Here is a brief summary of my 10 day trip to Alqonquin Park and the north shore of Lake Erie. Hopefully it will be of some help to anyone planning a trip in the future.
Due to a late spring, and some cold weather on 11-13th, i did not experience the migration spectacle i was hoping for, but still managed to see 182 species, including 70 lifers, and 27 species of warbler, albeit mostly in single figures, and it was still the best birding i've ever had by a long way! In hindsight 10 days for this tour was not enough, especially having only 1 full day in Algonquin park, where the target birds can be hard to come by.
All planning was done on the internet, from trip reports(mainly off surfbirds, birdtours and limosa, but found many others from googling key words such as 'blackburnian pelee'), ebird, the information wanted section on here(many thanks Wolfbirder, Steve Arlow, Apbarr, Gwatola, Stonechat1 and Brucew for your replies), the Ontario Field Ornithologists website, and closer to the time, the ontbirds mailing list, muskoka bird board and blogs such as ontario birds and herps, nerdy for birdy and 'burg birder to get an idea of what was around.
I booked my flights through Air Canada in August, heathrow-toronto, costing £667 return(found the exact same flights for nearly £200 a couple of months later!), Hertz hire car(through expedia) for £268(ended up more than doubling that at the counter with all the crap they throw at you when your tired and eager to get on the road!), and pre-booked all the accommodation:- for Alqonquin, the Comfort Inn in Huntsville and the Alqonquin Dreamcatcher motel just outside the east side of the park(both ok). For Pelee i stayed in a cabin at Sturgeon Campsite Woods, just north of the park, which i wouldn't recommend to anybody that has to fly to Canada. The mattresses were wafer thin, no pillows or quilts, even to rent, and no heating(2 nights were barely above 0c! Had to put layers on to go to bed!). For Long Point i spent 2 nights in the Seasons House B&B in Port Rowan, which was perfectly situated, comfortable, with excellent hosts and an excellent breakfast!
The general cost of living was similar to the UK, maybe slightly more expensive, except for petrol which was about 80p per litre!
For getting around i picked up the cccmaps Ontario back road atlas from the first gas station for $20, and this proved invaluable.
Sites Visited
Carden Alvars
Situated east of Orilla. An excellent area of grassland, scrub, lakes and forest. I only had time to bird to the unpaved and bumpy Wylie Road. Despite it being mid-afternoon on a hot day it was still a brilliant introduction to Canadian birding! Saw bobolinks, eastern meadowlark, eastern bluebirds, brown thrashers and field sparrows among others here, with an upland sandpiper nearby. Worthy of a full mornings birding here but unfortunately i didn't have time for that. See the article(including map) on the OFO website for more information
Kerr Park
On the west side of bracebridge. A viewing screen overlooks cells 1 and 2 of the bracebridge lagoons. Didn't see alot here in my short visit, but a few ducks on the lagoons included a group of 12 buffleheads, and my only pileated woodpecker of the trip was on a telegraph pole by the car park
Algonquin Park
About a 40 minute drive east of Huntsville. All sites off highway 60. $16 permit required, which can be purchased from the west and east gates or the visitor centre. The west gate centre opens at 8 but you can get your ticket from the machine inside the reception area if entering earlier. I found the birding here extremely difficult, due to the vegetation and not having a clue what most the sounds were! Apparently one of the best areas to see most of the specialities(gray jay, black-backed woodpecker, boreal chickadee, ruffed and spruce grouse, both crossbills and evening grosbeak), is the north end of the Mizzy lake trail, accessed from arowhon road, however, spring floods had washed out the road and was only accessible by walking the 11km loop, which after a tough(birdwise) 2km i thought was not the best idea and turned round! I visited the west gate car park, western uplands trail, mizzy lake, spruce bog boardwalk, visitor centre(very little seed in the feeders, apparently they stop filling them in spring due to the potential of attracting bears) and opeongo road, with only the west gate car park and opeongo road(north of the 2nd bridge) being productive, and of the specialities i only managed to see the woodpecker!
