Recalling Browning Island

 I was reading through some old blog posts this evening.  I was reminiscing about trips to Browning Island, Lake Muskoka since recently I read through a book about Browning Island.  Although the book was published back in 2000, I have looked at it before when I stayed at the McIntyre cottage in the past.  I have been to Browning Island several times, but that chapter of my life closed when Shirley died two years ago.  The book is a good history of the island and describes the life of the cottagers.  Many of the chapters are written by them.

I have written several blog posts about visits to Browning Island, but one of my favourite visits to the island was in 2016 when I toured the interior of the island for nature.  The original blog post is copied below:

I spent the last three days in Muskoka visiting friends and exploring nature.  One of the highlights was getting to the interior of Browning Island, Lake Muskoka's largest island.  Although it was not the best time of year and my time was quite limited, it was interesting.

I was lucky enough to stay at Shirley McIntyre's--a very good friend of ours.  She has a cottage at the north end of the island, originally built by her parents back in 1941.  I have been there a few times before, but never ventured to the interior of the island which is uninhabited. 

"McIntyre Bay"

Browning Island has a long history with occupation going back to perhaps the 1870's.  The Archer family set up a large farm on the interior in the early days, and remnants of the fields are evident today with large open areas of the interior.  However, they have been growing in due to natural succession.

Shirley arranged for me to meet Kathy Ristic, who's family has a cottage on the west side of the island. Kathy has been heavily-involved with the Muskoka Conservancy.
http://muskokaconservancy.org/

The conservancy has acquired land for nature reserves throughout Muskoka including a large portion of the interior of Browning Island.  The reserve on the island has come about over several years, starting in 2004 with the co-operation of various landowners on the island.  The reserve currently occupies about 338 acres which includes upland forest, small wetlands, streams, and some of the former farm fields.

On Saturday morning, Kathy met me at Shirley's property and we ventured up the slope to the interior of the island.  Some of the high points of the island show bare rock.

There have been surveys done to see what wildlife and plants species are present, but it is certainly far from complete.
There has been a list of plants and mammals done, as well as insects, but is far from complete.

Needless to say, I  would think there is more out there to be found.

Kathy and I walked for over 3 hours going through a variety of habitats.  Some of it was along the power line corridor, which circles the island to feed the cottages.  Hydro came to Browning Island in the mid 1940's, so these corridors have been around since then.  I found the most variety of insects along these.

However, during the course of the walk, the only lep I saw was a single Cabbage White!  Obviously it was not the best time of year, and surprisingly the open areas had no butterflies, despite ample nectaring sources.

Dragonflies were most common along the corridors.  This one was the most common, which may be a Black-shouldered Spinyleg.  I hate trying to ID dragons, and with no net, it was tough. LOL!

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

A few White-faced Meadowhawks were around.

This one was a bit different in the clubtail family near the end of the walk. Dragonhunter?  Dragonhunters are found on the island in any case.

There were lots of these darners, many being Lance-tipped.

Back in July 2012, while visiting his friend Linda Hughes, Bob Curry checked out the island and made quite a list of leps and odes.  He wrote an article in a September 2012 issue of The Muskokan.  I do have a copy of that article.  I have talked to Linda in the past.

The old field areas were getting quite overgrown, and it wore me out trying to get through!  Red dogwood was quite thick.
Most of the birds I saw were around the edge of the old field.  Nothing unusual.
Here is an eBird list:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30992377

Our morning walk was enough for one day.  Perhaps something in the nature of a bioblitz would increase the list of species within the nature reserve an give us a good idea what is present.

Koilos (900 kg statue near Browning Island!)

Muskoka Musings

This past weekend I got away from my home area, but obviously not from the weather!  Just like clockwork, the weather went for a crap yet again for the weekend.  This must be some sort of record since we have had a weather event every single weekend this year, and the year is half over!!  Will it ever end?

