A Visit to Rondeau Provincial Park

Mid May, my husband and I spent a few days in south western Ontario, and we visited 2 very wonderful parks while there.

We were heading to Point Pelee as we'd always wanted to go there, being big hikers and fairly avid but amateur bird lovers. I booked into the Talbot Trail Inn, which by the way, was excellent! Shout out to Talbot Trail, we recommend it!

It was pretty chill chill the day we left on our 4 1/4 hr drive, raining on and off, and threatening snow. We did end up getting soft little balls of wet snow while at Rondeau, and I was Not dressed warm enough. Seeing the Spring forest floor flowers get dusted with snow balls, and the poor migrant birds probably chilled to the bone just seemed wrong, lol! The sun peeked out here and there luckily, and the visit there was so amazing that the cold day and weird weather didn't ruin it.

The marsh was expansive and stunning, running in section like rows between forested land rows. There were a ton of warblers, and we saw Rose Breasted Grosbeaks so close and plentiful. One higher skilled birder made a comment that the warblers were in trouble, as they were seen coming down low to the marsh surface, hopping around on fallen logs in the water. Maybe due to the weather being not quite right for them, and food not being plentiful enough for their migration, would be my guess :-(

The scenery, plant life and bird life in this park was all breath taking. We have marsh areas in Durham Region and in Toronto, but it seems so like another world in southern Ontario. Sort of similar to the Niagara area in a way.

I'll be doing a post on our Pelee visit later on down the road a week or so.

Right in Our Back Yard

Ok, well, I guess not Literally, since we don't own a house, but live in a condo. Though, this is very close, basically right across the street :-)

Often, we walk a ways, to the Birkdale Ravine, or we drive a short distance to one of the parks or trails down on the shores of Lake Ontario off Kingston Rd. in Scarborough, or we head into the city for Tommy Thompson, or even out to our old haunts in Durham Region (which are sorely missed by us).

However, there is this lovely little forest area right near Scarborough Town Ctre, on Borough Dr. and it is basically on the street that runs just south of our condo building. It's a 5 minute walk. We decided to do this little walk, something we have not done since last Spring, and see what there was to enjoy.

This time of year the Trilliums are coming up, and lots of other little forest floor flowers. They were starting, and there were a lot of Trout Lilies already. The fallen tree pieces seem to lay in a beautiful elegant way in this forest, among the plentiful piles of leaf debris and pine cones, and with the flowers nestled all around these, it makes for quite a scrumptious sight. There also was some beautiful lower evening light on lots of dried leaves and new buds and such, always a visual joy :-)

We did come up with some really cool little bird and critter sightings! Right in this little urban forest. Lots of White Throated Sparrows, 3 Hermit Thrush, and lots of Robins, as well as your usual House Sparrows. We spotted many of these city sparrows on the way there, eating the new blossom buds and dandelion flowers.

A critter, we think a ground hog, was collecting dried clumps of leaves for its den, which we did find the entrance hole to.

Pikachu even waved to us from out his window high above, welcoming us back lol!

All in all, really, we did not need to go to far to enjoy a fun and beneficial walk.

our little urban forest

Weekday Walk at Bluffers Park in Scarborough

I had taken off a day for my 50th birthday which I celebrated this year. Nothing big, just my kids and Dad and my husband at Tara Inn on Kingston Rd., a really great Irish pub we like. It happens too to be not to far from Rosetta McLean Gardens, and the Bluffs, places we like to frequent here and there, for nature walks and bird spotting.

We hit the Bluffs a couple days after my birthday, on a weekday, and found it quite a sighting filled visit, Mostly copulating birds lol! Spring has spring it would seem :-)

We did run across one sad sighting, a completely dried out open carcass of what I am sure was a mink, on one of the wood and fence gangplanks around the water treatment areas. I did shoot a photo of it, out of curiosity, which I won't post here of course, due to its hideous nature. Not sure what happened to the poor critter, possibly a bird of prey, but not entirely sure.

Well, the Kingfishers were quite active and rowdy, not to mention frisky (more than one time) though the pigeons on the beach were a lot closer for a better photo unfortunately lol!

The Red Tailed hawk was right above our heads, as was one of the pair of ravens. A pair of Mallard ducks swam along the edge of the main centre pond area, where there also were quite a few turtles, and we learned something about your basic mallard duck. They will catch and eat fish if the opportunity arises. The female duck suddenly had a small fish in her bill, and after a bit of a struggle, she did swallow it. I had no clue ducks like that eat fish! The male duck showed no interest in stealing it from her, maybe due to her possibly being a future Mom?

As we walked through the little paths around the water control area, I spotted a single dried leaf spinning wildly on a branch, making a cool whistling sound, then stopping as the wind dropped. I'm not a huge taker of videos but this entranced me, so I shot a little vid, very short, of it, which I have here above.

It was a really pretty day :-)

Lots of Spring Critters at Birkdale Ravine

Gorgeous day, slight nip in the air but still and warmth touching our shoulders given by the bright sunlight. Just a perfect early Spring day for a walk.

The animals and birds must have had the same inclination because we were treated to quite a few exciting sightings today at the ravine near where we live.

First, the bird that prompted our disagreement later at home, until I was convinced lol! - a Winter Wren (not a House Wren as I felt it has to be).

We spotted a mink running along the bank on the opposite side from where we stood, watching the wren, in its reddish coat. So cute!

Not a great photographic opportunity, but we enjoyed the pleasure of spotting a Cooper's Hawk eating something, in a tree, before 2 squirrels barrelling down a tree right next to it scared it off. It did return to continue eating a bit later,

Lots of Robins out, Cardinals, and Song Sparrows were singing.

A real treat, and not something we've seen as close as we did, an Eastern Phoebe. We normally don't walk on the right side of the Community Centre when we exit the park, but we did this time, and were then lucky to be greeted by the cute bird, sitting on the fence near the town houses, then she popped closer to us in a small tree, affording me the opportunity for a pretty close capture!

The ravine is only a 10 minute walk from us, and is a beautiful area, often offering up quite a few generous sightings of migratory birds, local birds, and wild life. It's a very enjoyable walk.