Matchedash Bay
West of orilla, north of coldwater. Visited here to break up the long drive south to pelee. I visited the cowan trail in the southeast corner of the bay, but the heavens opened so didn't spend to long here. Only birds of note were an american bittern and a heard only golden-winged warbler. The access roads to here are/were a site for brewer's blackbird but i had no joy. There is also another access point to the northwest side of the bay off quarry road but i didn't have time for this. Could easily be combined for a full days birding with the carden alvars
Point Pelee
The main reason for this trip! Spent 4 days here, and there was always something new to see on the many trails. Although migration was 'slow', it was still incomparable to anything in the UK! Things did pick up on the 14th when the winds changed to southwesterlies, and there was a good reverse migration on the 15th. Got a season pass for c$90 to save having to go to reception each morning. The visitor centre has some food(was very fond of the large hotdogs!), toilets, a shop, and a logbook and map showing all the latest reports, and is worth stopping in everytime you pass. My daily routine was generally taking the first(6am) tram to the tip, spending a couple of hours around here, walking back to visitor centre either via the east beach, tram road or sparrow fields path, then birding the trails from the visitor centre(woodland trail and tildens woods) and then heading off out the park in the afternoon to nearby sites and returning later on. The west beach was good in the afternoons when the sun was on it, and the DeLaurier carpark is the place to be at dusk with American woodcocks displaying right overhead and a common nighthawk also seen. The feeders opposite the pelee wings store north of the park were always worth a quick look.
Hillman's Marsh
About 5kms north of Point Pelee. $5 entry fee. I only walked to the hide overlooking the shorebird cell. There was always a few waders here, though mainly grey plovers and dunlins, and a few ducks to add to the daylists but never anything too exciting.
Kopergaron Woods
About 5kms north of Hillman's marsh. A short loop boardwalk through some flooded forest. Didn't see anything of note here although can apparently be good for migrants
Mitchell's Bay
North of Tilbury on the east shore of Lake St.Clair. The marshes along angler's line used to be good for yellow-headed blackbird, but nobody i spoke to had seen any there this year and may no longer be a reliable site for them?? The strong winds on the afternoon i visited didn't help my chances! The extensive reedbeds of the nearby St.Clair marshes reserve(another former YHB site) were no better, with hardly any birds other than red-winged blackbirds seen at all!
Rondeau
Although it was still relatively quiet on my visit, i can see why this is many visitors favourite site! If entering early make sure you have change for the ticket machine($14 i think?). Like pelee it has a visitor centre with a log book and board of the recent sightings, with an excellent feeding station there. The maintenance loop was the best trail for me, with a prothonotary warbler landing in a tree right next to me briefly, male cerulean warbler creeping around the undergrowth, as was a male hooded warbler. Nearby a brewster's warbler was seen by many at point blank range near the pony barn. Other notable sightings at rondeau were my only tufted titmouse and hairy woodpeckers of the trip, an american woodcock in broad daylight right next to the road, clay-colored sparrow and dark-eyed junco.
Blenheim Lagoons
Located just southwest of blenheim. Free permit required which can be obtained online before visiting. There are 4 ponds and some filter beds here, the lakes having a few ducks(mostly ruddys), a black tern and 1500/2000 hirundines hawking over them, and the filter beds had a few waders, best of which were 5 wilson's phalaropes, including 2 stunning females. The surrounding fields were good for bobolinks. c100 purple martins resting on the one of the paths was quite a sight, albeit in a bittersweet way, as presumably they were too tired to feed due to the cold weather. Also visited the nearby mcgeachy pond but this was birdless.
Long Point Area
I got the 2010 birding guide to the long point area from the shop at pelee for $30 which was very helpful for this area. Although the banding station at old cut was ok for migrants, including a nearby harris's sparrow, and i've read good things about hastings drive, i can't see this area being as good as pelee or rondeau for variety and numbers of migrants on a good fall, as most the point is out of bounds. It was the sites inland of here i found most productive. At Backus woods(from concession road 4-access from the west side as the road can be undrivable from the east) i saw louisiana waterthrush, hooded warbler and cerulean warbler amongst commoner species, the field on the southwest side of the east quarter line/county road 24 junction was good for sparrows including vesper and grasshopper, and an evening visit to the manester field along concession road 6(sand road) produced whip-poor-will, blue-winged warbler and several displaying woodcocks. This site was very buggy and got eaten alive so make sure you wear a good repellent!
