Browning Island and Lake Muskoka

Wednesday morning saw dense fog, but it was lifting by the time I got to Gravenhurst.  I stopped to check out the Segwun and Wenonah II at the dock.  The Segwun is the oldest operating steamboat in North America.  It was restored and started cruises in 1981.

The Wenonah II is a modern reproduction of a typical large Muskoka steamer.
The Gravenhurst wharf is all fixed up nicely with a boardwalk and several shops.  There is also a new museum and heritage centre.

Segwun on Lake Muskoka

This area and the Muskokas has quite a history and some information can be found at:
http://segwun.com/index.html

Hardy Lake scene

Having a bit of time, I headed west over to Hardy Lake Provincial Park.  I stopped there a year ago and walked around the lake, but this year I took the shorter trail.  It was still foggy and damp.

The first part of the trail follows old road bed.

Birds on the lake included Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Wood Duck.  A few warblers and other birds were in the woods, but it was rather quiet.

Later in the morning, I headed up to a marina near Bracebridge to meet Shirley.  We headed over to her cottage.  It was too hot to do much so I just looked around and relaxed.
Browning Island has a deep history dating back to the 1870's when it was first occupied for removal of timber.  There is now a nature reserved in the interior.  The Browning Island Nature Preserve was started in 2004  by local residents who contributed funds to purchase land.  Cottages line the shoreline and most have electricity.  Hydro probably came in the 1940's, as well as telephone lines.

Shirley McIntyre's cottage and boathouse

A tour around Browning Island was in order late in the afternoon.  At the south end, a fellow by the name of Leslie Rue who resides in South Carolina, has a summer place there.  He was President of the Antique and Classic Boat Society of America in 1994.  A large boathouse of several slips contains his collection of antique boats.

1927 Hacker Craft 24' 

Upstairs is a small workshop where he restores canoes and other small craft.  It was quite a privelege to meet Les.  An interesting fellow!

The Mac-Craft at Leslie Rue's

By Thursday, the air had cleared and it was quite pleasant.  We went over to Eilean Gowan Island where there is a trail through the interior of the island.  The interior is actually a nature reserve.  The island is quite large, but we only walked a very small portion.  It was named after Robert Gowan, an original settler.  "Eilean" is Gaelic for island.
It was rather quiet, but a few birds were present such as Phoebe, Peewee, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  We saw several deer, which did not surprise me as I looked at the lack of undergrowth.
Lunch was given at Shirley's friend who lives next to the entrance of this trail, so that was rather convenient!

A boat ride around Eilean Gowan Island precluded a time of relaxation in the afternoon.

Fox Island

Shirley's property (~7 acres) is on the north tip of the island, She has a cove on the west side, and a point of land that borders it on the north.  I hiked out to the point where I found some blueberries.  There used to be lots of blueberries, but tree growth has crowded them out.  I sat on the point for almost an hour, munching on blueberries.  I also found some wintergreen, which as a youngster I learned to recognize when I spent summers at a camp north of Lake Rosseau.  (That is how I got to like Muskoka so much!).

the point and the cove

Later in the afternoon we headed out in the boat down to "Gull Island" which is south of Browning.  It is a CWS nature reserve where Herring Gulls, Great Blue Herons and Cormorants nest.  We circled the island in the boat, observing numerous Cormorants and Herring Gulls.  They do banding there, and a couple of years ago Shirley took some banders there to do their work.

Eleanor Island Bird Sanctuary

While out there, I saw the only butterfly on the lake.  It was a Clouded Sulphur heading somewhere!  Clouded Sulphurs are common right now, as I saw hundreds on the way up to Muskoka and on the way back.  I could not avoid running into many of them!  When I got home, I found one on top of the car engine under the hood.
During that afternoon, a family of Red-eyed Vireos kept coming to feed on some berries next to the cottage.  I was too lazy to get out the camera though.
Bird life was quiet, but the odd Raven came through, as well as some warblers and both nuthatches.  Chickadees were common.  A Spotted Sandpiper was in the cove Thursday afternoon.
Apparently Barred Owls can be heard when they are vocal earlier in the summer.
Shirley indicated that bird life has declined markedly over the years.  She has been coming there all her life, so that tells you something.

Scene near Eilean Gowan Island