I planned a trip to Muskoka over a month ago to visit Browning Island on Lake Muskoka.  In retrospect, it should have been for a weekday. I had plans to check out some of the interior of the island during the breeding season, but due to the weather and other factors, I spent little time exploring the interior.
I usually manage to get there every two years to visit our friend Shirley McIntyre who owns a cottage at the north end of the island.
Two years ago I spent a few hours on the interior, as described in this blogpost:
https://burgbirder.blogspot.com/2016/08/muskoka-trip-browning-island.html

I headed up early Saturday morning and arrived at Bracebridge about 10:20.  First stop to wind down, was the lagoons adjacent to Kerr Park.  It is a decent birding spot and popular to the locals and conveniently located on the same road to the marina where I was headed.
I happened to meet up with David Goodyear at the lagoons, a local birder.  I had never met David before, but he knew who I was before I even said anything!  Turns out he is a faithful reader of this blog.
Just before the meeting, I walked by the woods and listed some birds.  Some butterflies were out under gloomy skies, including Common Roadside Skipper and White Admiral.  The local butterfly count was cancelled on this day due to the weather. (Never plan an outdoor event on a weekend!).

I spent an hour there, and then headed down to Allport Marina where Shirley picked me up for the ride over to the cottage.
At least the drizzle held off while I was at Bracebridge and for the boat ride.  However, drizzle came down the rest of the day which was decidedly depressing.
I spent some time exploring the property though.  It has a point of land and a cozy  cove.

Next morning, the sun was actually out!  It stayed out most of the day, but there were clouds off and on and even a brief rain shower.

View towards Monte Cristo Island

In the morning, I explored Eilean Gowan Island nearby.  The interior is a nature reserve and a 5 km trail goes around the island. It is obviously heavily-browsed by deer.

I encountered some basic birds, including a pair of Common Ravens.
At one point, a Red Fox made an appearance.

After my walk, we visited with some friends of Shirley's at an adjacent cottage, then headed back for lunch.

After lunch, we managed to find the public access to the nature reserve on the west side of the island.  There is a marked trail, but one has to land in a very small boat, and bushwack to find it.

Not knowing where I would end up, I eventually came to a clearing (or meadow) which looked familiar from my visit two years ago.

There were lots of butterflies present, including numerous Long Dash and some Eyed-Brown.

There were also many European Skippers which goes to show how widespread they are.

A few dragonflies were around, including Black-shouldered Spinyleg.  This one must be fresh, as it is very yellow.

The adjacent cottage to the public access is owned by friends of Shirley's, so luckily we were able to use their dock.

Lake Muskoka on west side of Browning Island

Back at the McIntyre property, I once again walked around.  Pileated Woodpecker makes an occasional visit, but I only heard it.  I found evidence to recent activity.

Pine, Blackburnian, and Yellow-rumped Warblers are resident.  A family of Eastern Phoebes just fledged from the nest on the cottage last Thursday.

Just like clockwork, Monday morning dawned with out a cloud in the sky.  At least it made for a nice drive home.
I did stop by West Perth Wetlands as I always do, but nothing noteworthy was present.  Water levels are rather high, as we near fall migration of shorebirds.

Near home, I decided to stop at Reid CA to look for hairstreaks.  In the first 15 minutes I found five Oak Hairstreaks, which seem to be most common there.

It is prime time for this rare resident of Ontario, which can only be seen for a period of two weeks each year.

If this coming weekend is nice without rain, I will be completely lost......

Koilos (900 kg statue) on Lake Muskoka

In the Heat of the Day

Work was very slow today, so I took off during the noon hour.  I think today was the worst day of this summer drought.  It has been a long time since we have seen hot and dry conditions like this summer!  Everything is burnt to a crisp, but as I write this we finally got a bit of rain.  It has virtually not rained all summer and this weekend is the one where we do not rain.  It is WAMBO time in Wallaceburg!