Colonel Samuel Smith Park
Located on the shore of lake ontario, south pearson airport. Spent my last few hours here before heading to the airport, and was a good way to end the trip! Had several species of warbler in woods, the lake had many ducks, most too far to identify but several groups of long-tailed duck were just offshore, and the harbour has nesting red-necked grebes. Also saw my only northern mockingbirds in the park, which are rare along lake erie.
Species seen:
Mute swan
canada goose
mallard
american black duck
gadwall
shoveller
american wigeon
green-winged teal
wood duck
lesser scaup
greater scaup
ring-necked duck
redhead
bufflehead
common goldeneye
long-tailed duck
red-breasted merganser
goosander
hooded merganser
surf scoter
ruddy duck
great northern diver
pied-billed grebe
red-necked grebe
double-crested cormorant
american bittern
great blue heron
great egret
green heron
turkey vulture
northern harrier
coopers hawk
broad-winged hawk
red-tailed hawk
bald eagle
osprey
merlin
american kestrel
pergerine
wild turkey
american coot
snadhill crane
grey/black-bellied plover
semipalmated plover
killdeer
greater yellowlegs
lesser yellowlegs
solitary sandpiper
(western)willet
spotted sandpiper
upland sandpiper
turnstone
dunlin
least sandpiper
short-billed dowitcher
american woodcock
wilsons snipe
wilsons phalarope
bonaparte's gull
ring-billed gull
american herring gull
great black-backed gull
caspian tern
common tern
fortser's tern
black tern
mourning dove
great horned owl
whip-poor-will
common nighthawk
chimney swift
ruby-throated hummingbird
belted kingfisher
red-headed woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
yellow-bellied sapsucker
downy woodpecker
hairy woodpecker
black-backed woodpecker
northern flicker
pileated woodpecker
eastern wood-pewee
willow flycatcher
least flycatcher
eastern phoebe
great crested flycatcher
eastern kingbird
red-eyed vireo
warbling vireo
white-eyed vireo
yellow-throated vireo
blue-headed vireo
blue jay
raven
american crow
shore/horned lark
purple martin
northern rough-winged swallow
sand martin
tree swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
tufted titmouse
black-capped chickadee
red-breasted nuthatch
white-breasted nuthatch
carolina wren
house wren
winter wren
marsh wren
golden-crowned kinglet
ruby-crowned kinglet
blue-grey gnatcatcher
eastern bluebird
american robin
wood thrush
veery
swainson's thrush
hermit thrush
grey catbird
northern mockingbird
brown thrasher
starling
cedar waxwing
northern parula
orange-crowned warbler
tennessee warbler
nashville warbler
blue-winged warbler
yellow warbler
chestnut-sided warbler
magnolia warbler
cape may warbler
black-throated blue warbler
cerulean warbler
blackburnian warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
black-throated green warbler
palm warbler
pine warbler
bay-breasted warbler
worm-eating warbler
prothonotary warbler
black-and-white warbler
american redstart
ovenbird
northern waterthrush
louisiana waterthrush
common yellowthroat
wilson's warbler
hooded warbler
scarlet tanager
northern cardinal
rose-breasted grosbeak
indigo bunting
eastern towhee
field sparrow
chipping sparrow
clay-coloured sparrow
savannah sparrow
grasshopper sparrow
vesper sparrow
harris's sparrow
nelson's sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
white-throated sparrow
song sparrow
lincoln's sparrow
swamp sparrow
dark-eyed junco
eastern meadowlark
bobolink
brown-headed cowbird
red-winged blackbird
common grackle
baltimore oriole
orchard oriole
purple finch
house finch
pine siskin
american goldfinch
house sparrow
heard only - ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, golden-winged warbler
other wildlife - beaver, moose, muskrat, red fox, grey squirrel, red squirrel, eastern chipmunk, opposum, racoon, snowshoe har, fox snake, camberwell beauty
Due to a late spring, and some cold weather on 11-13th, i did not experience the migration spectacle i was hoping for, but still managed to see 182 species, including 70 lifers, and 27 species of warbler, albeit mostly in single figures, and it was still the best birding i've ever had by a long way! In hindsight 10 days for this tour was not enough, especially having only 1 full day in Algonquin park, where the target birds can be hard to come by.
