Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Birding in the Bruce (Penninsula that is...)


 I spent the last three days in the Bruce Penninsula, mainly in the Lion's Head area. We did alot of hiking on this trip, but to my astonishment, I hardly saw or heard any birds! During a Lions Head provincial reserve hike, I walked through beautiful forest for probably over an hour, and pretty well nothing!

On our second day, my family went to Tobermory, but on the way, we stopped by Cabot Head and hiked the Wingfield Basin (I figured it was so close, why not!). An immature Bald Eagle was drift very very high overhead.  But again, no birds?!?!? I was baffled! On the single lane road out of the park, I did see some birds while driving and stopped to take a look. I saw a little group of birds consisting of Red Eyed Vireo, Red Breasted Nuthatch, and a Black Capped Chickadee. A little further out, I saw a small Merlin on a wire. 

There was  Bird Studies Canada Sign and road that I would have liked to have visited, but it was chained off.

Hiking the Bruce Penninsula National Park in Tobermory... not a single bird seen or heard (again, possibly a Chickadee).

Our B&B in Lion's Head had several 5+ Northern Flickers. Hikes to Jones and Inglis Falls in Owen Sound basically had no noteworthy birds. (Crows and Starlings were easily seen).

I was hoping to add something to my life list on this trip. I was sure something would come up because, its just a different vegitation zone (not Carolinian).



So overall, I'm not complaining. :-) Mid August is slow on the ovarall for many places, in particular the habitat that I was traversing through. It was beautiful though, and I hope to kayak Lion's Head in the future!

Good Birding,
Dwayne

3 comments:

  1. The Bruce Peninsula is another one of my favourite destinations. I probably won't get up there this year.
    Next time check out Dorcas Bay at Singing Sands Beach. There is a good trail there, and you can walk the alvar/beach area. I've had good luck there in mid August. You may even get a Massasauga Rattlesnake!
    Also Black Creek Provincial Park is good for birds.
    Many spots to go, too numerous to mention here!

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  2. Thanks Blake,

    I should have asked for your suggestions on birding the Bruce. Indeed, your title image alone had inspired me to go thee for a mini vacation, and also to check out the wingfield basin.
    Ethan M suggested Dyers Bay road as one of the best mid august birding spots... I will have to check out the others next time.

    Dwayne


    I actually asked Ethan M for advice and he suggested ten spots, but

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  3. Sorry about the trailing sentence on that last post... I wrote that from my IPOD Touch, which does not handle textfields very well. :-)

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