Nature Canada

Visiting Ottawa’s Lac Deschênes-Ottawa River IBA

[three_fourth]David Njuguna is a volunteer with Nature Canada. He hails from Kenya and is participating in Canada World Youth’s Youth Leaders in Action program. David will be completing a two-month work placement with Nature Canada, starting in early October and ending in November. He will be joining the Communications and Conservation teams and helping them with various projects. 

This week, I visited Mud Lake, which is part of the Lac Deschênes-Ottawa River Important Bird Area. We were guided by Alex McDonald (Nature Canada Manager Protected Areas). I enjoyed feeding some of the following birds:

Canada goose
: it has a black head and neck, white chinstrap, light tan to cream breast and brown back.
Mallard: I think it is the mostly easily identified duck. It has a green head, gray flanks, and black tail.
Wood duck: it is the most beautiful duck I saw actually. It has red eyes, green head and tail and reddish chest with white patterns.
Black Duck: it is mostly grey all over the body with black strips and a yellow beak.

Black-capped Chickadee: It has a black cap and bib; white cheeks; gray back, wings, and tail; and whitish underside. It’s a tiny cute bird. I was little bit scared when the Chickadee landed on my hand but after feeding the first one, it was really fun.

I also enjoyed seeing other beautiful birds like: Green Heron, Downy Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow that sings (oh-sweet-canada) according to Alex, Song Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Winter Wren. Indeed, it was a nice experience.

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David at Lac Deschenes by Alex MacDonald Oct 2013

David feeding a chickadee

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