All planning was done on the internet, from trip reports(mainly off surfbirds, birdtours and limosa, but found many others from googling key words such as 'blackburnian pelee'), ebird, the information wanted section on here(many thanks Wolfbirder, Steve Arlow, Apbarr, Gwatola, Stonechat1 and Brucew for your replies), the Ontario Field Ornithologists website, and closer to the time, the ontbirds mailing list, muskoka bird board and blogs such as ontario birds and herps, nerdy for birdy and 'burg birder to get an idea of what was around.
I booked my flights through Air Canada in August, heathrow-toronto, costing £667 return(found the exact same flights for nearly £200 a couple of months later!), Hertz hire car(through expedia) for £268(ended up more than doubling that at the counter with all the crap they throw at you when your tired and eager to get on the road!), and pre-booked all the accommodation:- for Alqonquin, the Comfort Inn in Huntsville and the Alqonquin Dreamcatcher motel just outside the east side of the park(both ok). For Pelee i stayed in a cabin at Sturgeon Campsite Woods, just north of the park, which i wouldn't recommend to anybody that has to fly to Canada. The mattresses were wafer thin, no pillows or quilts, even to rent, and no heating(2 nights were barely above 0c! Had to put layers on to go to bed!). For Long Point i spent 2 nights in the Seasons House B&B in Port Rowan, which was perfectly situated, comfortable, with excellent hosts and an excellent breakfast!
The general cost of living was similar to the UK, maybe slightly more expensive, except for petrol which was about 80p per litre!
For getting around i picked up the cccmaps Ontario back road atlas from the first gas station for $20, and this proved invaluable.
Sites Visited
Carden Alvars
Situated east of Orilla. An excellent area of grassland, scrub, lakes and forest. I only had time to bird to the unpaved and bumpy Wylie Road. Despite it being mid-afternoon on a hot day it was still a brilliant introduction to Canadian birding! Saw bobolinks, eastern meadowlark, eastern bluebirds, brown thrashers and field sparrows among others here, with an upland sandpiper nearby. Worthy of a full mornings birding here but unfortunately i didn't have time for that. See the article(including map) on the OFO website for more information
Kerr Park
On the west side of bracebridge. A viewing screen overlooks cells 1 and 2 of the bracebridge lagoons. Didn't see alot here in my short visit, but a few ducks on the lagoons included a group of 12 buffleheads, and my only pileated woodpecker of the trip was on a telegraph pole by the car park
Algonquin Park
About a 40 minute drive east of Huntsville. All sites off highway 60. $16 permit required, which can be purchased from the west and east gates or the visitor centre. The west gate centre opens at 8 but you can get your ticket from the machine inside the reception area if entering earlier. I found the birding here extremely difficult, due to the vegetation and not having a clue what most the sounds were! Apparently one of the best areas to see most of the specialities(gray jay, black-backed woodpecker, boreal chickadee, ruffed and spruce grouse, both crossbills and evening grosbeak), is the north end of the Mizzy lake trail, accessed from arowhon road, however, spring floods had washed out the road and was only accessible by walking the 11km loop, which after a tough(birdwise) 2km i thought was not the best idea and turned round! I visited the west gate car park, western uplands trail, mizzy lake, spruce bog boardwalk, visitor centre(very little seed in the feeders, apparently they stop filling them in spring due to the potential of attracting bears) and opeongo road, with only the west gate car park and opeongo road(north of the 2nd bridge) being productive, and of the specialities i only managed to see the woodpecker!
