A New Birding Frontier: Southern Ontario

Painted Turtle in an awkward
resting position

I filtered through my email inbox upon reaching Prescott. Amongst the junk and a lovely message from my mother, was an eBird Alert with an update of all the birds seen that particular day in Ontario. Scrolling down this most-priceless-of-lists, one particular entry caught my eye…A Glossy Ibis in Cornwall.

Now we were in a predicament. Cornwall was where we ate pancakes and eggs for breakfast the day before, some 70-odd kilometers east of Prescott. It would be a 140 km round trip, in the wrong direction.

Young Virginia Rail checking us out
along the boardwalk at Cooper Marsh

With every day that passes, we risk missing out on common birds further west, that will soon be heading south after a summer in Canada. I thought it best to ring a friend of mine, who grew up birding in Ontario, for his advice on whether to go for it. He explained that although we likely won’t have another chance to see one, we should set our eyes west instead.

We did, and we don’t regret it.

Scrolling further down the eBird Alert, two particular birds (that can be very hard to find) were seen in a place that would add 40 km to our route, but at least it was in the right direction.

Opinicon Road is roughly 50 km north of Kingston. It is unique in that the forest is a rich mix of Carolinian deciduous and pine trees, and the birds that live here are rare elsewhere in Canada. There is a Queens University Biological Research Station situated along the road, and as it was nearing dusk, we thought it the most interesting place to try and find a quiet, free campsite. After all, it was summer holidays, so the station should be empty.

A Porcupine! Asleep on a branch!

The place was packed with university students. We were turned away (much to the disappointment of some of the students). What was worse was that one of the head researchers (who was also apparently the friendliest…and a birder), has just left to look for Eastern Whip-poor-wills.

The next day, our morning started early, but slowly. We visited all the right spots to find the specialty birds here, but as we were approaching August, nothing was calling.

This Upland Sandpiper was one of
seven new birds yesterday!

After lunching at Chaffeys Lock, we tried two final hotspots. The first was silent as usual, but two snoozing Porcupines kept us motivated enough to try one last walk. Here it didn’t take long before a Yellow-billed Cuckoo called beside us, then a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, helping us regain some pride. We had missed some special warblers (Cerulean, Golden-winged, Louisiana Waterthrush etc.), but it had come time to leave for Kingston.

In spite of this, our departure commenced a progression of luck! A pair of Yellow-throated Vireos (this and the cuckoo were the two birds on the Alert) in a weeping willow; a female Wild Turkey walking into long grass; a Black Tern fishing in a marsh; Two Eastern Towhees calling from shrubs on each side of the road; and to cap off the excitement, an Upland Sandpiper atop a fence post, just meters from us!

We are on the cusp of 200 birds, and with four days left in July, we expect to reach it before entering the last three months of our journey.

New Birds:

167. Spruce Grouse

168. Blackpoll Warbler

169. American Woodcock

170. Red Crossbill

171. Northern Rough-winged Swallow

172. Snow Goose

173. White-breasted Nuthatch

174. Baltimore Oriole

175. Lesser Yellowlegs

176. Least Sandpiper

177. Peregrine Falcon

178. Warbling Vireo

179. House Wren

180. Red-shouldered Hawk

181. Hooded Merganser

182. Marsh Wren

183. Green Heron

184. Caspian Tern

185. Virginia Rail

186. Redhead

187. Great Crested Flycatcher

188. Eastern Meadowlark

189. Field Sparrow

190. Solitary Sandpiper

191. Wood Thrush

192. Yellow-billed Cuckoo

193. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

194. Wild Turkey

195. Yellow-throated Vireo

196. Black Tern

197. Eastern Towhee

198. Upland Sandpiper

New Mammals:

17. North American Porcupine

18. American Beaver

New Reptiles:

2. Painted Turtle