Bountiful Bruce

 This week, I decided that I needed a couple of days away, so I headed up to the Bruce Peninsula.  I left Tuesday morning and my base camp was MacGregor Point Provincial Park.  It has always been one of my favourite parks when on the road.

MacGregor Point was established in 1975 as an alternative camping area when the Bruce Nuclear Plant was built.  Inverhuron Provincial Park was too close to the plant, so camping was terminated there.  It has since been re-established though, since things have changed at the nuclear plant.

My first stop was Naftel's Creek CA south of Goderich.  It is neat place to walk through, and a good chance for a break during a long drive.

Before checking in to MacGregor Point, I continued onto the peninsula to visit a few spots.  First stop was Oliphant Fen Nature Reserve.  Last time I checked out the spot was when the Reddish Egret was just up the road a few years ago.

Here are some things I observed:

Green-keeled Cottongrass

Leafy White Orchid (Tall Bog)

Purple Pitcher Plant

Chalk-fronted Corporal

clubtail sp.

I did not intend to go too far, but I kept going after the Oliphant visit!  I always use Red Bay Road to cut across to highway 6, but there are some good pastures along there. As well, one can find Brewer's Blackbirds closer to the Mar village.  I did see one or two.  The road also skirts the shallow body of water called Sky Lake where one can find different birds such as Black Tern.

I did a U-turn at Mar and headed back towards Red Bay.  Petrel Point Nature Reserve, one of my favourite places to visit, was not too far up the road.  I have been checking out this Ontario Nature property since about 1991!

It was a bit early to view plants on the fen, but there are insects and birds to watch for as well.  The only bladderwort, (a single plant) I found in bloom was Intermediate (or Flat-leaved).

Some dragonflies included Chalk-fronted Corporal and Calico Pennant.

I headed back to MacGregor Point after this visit.  I wandered some areas of the park.  Seiche Pond area is a favourite for insects.  Lots of Calico Pennants, and a bluet sp.

There were hardly any butterflies on the trip, but I did see lots of Hobomok Skippers.

This spot has lots of Painted-Cup Paintbrush

I was finding lots of Yellow Ladies Slipper plants (everywhere during my travels).

I also walked the long trail called Lake Ridge Trail.  It was a bit quiet for things though.  In the past, I have seen a wide variety of birds and animals such as Porcupine.  Also, one area was good for hairstreaks!

Late in the day, I checked out the lakeshore and Watersnake Pond.

Great Egret at Watersnake Pond

At night, the Whip-poor-wills were quite vocal at the campsite.  Seemed like they were having a contest as to who could sing the loudest and longest!  And about 2 a.m., I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling!

Wednesday morning, I headed out early to check out the peninsula.  There are so many places to visit there, one should spend several days!  I only checked out a few spots I visited in the past.

One is, The Bury Road.  There are many pastures and some woods along this dirt road, but there is a lot to see.  It is good for grassland birds.  I found nothing unusual, but one always hopes for a rare flycatcher or something!  Some late Black-bellied Plovers were in one field, but too distant to get a decent photo.

Farther up the peninsula, I walked some of the Lindsay Tract Trails.  One trail skirts by a wetland, where I heard Sora, among other things.  Dragonflies were here, including Racket-tailed Emerald, Chalk-fronted Corporal, Four-spotted Skimmer, clubtails (likely Lancet), etc.

Four-spotted Skimmer

clubtail sp.

After spending some time here, I headed up to Dyer's Bay Road where one finds more pastures.  In the past, I have seen Dickcissel here, among other birds.  Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Past Dyer's Bay village, one used to be able to head out to Cabot Head, another spot I visited several times.  However, a few years ago the road was washed out during the high water cycle and is not longer accessible to the public.

This was as far as I went north, so headed back and to the west side where I went down Stoke's Bay Road, West Road, and Daddy Weir Road, eventually ending up on Huron Road where I once again stopped at Petrel Point.

A pair of Eastern Bluebirds was nesting in one of the boxes along the road.  The male bluebird popped in the hole before I could get a photo!

The reserve has a nice new boardwalk (composite board) on the south side.  The north side is no longer accessible, but I thought is was the better spot for plants!

I had done enough driving around for this day, so headed back to MacGregor Point.  Among other things, I walked the Tower Trail which about 3.5 km.  Used to be called Ducks Unlimited Trail, as the spot was dyked by DUC to create a wetland.

Osprey once again nested here.

Never decided yet which ode this was:

clubtail sp.

At one point, I saw some Racket-tailed Emeralds.

In the evenings, I walked along the lakeshore.  It has changed a bit from past years as much erosion has occurred from the high water a couple of years ago.

More slippers:

At night, the Whip-poor-wills sang up a storm just after sunset, and I added a drumming Ruffed Grouse to the list.

Next morning I headed back south.  It was a good get-away!

In the meantime early that morning, I got word that a Cassin's Kingbird was near Pelee Wings.  It had been mis-identified the previous day as a Western Kingbird though.  I did not really intend to go see it since I was so far away, but I actually did!  Once I got further south, after stopping at a few places, I kept going to see the rare kingbird.  An Ontario lifer for most!  More on that chase in a future post....