[Ontbirds]Ottawa - Dark phase Gyrfalcon

[Christina Lewis]

Hello Ontbirds people,

Received a call to the Ottawa Bird Status Line this afternoon re: a dark phase GYRFALCON, observed by Richard Waters and Tom Hanrahan from 2:55 - 3:30 pm.  The bird was seen on the Ottawa River at the Deschenes rapids.  Richard stated that it flew from the Ontario side to the Quebec side, then headed downstream and was last seen sitting on the ice below the rapids.  The best vantage if the bird stays in this area would be from the public boat launch by the Britannia Water Purification Plant. One could also check above the rapids from the Britannia Yacht Club. It's been a couple of years since a Gyr has been seen in Ottawa, and MANY years since a dark bird showed up here!

DIRECTIONS:

>From downtown Ottawa, take Hwy 417 to the Pinecrest Rd. exit (#129).  Turn right (north) on Pinecrest and proceed to Richmond Rd.  Right (east) on Richmond, then left (north) on Poulin Ave.  Follow Poulin as it bends left to Britannia Rd. and take Britannia north to where the road ends at Cassels St. Go right (east) on Cassels until the end.  Limited public parking is available here. The yacht club (at the other end of Cassels St.) has a small parking lot for yacht club members only.  There is also limited public parking along the road.  Please do not block private laneways.

Good birding, and any subsequent reports of this bird would be appreciated!

Thanks to Richard & Tom for the report
and good birds to all,

Chris Lewis
Ottawa, ON
hagenius at primus.ca