Matchedash Bay
West of orilla, north of coldwater. Visited here to break up the long drive south to pelee. I visited the cowan trail in the southeast corner of the bay, but the heavens opened so didn't spend to long here. Only birds of note were an american bittern and a heard only golden-winged warbler. The access roads to here are/were a site for brewer's blackbird but i had no joy. There is also another access point to the northwest side of the bay off quarry road but i didn't have time for this. Could easily be combined for a full days birding with the carden alvars
Point Pelee
The main reason for this trip! Spent 4 days here, and there was always something new to see on the many trails. Although migration was 'slow', it was still incomparable to anything in the UK! Things did pick up on the 14th when the winds changed to southwesterlies, and there was a good reverse migration on the 15th. Got a season pass for c$90 to save having to go to reception each morning. The visitor centre has some food(was very fond of the large hotdogs!), toilets, a shop, and a logbook and map showing all the latest reports, and is worth stopping in everytime you pass. My daily routine was generally taking the first(6am) tram to the tip, spending a couple of hours around here, walking back to visitor centre either via the east beach, tram road or sparrow fields path, then birding the trails from the visitor centre(woodland trail and tildens woods) and then heading off out the park in the afternoon to nearby sites and returning later on. The west beach was good in the afternoons when the sun was on it, and the DeLaurier carpark is the place to be at dusk with American woodcocks displaying right overhead and a common nighthawk also seen. The feeders opposite the pelee wings store north of the park were always worth a quick look.
Hillman's Marsh
About 5kms north of Point Pelee. $5 entry fee. I only walked to the hide overlooking the shorebird cell. There was always a few waders here, though mainly grey plovers and dunlins, and a few ducks to add to the daylists but never anything too exciting.
Kopergaron Woods
About 5kms north of Hillman's marsh. A short loop boardwalk through some flooded forest. Didn't see anything of note here although can apparently be good for migrants
Mitchell's Bay
North of Tilbury on the east shore of Lake St.Clair. The marshes along angler's line used to be good for yellow-headed blackbird, but nobody i spoke to had seen any there this year and may no longer be a reliable site for them?? The strong winds on the afternoon i visited didn't help my chances! The extensive reedbeds of the nearby St.Clair marshes reserve(another former YHB site) were no better, with hardly any birds other than red-winged blackbirds seen at all!
Rondeau
Although it was still relatively quiet on my visit, i can see why this is many visitors favourite site! If entering early make sure you have change for the ticket machine($14 i think?). Like pelee it has a visitor centre with a log book and board of the recent sightings, with an excellent feeding station there. The maintenance loop was the best trail for me, with a prothonotary warbler landing in a tree right next to me briefly, male cerulean warbler creeping around the undergrowth, as was a male hooded warbler. Nearby a brewster's warbler was seen by many at point blank range near the pony barn. Other notable sightings at rondeau were my only tufted titmouse and hairy woodpeckers of the trip, an american woodcock in broad daylight right next to the road, clay-colored sparrow and dark-eyed junco.
Blenheim Lagoons
Located just southwest of blenheim. Free permit required which can be obtained online before visiting. There are 4 ponds and some filter beds here, the lakes having a few ducks(mostly ruddys), a black tern and 1500/2000 hirundines hawking over them, and the filter beds had a few waders, best of which were 5 wilson's phalaropes, including 2 stunning females. The surrounding fields were good for bobolinks. c100 purple martins resting on the one of the paths was quite a sight, albeit in a bittersweet way, as presumably they were too tired to feed due to the cold weather. Also visited the nearby mcgeachy pond but this was birdless.
Long Point Area
I got the 2010 birding guide to the long point area from the shop at pelee for $30 which was very helpful for this area. Although the banding station at old cut was ok for migrants, including a nearby harris's sparrow, and i've read good things about hastings drive, i can't see this area being as good as pelee or rondeau for variety and numbers of migrants on a good fall, as most the point is out of bounds. It was the sites inland of here i found most productive. At Backus woods(from concession road 4-access from the west side as the road can be undrivable from the east) i saw louisiana waterthrush, hooded warbler and cerulean warbler amongst commoner species, the field on the southwest side of the east quarter line/county road 24 junction was good for sparrows including vesper and grasshopper, and an evening visit to the manester field along concession road 6(sand road) produced whip-poor-will, blue-winged warbler and several displaying woodcocks. This site was very buggy and got eaten alive so make sure you wear a good repellent!
