Eastern Ontario Birding

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Eastern Ontario Birding Guided birding tours throughout eastern Ontario, lead by Jon Ruddy Welcome to Eastern Ontario Birding! I specialize in birding tours throughout eastern Ontario.

My name is Jon, and I am an Ottawa-based professional birding guide and Kowa Sporting Optics brand ambassador. The year 2022 marks my seventh year as a professional bird guide, and I continue to fall more in love with birds by the day. A little bit about me: I am a real Bird Nerd at heart and enjoy reading older texts in search of fascinating tidbits about bird behaviour, migration, breeding biology and general avian natural history. While in the field, I take every opportunity to share the information I have learned through study. Before the inception of Eastern Ontario Birding, I worked as a field ornithologist. I have conducted bird surveys in eastern Ontario, southern Ontario, James Bay, the Okanagan Valley and throughout Manitoba. Throughout that same timeframe, I led bird hikes for both the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club (OFNC), Macnamara Field-Naturalists’ Club (MFNC), and Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO). I found that I derive no greater pleasure than seeing birders light up as they observe interesting bird behaviour, a particular species for the first time, or admire beautiful plumage details. As soon as a birder becomes a client, they are included in the group emails I share with clients. Looking forward to birding with you in 2022! Jon Ruddy
Owner & Guide at Eastern Ontario Birding

10/15/2026

Fall tour season is a busy tour season. Touring within eastern Ontario, day-after-day, here there and everywhere.

How busy, you ask?

Take for example the following conversation with our 3 year old:

Lydia: Daddy?

Dad: Yes, Lyd.

Lydia: Um, do you live in the woods?

😂😂

10/11/2026

Thankful for all of my wonderful clients and shared adventures on this Thanksgiving day! See you in the field, eastern Ontario birders :)

Hamilton area birding tour October 16-18thI have an exciting tour coming up: a visit to the western end of Lake Ontario,...
10/04/2026

Hamilton area birding tour October 16-18th

I have an exciting tour coming up: a visit to the western end of Lake Ontario, in search of rarities, "pelagic" birds and fall migrants! A three-day tour, with single-day sign-ups possible, as well. Details are here: https://eontbird.ca/?page_id=33500

Photo: White-rumped Sandpiper, fall.

Website: eontbird.ca

What a beautiful view of a Belted Kingfisher during today’s private tour - a misty morning filled with bird sightings al...
09/30/2026

What a beautiful view of a Belted Kingfisher during today’s private tour - a misty morning filled with bird sightings along the Ottawa River shoreline.

Rare Bird Alert! 🚨 In terms of an entire career’s perspective, there are some very rare - to vagrant level - eastern Ont...
09/26/2026

Rare Bird Alert! 🚨

In terms of an entire career’s perspective, there are some very rare - to vagrant level - eastern Ontario birds that I would love to come across during a tour. Great Cormorant, Dovekie, Northern Gannet, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Northern Wheatear, Ash-throated Flycatcher are some examples.

A big, oceanic “sea duck” is another one: the mighty Common Eider. This is a species that I’ve dreamt of seeing within eastern Ontario’s waterways for quite some time now. Well, today, during the tour, that dream came true…

All by itself, flying about 400 meters offshore, a Common Eider! I try to cap adrenaline, and keep my “thinking brain” in the saddle for big tour moments, but there was no way I could contain the siege of emotion and thrill after confirmatory scope views. The striking, majestic sea duck of all sea ducks…flying directly offshore…

Fall birding. I love fall birding.

See you in the field next week, eastern Ontario birders 🙂

Photo: Even with this level of detail, the unique head/bill size and gestalt (“horse-faced”) show through. A fascinating and beautiful species! Point Petre Wildlife CA, Prince Edward County. 26 September 2026.

The perfect end to another great week in the fieldAmerican bittern in the reeds - posing beautifully for today’s tour gr...
09/19/2026

The perfect end to another great week in the field

American bittern in the reeds - posing beautifully for today’s tour group 🙂

See you in the field next week eastern Ontario birdwatchers

09/16/2026

Rare Bird Alert! 🚨

Having arrived along the St Lawrence River shoreline in the Upper Canada Region, I dropped by a favoured site: Avonmore Beach - specifically the point of land jutting out into the river. This area - and the area directly across the river - create a “choke point” for all flyway users. This feature draws birds closer to the observer - and is especially helpful when viewing through a spotting scope!

A few minutes into scanning the river, I locked onto a flock of cormorants flying from east to west. A birder’s eye is trained to find the “odd one out” in a flock…and it becomes instinct with practice…especially the practice of not assuming every bird in a flock is of the same species. Tip: the “Bird Every Bird” technique is a great way to increase your rarity finding, and it becomes second nature with routine use and practice.

Well, there was this itty bitty little cormorant with the Double-crested’s. Its body mass was significantly smaller compared to its neighbours, and its head and bill were quite small, its body was slight, and its tail was long on the body - appearing to extend from the vent as far from the body as the neck and head extended from the chest. The flap rate was faster than the neighbouring cormorants, too.

Amazingly…a Neotropic Cormorant!! A first record for Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry County, and only the second record along the St Lawrence River from Montreal through to Gananoque.

The practice of searching through cormorants is a common one during tours, but to actually find a Neotropic in eastern Ontario - it’s a rare thing - and always a special moment!

September is a wonderful month. Somehow it is the half way point of the month, already. Tours have been action-packed wi...
09/15/2026

September is a wonderful month. Somehow it is the half way point of the month, already. Tours have been action-packed with bird sightings (sitting at 144 species, cumulatively, so far) and many other sightings…including insects. Mid September is the peak timeframe for spying a large and striking caterpillar…the mighty Pandorous Sphinx! The host plant is often riverbank grape or ivy species.

Jon Ruddy
Owner & Guide
Eastern Ontario Birding
eontbird.ca

While photographing a Merlin perched in the open during today’s tour, a Northern Flicker flew directly into the frame as...
09/08/2026

While photographing a Merlin perched in the open during today’s tour, a Northern Flicker flew directly into the frame as I pressed the take-a-picture button!!! 😂

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Ottawa, ON

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Wednesday 7am - 6pm
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