Good day. Early yesterday morning Ian Cannell and I went up to the Bruce Peninsula and birded 9 of the roads up there and it was a beautiful day that Ian had chosen.
We started in Dyers Bay Road area and worked our way back down the peninsula to County Road 170 at Shallow Lake and then home. Following are some of the 92 bird species (without waterfowl, except for Canada Goose and Mallard and without any Shorebirds except for a Killdeer) we did see and hear, mostly see. Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, American Bitterns, Great Egrets, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawks, Broad-winged Hawks, Merlin, 16 Sandhill Cranes (including a small chick), Black Terns, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Black-backed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Alder Flycatchers, House Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Hermit and Wood Thrushes, many Red-eyed Vireos, Blue and Golden-winged Warblers, Cape May Warblers, many Ovenbirds, Pine Warbler, Mourning Warbler (this birds was perched on a telephone wire above bushes and sang continuously and gave us great looks, even from right under it), Canada Warbler, (without much work at all we saw and heard 18 species of Warblers), Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, many Indigo Buntings, Eastern Towhees, Clay-colored Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrows, Brewer`s Blackbirds, Purple Finches and Baltimore Orioles. This is a great birding area that should be visited at least once by a birder and if one was to bird along more roads than we did yesterday 110 to 120 species should not be hard to find. The Indian Paintbrush and Yellow Lady Slippers among many other wild flowers were in full bloom and common. Directions:- BRUCE PENINSULA OWEN SOUND is at the junction of Highways 6, 21 and 26 and is approx. 190 km / 118 miles northwest of Toronto, 120 km / 75 miles west of Barrie, and 210 km / 130 miles north of London. From Owen Sound proceed west and then north on Hwy 6 to Wiarton ( approx. 32 km / 20 miles ). Continue through Wiarton north on Hwy 6 and you are on the Bruce Peninsula and you can bird any of the roads from Wiarton to Tobermory at the northern tip of the peninsula. DYERS BAY ROAD, a favourite birding road is approx. ( 56 km / 35 miles ) north of Wiarton. Some other favourite roads are County Rd 170 at Shallow Lake, Ira Lake Rd, Bartley Drive, Lindsay Rd 40 and Crane Lake Rd. All these roads can be located in a Ontario Road Atlas. Norm Murr Richmond Hill Ontario, Canada _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
