We have just returned from six days of camping and birding on the Bruce Peninsula. For those in the area and those venturing that way in the summer months these are some of the areas of interest we encountered.
Howdenvale Road (near rock cut) Black Terns: very likely nesting in the reed beds Pied Billed Grebe American Bittern Dyers Bay Road: In the open pastures you can view many Eastern Bluebird, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlark. Returning home about an hour before sunset we spotted an Upland Sandpiper and a Virginia Rail walking along the road. These two were walking on either side of the road. These are life's for us so seeing them side by side all of a sudden was quite a surprise. In almost all of the stands of confers in and around the national park, and easily found, are Black Throated Green Warbler and American Redstart. These seem to have pairs every few hundred yards or so. Almost anywhere you can hear both calling from several directions although tricky to find in the often dense cover. One Magnolia Warbler was sighted near the amphitheatre at Cypress. Highway 6 a few kilometres north of the park I spotted a black chick crossing the road. We stopped and watch two more come out of the grass on the west side of the highway and race across the road to the marshy area on the other side. We looked for the parents but did not find them. We did hear a call very much suggesting the call of a King Rail. The chicks exactly match the illustration in Peterson's. This is our first time with this species but strongly believe they were King Rails. For wildflower enthusiasts the orchids all seem well except at one location where the once large stands of Showy Lady's Slipper have been reduced in size by excessive traffic. On the upside Ram's Head seem to be increasing in the areas I have visited in the past. We found nine species of orchid this week, eight in flower. One large stand of Showies was shown to us by a private land owner, the largest I have seen in the area. Very thankful to them. Mark Conlon & Denise Bourgeois Lasalle ON
