I arrived in Huntsville during the noon hour to get food and gas and look around. I happened upon an ususual sighting in the shopping plaza parking lot. This was one in a million chance I picked this lane to walk through, but Ron Tozer was sitting in his car waiting for his wife Pat! We had a nice chat and then went on our separate ways.
The skies were still clear as I headed up to Arrowhead Provincial Park, not far north of Huntsville. I have visited this park several times before just to walk some trails, but never camped there. I first decided to walk Stubb's Falls trail, a 1.6 km loop. It was nice and sunny when I started, but when I finished, the clouds had rolled in and it was sprinkling rain! It got worse from there.
I managed to get the tent set up with a tarp before the skies let loose. Needless to say, the rest of the day was a washout and I was disappointed not to walk any more trails.
I was hoping to do the long Beaver Meadow Trail where back on 20 June 2005 I found Muskoka's first and only White-eyed Vireo.
The rain stopped briefly and I checked out Big Bend Lookout, something I had not seen yet. It was quite interesting where the Big East River loops around. You can see the layers of time.
The river has several oxbows, and this location may someday be one.
I got up early the next morning in sprinkling rain, and headed south to Gravenhurst. The skies let loose again and I sat at the wharf for some time.
The skies started clearing in the west, so I headed over to Hardy Lake Provincial Park, a spot I have visited several times before.
There were few birds for most of my long walk (I somehow got twisted around and walked twice as far as I wanted to!), but near the end, I found a nice flurry of passerines. There were several warbler species and some vireos.
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| Tennessee Warbler with grub |
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| Palm Warbler |
Farther down the road, I decided to check out Torrence Barrens. By this time the weather was quite nice. I only stayed an hour, but should have stayed longer as it was quite enjoyable there.
Several Pine Warblers were among other passerines.
I motored on after this walk, and headed towards Penetanguishene. By this time, the skies opened up again! Then at one point, there was a storm to the south and one to the north with blue sky in between.
After lunch, I headed over to Awenda Provincial Park where, as you know, I have stayed several times before.
I walked the Robitaille Homestead Trail, but few birds were seen.
It is interesting that this was once a cleared area and was once a farm.
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| Foundation remains of barn |
Afterwards, I just loafed around the campsite, drying out things! It was very windy, so I did not hear any birds in the evening.
However, during the night, the ever-reliable Barred Owls called. One must have been at the campsite as it woke me up!
Just after 6 a.m., I heard two more calling back and forth.
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| Old Photo from Awenda (at my campsite!) |
Before leaving the park, I checked the beach area where a good number of birds were moving along. Out on the lake were at least 15 Common Loons, and even a few Red-necked Grebes.
It was time to head south. I thought of staying away one more night, but the forecast called for rain late in the day and night. Turns out it was one of the rare occasions they were right!
Normally I coincide my week off with the OFO Convention. It seemed just too inconvenient for various reasons to attend this year, so I missed out. Next year it is in Peterborough, so that is food for thought. Maybe I can finally check out Algonquin's east side, then head down to Peterborough.
I eventually headed towards home, but stopped at West Perth Wetlands, as I often do on my route.
It was littered with Lesser Yellowlegs...I counted at least 100! Nothing else of note though.
One more stop was Forest Lagoons where I met up with Jarmo Jalava. We had met before and we had a good chat while watching some Long-billed Dowitchers and Pectoral Sandpipers.
Just after arriving at home late in the afternoon, you guessed it, the rain started. Oh well, it was still a decent trip.
Enjoyed following along with your trip. Some of those locations are new to me and sound interesting to check out sometime.
ReplyDeleteIt seems West Perth can be hit or miss in terms of interesting stuff. There was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper there yesterday.
Thanks for commenting Jon. I usually have a regular routine on those trips!
DeleteI only checked Mitchell with binoculars and was confident of identifying everything. Perhaps the Buff was way at the back when I was there. Birds seem to change regularly though.