Colonel Samuel Smith Park
Located on the shore of lake ontario, south pearson airport. Spent my last few hours here before heading to the airport, and was a good way to end the trip! Had several species of warbler in woods, the lake had many ducks, most too far to identify but several groups of long-tailed duck were just offshore, and the harbour has nesting red-necked grebes. Also saw my only northern mockingbirds in the park, which are rare along lake erie.
Species seen:
Mute swan
canada goose
mallard
american black duck
gadwall
shoveller
american wigeon
green-winged teal
wood duck
lesser scaup
greater scaup
ring-necked duck
redhead
bufflehead
common goldeneye
long-tailed duck
red-breasted merganser
goosander
hooded merganser
surf scoter
ruddy duck
great northern diver
pied-billed grebe
red-necked grebe
double-crested cormorant
american bittern
great blue heron
great egret
green heron
turkey vulture
northern harrier
coopers hawk
broad-winged hawk
red-tailed hawk
bald eagle
osprey
merlin
american kestrel
pergerine
wild turkey
american coot
snadhill crane
grey/black-bellied plover
semipalmated plover
killdeer
greater yellowlegs
lesser yellowlegs
solitary sandpiper
(western)willet
spotted sandpiper
upland sandpiper
turnstone
dunlin
least sandpiper
short-billed dowitcher
american woodcock
wilsons snipe
wilsons phalarope
bonaparte's gull
ring-billed gull
american herring gull
great black-backed gull
caspian tern
common tern
fortser's tern
black tern
mourning dove
great horned owl
whip-poor-will
common nighthawk
chimney swift
ruby-throated hummingbird
belted kingfisher
red-headed woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
yellow-bellied sapsucker
downy woodpecker
hairy woodpecker
black-backed woodpecker
northern flicker
pileated woodpecker
eastern wood-pewee
willow flycatcher
least flycatcher
eastern phoebe
great crested flycatcher
eastern kingbird
red-eyed vireo
warbling vireo
white-eyed vireo
yellow-throated vireo
blue-headed vireo
blue jay
raven
american crow
shore/horned lark
purple martin
northern rough-winged swallow
sand martin
tree swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
tufted titmouse
black-capped chickadee
red-breasted nuthatch
white-breasted nuthatch
carolina wren
house wren
winter wren
marsh wren
golden-crowned kinglet
ruby-crowned kinglet
blue-grey gnatcatcher
eastern bluebird
american robin
wood thrush
veery
swainson's thrush
hermit thrush
grey catbird
northern mockingbird
brown thrasher
starling
cedar waxwing
northern parula
orange-crowned warbler
tennessee warbler
nashville warbler
blue-winged warbler
yellow warbler
chestnut-sided warbler
magnolia warbler
cape may warbler
black-throated blue warbler
cerulean warbler
blackburnian warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
black-throated green warbler
palm warbler
pine warbler
bay-breasted warbler
worm-eating warbler
prothonotary warbler
black-and-white warbler
american redstart
ovenbird
northern waterthrush
louisiana waterthrush
common yellowthroat
wilson's warbler
hooded warbler
scarlet tanager
northern cardinal
rose-breasted grosbeak
indigo bunting
eastern towhee
field sparrow
chipping sparrow
clay-coloured sparrow
savannah sparrow
grasshopper sparrow
vesper sparrow
harris's sparrow
nelson's sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
white-throated sparrow
song sparrow
lincoln's sparrow
swamp sparrow
dark-eyed junco
eastern meadowlark
bobolink
brown-headed cowbird
red-winged blackbird
common grackle
baltimore oriole
orchard oriole
purple finch
house finch
pine siskin
american goldfinch
house sparrow
heard only - ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, golden-winged warbler
other wildlife - beaver, moose, muskrat, red fox, grey squirrel, red squirrel, eastern chipmunk, opposum, racoon, snowshoe har, fox snake, camberwell beauty