In local sightings, heading to work this morning, some Sandhill Cranes were in the fields along Langstaff Line, as they usually are this time of year.  Ten were near the west end.

After lunch, I headed over to Reid CA for a bit of a walk.  Lots of Silver-spotted Skippers are out right now, as are Giant Swallowtails and summer crescents.

I walked into the forest to check an area for Dukes' Skippers.  None were there.  Nearby I admired the tall oaks.

Nothing was at the "Broad-winged Skipper area" either.

Near the gate, I walked in to the shaded sedges.

I did manage to find a single worn Dukes' Skipper.

Royal River Cruisers are plentiful right now.  Last evening I saw at least a dozen along the main trail through Reid.

Here are a few other scenes from my recent trip to Muskoka.  I did not take many photos on the trip--just enjoyed the scenery and wildlife.

View from McIntyre dock of Lake Muskoka

Guest Cabin at McIntyre Cottage

Ian investigating the speedboat!

Sundew at Torrence Barrens

Muskoka Trip: Browning Island

I spent the last three days in Muskoka visiting friends and exploring nature.  One of the highlights was getting to the interior of Browning Island, Lake Muskoka's largest island.  Although it was not the best time of year and my time was quite limited, it was interesting.
I was lucky enough to stay at Shirley McIntyre's--a very good friend of ours.  She has a cottage at the north end of the island, originally built by her parents back in 1941.  I have been there a few times before, but never ventured to the interior of the island which is uninhabited.

Browning Island has a long history with occupation going back to perhaps the 1870's.  The Archer family set up a large farm on the interior in the early days, and remnants of the fields are evident today with large open areas of the interior.  However, they have been growing in due to natural succession.

Shirley arranged for me to meet Kathy Ristic, who's family has a cottage on the west side of the island. Kathy has been heavily-involved with the Muskoka Conservancy.
http://muskokaconservancy.org/

The conservancy has acquired land for nature reserves throughout Muskoka including a large portion of the interior of Browning Island.  The reserve on the island has come about over several years, starting in 2004 with the co-operation of various landowners on the island.  The reserve currently occupies about 338 acres which includes upland forest, small wetlands, streams, and some of the former farm fields.

On Saturday morning, Kathy met me at Shirley's property and we ventured up the slope to the interior of the island.  Some of the high points of the island show bare rock.

There have been surveys done to see what wildlife and plants species are present, but it is certainly far from complete.
There has been a list of plants and mammals done, as well as insects, but is far from complete.

Needless to say, I  would think there is more out there to be found.

Kathy and I walked for over 3 hours going through a variety of habitats.  Some of it was along the power line corridor, which circles the island to feed the cottages.  Hydro came to Browning Island in the mid 1940's, so these corridors have been around since then.  I found the most variety of insects along these.

However, during the course of the walk, the only lep I saw was a single Cabbage White!  Obviously it was not the best time of year, and surprisingly the open areas had no butterflies, despite ample nectaring sources.

Dragonflies were most common along the corridors.  This one was the most common, which may be a Black-shouldered Spinyleg.  I hate trying to ID dragons, and with no net, it was tough. LOL!

A few White-faced Meadowhawks were around.

This one was a bit different in the clubtail family near the end of the walk. Dragonhunter?  Dragonhunters are found on the island in any case.

There were lots of these darners, probably Lance-tipped.

Back in July 2012, while visiting his friend Linda Hughes, Bob Curry checked out the island and made quite a list of leps and odes.  He wrote an article in a September 2012 issue of The Muskokan.  I do have a copy of that article.

The old field areas were getting quite overgrown, and it wore me out trying to get through!  Red dogwood was quite thick.
Most of the birds I saw were around the edge of the old field.  Nothing unusual.
Here is an eBird list:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30992377

Our morning walk was enough for one day.  Perhaps something in the nature of a bioblitz would increase the list of species within the nature reserve an give us a good idea what is present.

Koilos (900 kg statue near Browning Island!)