxwings beneath the walkway, which connects the main city hall building with the nearby heritage wing.

Anouk Hoedeman, the program's coordinator, told CBC News that the waxwings — small, stocky, starling-sized birds — are drawn to the area because it's a plentiful food source.

"They're flying back and forth between the fruit trees and the other trees and they crash into the walkway because they don't see the glass. It's clear glass," said Hoedeman.

As of Sunday afternoon, there were 34 dead birds, said Hoedeman, while another five injured birds had been transported to the Wild Bird Care Centre.

There were also likely about "half a dozen to a dozen" injured birds that rescuers couldn't reach because they had escaped to nearby trees, she said.

Continued ...

Angry red-winged blackbird attacks passersby on Parliament Hill

And now it has a Twitter account

CBC News Posted: Jun 11, 2015 4:18 PM ET Last Updated: Jun 12, 2015 2:29 PM ET

Parliament Hill angry bird attacks passersby 1:39

For yet another spring, a red-winged blackbird has been divebombing people as they walk by its nest on Parliament Hill.

The fun speculations abound.

Maybe it's mad it wasn't chosen as the unofficial bird of Ottawa, or perhaps this is the bird's way ofpushing for Senate reform?

Maybe the Parliament Hill bird is hoping for this kind of CBC TV coverage.

More likely, it's simply protecting its family.

But it didn't take long for a Twitter account to materialize, of course.

Continued ...

Rogue goose attack or 'evil' breed of bird?

Geese were called evil, vicious and jerks online after the news that a goose attacked an Ottawa cyclist, sending her to hospital.

But Ottawa birder Jeff Skevington says while geese do become aggressive when their goslings hatch, serious attacks are not common.

You can listen to his conversation with Ottawa Morning's Stu Mills below and scroll through our recap of some of the reaction we received.

Continued

CRUELTY TO BIRDS: Five days for killing seagull

JESSIE ARCHAMBAULT, OTTAWA SUN

FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2014 01:28 PM EDT | UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2014 02:17 PM EDT

Killing a seagull led to five days in jail for Keith Watt.

On Aug. 27, 2013, Watt repeatedly bashed the bird into a brick wall and left it injured and motionless in blood, The bird died two days after the incident.

“The bird really suffered before dying form its injuries,” said Bruce Roney, executive director of the Ottawa Humane Society.

“We’re pleased the justice system has acknowledged that this act of animal cruelty is unacceptable in our community,” he said.

Watt was also sentenced to two years of probation, to pay restitution to the Ottawa Human Society, and won’t be allowed to own an animal for the next five years.

This is the second sentence related to animal cruelty this year in Ottawa. In February, Gregory Armstrong was sentenced to 60 days in jail for having tortured a mother raccoon and her kit.

Courts recognized the seriousness of the crime and punished accordingly, said Roney.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/03/28/five-days-for-killing-seagull

Federal environment minister says Ottawa to protect endangered sage grouse

The Canadian Press

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:22:00 CST

OTTAWA - After having its legal feathers ruffled in court, the federal government says it is moving to protect the endangered sage grouse.

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Tuesday the government intends to introduce an emergency protection order for the bird native to the southern Prairies.

She said the order would impose obligatory restrictions to protect the sage grouse and its habitat on provincial and federal crown lands in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The restrictions would not apply to activities on private land, or on grazing on provincial or federal crown lands.

"Through a combination of stewardship measures we are addressing the imminent threats to the Greater Sage-Grouse," Aglukkaq said in a release.

"We will be working with provinces and stakeholders over the coming months to implement these measures."

The sage grouse population in Canada has declined by nearly 98 per cent since 1988, with less than 150 birds now remaining in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Last year environmental groups went to court to force Ottawa to issue an emergency protection order for the bird after the government said discussions about the sage grouse were covered by cabinet confidentiality.

Last month the Federal Court of Appeal ruled the federal government can't use cabinet secrecy to hide debate about the endangered bird.

Conservation groups said Tuesday they were cautiously optimistic about the government's decision, but want more details about the plan.

"We have yet to see when — or even if — the emergency order will be implemented, and whether it will provide real, meaningful protection for these prairie birds and their critical habitat," said Melissa Gorrie, lawyer for the group Ecojustice.

Nature Canada and other organizations expressed similar views, praising the decision but calling on the federal government for more information.

"Some of the key specifics of the order are still unknown at this time, so we're going to have to wait and see all the details before we know what it will mean for this iconic at-risk species," said Ian Davidson, executive director of Nature Canada.

"Even so, we are treating this as a very positive development."

Environment Canada said an emergency order under the federal Species At Risk Act can be used when a species faces imminent threats to its survival.

http://www.mysask.com/portal/site/main/template.MAXIMIZE/?javax.portlet.tpst=635b2ff202604ea181fa421740315ae8_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_635b2ff202604ea181fa421740315ae8_viewID=story&javax.portlet.prp_635b2ff202604ea181fa421740315ae8_topic_display_name=Agriculture%20News&javax.portlet.prp_635b2ff202604ea181fa421740315ae8_topic_name=Agriculture&javax.portlet.prp_635b2ff202604ea181fa421740315ae8_news_item_id_key=25027343&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

Are bird spikes a humane way to deal with problem pigeons? Read more: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/are-bird-spikes-a-humane-way-to-deal-with-problem-pigeons-1.1296031#ixzz2UIyMavko

CTV Ottawa 

Published Friday, May 24, 2013 6:41PM EDT 

Last Updated Friday, May 24, 2013 6:54PM EDT

It was not a good day for Rachel Belway. The Ottawa woman arrived at her Somerset Street office to find more than one dead or injured bird around the building.

