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....

Bruce Birds, Bugs, Botany

I needed to get a way for a couple of days, so I headed up to the Bruce Peninsula!  My base camp, as always is MacGregor Point Provincial Park.

Sunday was mostly cloudy up there, unfortunately, and very muggy.  I made the best of it though.  There were bouts of sun in the afternoon which helped looking for butterflies and dragonflies.  I managed to meet some of my targets.
Right away, I found a Dorcas Copper (the only one of the trip!).

In the same vicinity were some Coral Hairstreaks.  I missed them around home (probably for the first time) this summer.

In the bog near the visitor centre, I looked for Racket-tailed Emerald and managed to find a couple.

Those metallic green eyes really stick out!

I walked the two main trails in the park--Lake Ridge Trail and the Tower Trail.  Both can be good for butterflies, but the cloudy afternoon did not help.

Chalk-fronted Corporal

Variable Dancer

There were many Appalachian Browns and some Eyed-Browns fluttering through the woods.

Eyed-Brown

Monday morning I headed out early and first stop was Sauble Beach where one can see Piping Plovers.  Apparently there were three nestings there this year!  I got there around 7 a.m. before the riff -raff arrived, so there were no people around.  I found some plovers right away.

A couple of early fall migrant Sanderlings were nearby as well, but I never took a photo of them. (They still come up rare at this point on eBird).

Heading north, I veered off highway 6 down Dyer's Bay Road where some Dickcissels were nesting.  I saw one female and one male.  One bird was carrying food.  I never got any good photos though, lol!

Next stop was one of my favourite places, Singing Sands at Dorcas Bay.  I have been going there since the early 1990's.  There is a new parking lot across the road and you have to walk in.  It is a good thing as that place becomes a zoo in the summer with beach goers!

Trails were actually flooded in some spots, so access was limited.  Lots of Horned Bladderwort was along the beach.

Butterflies and dragonflies were not too numerous, but I did find this nice Common Wood Nymph.

Long Dash and Tawny-edged Skippers were fairly numerous along the woodland trail.

Long Dash on Heal-all

clubtail sp.

After almost two hours there, it was time to get out of there as the beach goers were invading the place.

Tobermory Harbour was the next stop as I checked things out there and got some lunch.  Feature attraction there is the tug Dawn Light, at least to my eyes.  This is no ordinary tug.  It has an extensive storied history.  It was originally built in 1890, and it one of the oldest hulls on the Great Lakes.

The history is too much to tell here, but it has a Wallaceburg connection when named the Henry Stokes and Aburg.  It has sunk a couple of times, including one here in Wallaceburg.

The current owner has fixed up the interior and is still doing work.  He made contact with us a couple of years ago.  As fate would have it, the owner was there on Monday, and it nearly knocked his socks off when I introduced myself!  He gave me a tour of the tug.

engine room, starboard side

Drawing of original configuration:

Getting back to the topic, after lunch I stopped by Lindsay Tract Trails beside highway 6.  Nothing special there, but lots of trails to check out.

One of my mandatory stops is Petrel Point near Red Bay.  Here we have a nature reserve owned by Ontario Nature. It is a fen with some rare plants.

As I stepped onto the boardwalk, this emerald was patrolling the area.  

Brush-tipped Emerald

Here are some photos of plants.

Grass Pink

Rose Pogonia

Tall White Bog Orchid (past its prime)

False Asphodel

more Horned Bladderwort

Tuesday morning dawned very foggy.

I spotted this Merlin at the north end of MacGregor Point just before I headed out.

On the way home, I stopped to walk the Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales.  The Acadian Flycatcher was still present, among other birds.
I found this Wild Indigo Duskywing near the start of the trail.

Closer to home, Dickcissels were seen and heard along the way.  One spot was just north of Wilkesport along Kimball Road--a previously unreported location.
Map on this checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S38205577

Previously, I found more along Forest Road.