SOUTHERN ONTARIO
CANADA
7th to 20th MAY 2003
Dufferin’s Island Nature Reserve & Niagara Falls
We stayed at the Days Inn motel located midway along Victoria Avenue. The rates were reasonable with a fine restaurant just across the road. To reach the Falls and Dufferin’s Island NR turn left out of the motel car park and drive along Victoria Avenue until you reach the traffic lights at Clifton Hill. Make sure you are in the right hand lane to turn right here. Follow this road down the hill to the next set of lights. Turn right here and drive through the park to connect with the Niagara Parkway. This main road passes the falls and there is a large, though expensive, car park on the right. We arrived late on the first day and there was no one manning the booths and the barriers were up so freebee. The Horseshoe Falls are just opposite. We encountered many Ring-billed Gulls wandering the picnic area and many were seen by the falls themselves. The area at the back of the car park gave us Grey Catbirds. At the falls themselves there is a small island at the top that had many Ring-billed Gulls plus a few American Herring Gulls. When visiting the falls waterproofs are advisable as the mist that rise’s can drench you. Further along the walkway past the visitor centre and gift shops is a flat roofed building that you can look down onto and this was good for studying American Herring Gulls. Various birds of different ages were seen here. On the far side of the river by the American Falls is a huge colony of Ring-billed Gulls, many thousand strong.
Further along the parkway you will pass a large building on your left and shortly afterwards a small lake on your right. After passing the lake continue to a sharp right turn, take this and park on the left. There are several trails that lead around the small damp wooded area here and is a good introduction to American birds. Around the trails we encountered singing Carolina Wrens, Baltimore Orioles, Tree Swallows, Northern Cardinal, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, singing Song Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Grey Catbirds, Blue Jays, Night Herons and Belted Kingfisher to name a few. From the car park continue along the same small road until it splits and take the right fork. This will take you to the lake you passed earlier, note this is a one way road. At the lake we found American Wigeon, Mallards, Gadwall, many Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls, Black-capped Chickadees and female Hooded Merganser. The wildfowl here had a touch of being just a little plastic.
Kopergaren Woods
We had a short visit to the woods as I had heard good things about it. A loop boardwalk trail leads through a few acres of open woods though we encountered little here on our visit. The best birds were in fact back at the car park which included Grey Catbirds, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, 150+ fly over Bonaparte’s Gulls and 5 Cedar Waxwings. The woods would probably be better on fall day though you’d want to be at Pelee on that day.
Wheatley Harbour
We found this place by accident shortly after leaving Kopergaren whilst trying to find Hillmans Marsh. From Kopergaren head back along the road towards Leamington and take a left where you see the sign for Hillmans Marsh. At the end of this road turn left (the signs are now gone) and follow this until you see a river on your left. On the river here we had Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. You will soon come to a small bridge that crosses the river. Before the bridge is a road on the right called Milo Road I believe. Follow this and turn left to the marina. Excellent views of hundreds of Bonaparte’s Gulls were had here. Also seen well here were American Robins, Double-crested Cormorants, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Northern Rough Winged Swallows and various plumage’s of American Herring Gulls.
The other side of the bridge turn right at the junction and follow to the end. Here you can get more American Herring Gulls on the rocks out in Lake Erie along with other gulls such as Great Black-backed. Also seen here was Lincoln’s Sparrow, Black Tern and Lesser Scaup.
Point Pelee
Pelee is famous for its annual spring migration of wood warblers but it has just as much to offer in the autumn though without the large numbers of visitors. Spring is obviously the time that most people visit and it can get crowded at times. It can seem like a bank holiday Monday at Minsmere with all the dudes walking about, though to be fair the dudes at Minsmere don’t wear luminous yellow water proofs or pink poncho’s when it rains.