One, an injured pigeon, was bleeding and appeared to have a damaged wing. Belway believes that newly-installed bird spikes are to blame.

Bird spikes are a series of long, sharp wires jutting up from surfaces on which birds like to land and possibly nest. They are legal, common in many cities, and often recommended as a humane way to deter problem birds. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources recommends them as one of many ways to deal with problem pigeons.

But Belway thinks the pigeon flew into the spikes and became injured. “I think it's animal cruelty. I don't see how they're less special than any other bird" she says.

It’s a possible scenario, says one pest control expert. Birds fly into things all the time. Another bird specialist says the spikes might not even be the problem. "There's a lot of things that can hurt pigeons, especially downtown. It could have hit a window. It could have been hit by a car" says Mae Goguen of the Ottawa Wild Bird Care Centre.

But the pigeon wasn’t the only bird tragedy for Rachel Belway. On another side of the building, away from the spikes, she found three dead young birds on the sidewalk. She believes they had been knocked out of a nearby nest. If that’s true, it could be illegal. "If a nest has eggs, at that point it becomes illegal to move them” says Goguen.

There’s nothing Rachel Belway can do about the baby birds. But she maintains the bird spikes will do more harm than good. She wants them removed.

http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/are-bird-spikes-a-humane-way-to-deal-with-problem-pigeons-1.1296031#ixzz2UIySLvrj

Wind turbine in bird region skirts scrutiny

Absence of zoning laws ties hands of Erie Twp. officials

PORT CLINTON — A wind turbine project in Ottawa County’s Erie Township breezed past most regulatory steps as it whipped up opposition from bird enthusiasts.

Work is under way at the Lake Erie Business Park to install a 900-kilowatt, roughly 325-foot high turbine near the center of the park, west of Port Clinton between the lakeshore and State Rt. 2.

The turbine has not undergone the level of scrutiny required for a smaller proposed turbine that stirred up controversy on adjacent property at Camp Perry.

That project, a proposed 198-foot high, 500 to 600-kilowatt, federally funded turbine, triggered reviews by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Camp Perry site is under assessment and generated concerns about its proximity to bald eagle nests and bird migration routes.

Similar concerns exist with the nearby business park turbine site, which didn’t require such reviews.

Continued:  http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2013/01/29/Wind-turbine-in-bird-region-skirts-scrutiny.html

Rare cave swallow sighted over Ottawa River

OTTAWA — Cave swallows live in Mexico and Texas and eat flying insects, so what one was doing over the Ottawa River in November is a mystery.

Still, bird experts confirm that grainy new photos show the first cave swallow ever to have been sighted in the national capital — and Hurricane Sandy may have blown it here.

Two staffers at the conservation group Nature Canada, Ian Davidson and Alex MacDonald, were the first to see it on Saturday. Local birding expert Bruce Di Labio arrived later for confirmation.

And the bird’s presence in Ottawa, along with the arrival of some 50 cave swallows now visiting Lake Ontario near Hamilton, follows a puzzling recent trend. These birds spend the summer in the deep south but have started making trips north in fall, along the Atlantic coast, before returning south for the winter.

Some of these have been moving inland to the Great Lakes.

“It was at Bate Island, flying over the Ottawa River,” MacDonald said. The cave swallow was flying with a cliff swallow, which is native to Canada but should have gone south long ago.

Read more:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Rare+cave+swallow+sighted+over+Ottawa+River/7506981/story.html#ixzz2BYIUGbZP

Muddy the Owl shot by ‘hunter’ in Ottawa park

OTTAWA — It’s the last place you’d expect to see someone hunting, let alone for a Thanksgiving bird.

But there they were, armed with a pellet rifle and dressed in camouflage as they set out on the hunt for a bird last Saturday in Mud Lake Conservation Area, popular for its wooded trails and wildlife and set within city limits in Britannia.

Jennifer MacMillan and a friend were taking a stroll on the trails around 6 p.m. last Saturday when she heard a loud popping sound right before a barred owl fell from the treetops and started flopping around on the forest floor.

“You could see that Muddy The Owl was scared and freaked out,” recalled MacMillan, who had her friend call 911 while she comforted Muddy.

“Then I heard a rustle ahead and a man appeared from the bush. He was looking for what he had shot but saw me instead, turned and ran back into the bush.

It was at this point that a second hunter appeared from the woods, and in broken English, asked “Is that something you eat?”, she recalled.

“They were going to have Thanksgiving Owl and I was completely disgusted,” MacMillan said.

Ottawa Police showed up quickly and, after a foot chase, captured the hunter who shot Muddy The Owl and showed him the back seat of a cruiser. “The police asked me to identify the shooter in the back of the police car (and) I recognized him as the person who shot Muddy.”

Because the conservation area is managed by the National Capital Commission, police handed the case over to NCC enforcement officers who fined the shooter $615 for hunting on NCC land.

The NCC told the Citizen it’s against their policy to publicly identify the man who shot Muddy.

Muddy, suffering from a fractured wing, was taken by an NCC officer to Ottawa’s Wild Bird Care Centre (http://www.wildbirdcarecentre.org).

“It’s so cruel, and for what? Someone’s amusement?,” said Deborah Hass, the centre’s executive director.

Muddy wasn’t doing so well and appeared to be in severe pain. The larger bones of an owl are hollow, so instead of clear fractures that can be mended, they are more likely to splinter or smash on impact, making it impossible to put the pieces back together.

On Wednesday afternoon, Muddy The Owl had to be euthanized after X-rays revealed the worst.

Continued:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Muddy+shot+hunter+Ottawa+park/7383876/story.html