For our base we stayed at the Sun Parlour motel situated 1km from the Talbot Street / Erie Street traffic lights. When entering Leamington turn right at the lights where the Pizza Pizza is and the Sun Parlour is by the ‘Subway’ sandwich bar. Facilities nearby include a Minimart just along the road, a Kentucky Fried Chicken just across the road, a Chinese restaurant next door and McDonalds and more restaurants further along the road. There are several petrol stations along this road. The motel was rather expensive for what you get compared with the luxury of the Days Inn at Niagara (one of which is situated near the park entrance) though it was adequate.
To get to Pelee drive along Talbot Street back towards Leamington turning right onto Erie Street at the Pizza Pizza traffic lights. Stay on this road until you reach Seacliff Drive just past Burger King. Turn left here and continue for less than a kilometre to the Bevel Line Road on the right. Turn right here and continue all the way to the park entrance and the visitor centre beyond. At the entrance booth we bought a season ticket that would allow easier access for each visit rather than having to keep purchasing separate tickets each time. The road continues a further 5 or so kilometres to the visitor centre car park. Here you can get the free tram that takes you to the tip and the most southerly point in Canada. The first tram departs at 6am and runs every 20minutes. The ride only takes about 10 minutes to the end with a further 10 minutes walk to the tip using several well-laid out tracks. Point Pelee is wooded virtually to the very tip which is itself a sandbar. There are many seasonal trails around Pelee that are marked by orange ribbons or tags and these get you off of the main paths. It is possible to walk back to the visitor centre by several routes depending on how you feel or on what the weathers like and if there are many birds about. We experienced a reverse migration day where many birds were flying the wrong way over the tip heading south. These included Baltimore Orioles, Bobolinks, Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, hirundines, Indigo Buntings, warblers and so on. The visitor centre can be of useful for finding out what’s about. It is best to ask the centre staff rather than relying on the sightings books as many of the birders encountered couldn’t tell a Red-eyed Vireo from a Tennessee Warbler.
The trails: There are many trails dotted about the park though we only walked a few of them, an account of these follows.
· Tildens Wood Trail > In the far corner of the main car park you will find the Shuster trail. Follow this and on the left hand side is a small wooded pool that had several good birds present that included a long staying Northern Waterthrush. Also here were Swamp Sparrows, Blackburnian Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and others. Shortly after passing this pool there is a track off to the left. This is the beginning of the Tildens Tail. The woods begin to open out and good views can be had of many of the birds. Midway along the trail a path branches off to the right called the Chinquapin Oak Trail. Some good birds were seen along this trail one morning including Grey-checked and Wood Thrushes, Eastern Bluebird, Blue-headed Vireo and others. Back along the Tildens Wood Trail 100yards past this junction is the boardwalk and this was a hive of birdlife with a small trail off to the right just past the boardwalk. This small trail produced our first Canada Warbler and a fine Golden-winged Warbler. Highlights of Tildens include a cracking male Kentucky Warbler, a Whip-poor-will out in the open, numerous warblers include the bird of the trip a stunning Black-throated Blue Warbler (of which many were seen), Scarlet Tanagers, Ovenbirds, Northern Waterthrush, the list goes on.
· Shuster trail and East Beach > If you continue along the Shuster trail you will pass through a swampy area which had Yellowthroats in residence and will eventually come out on to the upper East Beach. If strong a westerly persists then walking the east beach could produce some good birds in the sheltered areas. We walked from here to the tip, a good few miles but in doing so we saw some good birds, albeit most were near the tip. Several Swainson’s Thrushes out in the open, an Eastern Wood-pewee that was so knackered it wanted to sit on my hat, cracking male Hooded, Wilsons, Blackburnian, Palm, Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoo out in the open, Scarlet Tanagers, flycatchers and thousands of hirundines that were exhausted after an obviously tough lake crossing. Of these there were thousands of Barn Swallows and Sand Martins with hundreds of Tree and Cliff Swallows all just sitting on the sand. On the lake were hundreds of Cormorants and terns, including Caspian, and many Red-breasted Mergansers.
· The Woodland Trail > The entrance to this long loop trail is just behind the visitor centre and many good birds were seen here, these include the Blue-winged Warbler that shone brightly right next to the path. In fact many of the birds here were right next to the path. At the ‘bridge’, a boardwalk through some wooded pools, many good birds were found and we lingered here as birds were constantly changing. On the southern edge of the trail is a ‘seasonal’ trail that leads you through the Post Woods and Sparrow field to the tip so it is possible to walk to and from the tip but allow a few hours to do this in.
· DeLaurier Trail > Midway back along the park road the trail cuts through more open habitat and can be the place to get American Woodcock and Nighthawks though the latter was not in when we arrived in the park. I only walked a portion of the trail though this produced great views of some of the commoner birds.
· The Blue Heron Picnic Ground and Marsh Boardwalk > One evening we saw a group of birders gathered by some trees by the Blue Heron Picnic ground as we drove past so I decided to stop and see what was going on. Many warblers of numerous species were flicking about the trees and bushes and this was to be the best spell of warbler watching yet. Here we had Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-and-white, Blackburnian, Yellow and Nashville Warblers along with American Redstart, Scarlet Tanager and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Great hours birding. Nearby is the Marsh Boardwalk. A looped platform through a huge marsh. By the car park is a small café where you can buy burgers, hotdogs and coffee. The best place is to take the left side and just before the raised bridge is a couple of small open pools. Here we had Sora Rail at dusk. Around the boardwalk Yellowthroats are common and Swamp Sparrows can be found. An American Bittern and Green Heron put in brief appearances and a Sandhill Crane done a flyby.
· Just outside the park is the Pelee Wings store, a place to get books and optics if required and is well stocked. There is also a fish restaurant that we visited a couple of times and is recommended, good food. It was popular with birders leaving the park in the evening and we ended up queuing on the first visit.
Hillmans Marsh
This was a real disappointment and a wasted visit. The best bird was seen near the car park with a fly over Greater Yellowlegs. From the main car park right round to the new flooded fields we saw little with a few Great Blue Herons and Tree Swallows. The newly flooded fields were covered with gulls with 200+ Ring-billed Gulls and in the region of 700+ Bonaparte’s Gulls. Waders were familiar fair with Dunlin being common, I can see thousands of these at home. A fly over flock of American Golden Plovers did not linger. Along the path edge a little further along were several pairs of Yellowthroats. In the far corner of the flooded lake were roosting female Bufflehead and drake Long-tailed Duck with a few Green-winged Teals, American Wigeon and Lesser Scaup. Not the wetland wonderland I had been hoping for. The site was difficult birding and we only spent a total of about 1 and half hours here the whole trip.
The Carden Plain
This remnant grassland habitat is midway between Algonquin and Toronto and we spent a few hours here mid morning picking up the area’s specialities. From Algonquin West Gate we travelled down the scenic highway 35 to Coboconk and then headed west along route 48 turning right before Kirkfield onto Victoria Road. After a few kilometres we turned left onto McNamee Road and birded along here. We did not have time to visit some of the other birding roads nearby. The area is open grassland and fields and we added a few birds to trip list here. Highlights here were a field full of displaying Bobolinks, several displaying Upland Sandpipers, 5 Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows, Brown Thrashers and Red-tailed Hawks.
Rondeau
Great place and my personal favorite. When coming from Leamington allow at least 1 hour travelling time. From the Erie Street / Talbot Street traffic lights head east (straight across) along Talbot Street East and stay on this road all the way to Blenheim. At the first set of traffic lights in Blenheim turn right (there’s a petrol station on the right) onto Marlborough Street which becomes Chatham Street and in turn becomes the Talbot Trail again. Stay on this road until you reach the Kent Bridge Road junction. Turn right here (Rondeau is clearly sign posted) and follow to the park entrance. Entrance fee per day visit is $6. If arriving early there is a pay machine so make sure you have the correct change. Display the ticket on the dashboard. Follow the main park road to the visitor centre or just keep going until you reach the South Point Trail Car Park.