Travelling to MacGregor Point PP
We took our usual route from Ottawa via Renfrew, Bancroft and Orillia over the top of Lake Simcoe. It is slower, but less stressful, plus it gives us a chance to make a detour to Carden Alvar.
We made a short pit stop at Tooeys Lake on Hwy 41 when we noticed Ring-necked Ducks on the pond across the road. We also saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Bill saw a Northern Water Snake in Tooeys.
Imagine our dismay when the van would not turn over when Barbara tried it twice. Bill gave it shot, and it started normally. We were afraid to turn it off for the rest of the day in case it would not go again. We finally had to shut the engine when we got gas, but it started just fine. This has been an ongoing issue for the last 3 years, but the Dodge dealer can’t find anything wrong. It did do it once more later on the trip.
We carried on to Victoria Road where we turned south towards the Carden Alvar. Bill got the brilliant idea to take Alvar Road, which turned out to be a very bad idea. The road was full of very deep puddles and was terribly narrow. We came to a small detour around a bad rocky hill, then saw an immense lake ahead where the road should have been. We had no choice but to turn around, which was easier said than done since the road was so narrow. After a 10-point turn, we finally got out of there and proceeded to Wylie Road and the birding area of Carden.
Wylie Road was also full of deep puddles, but there was good pull off and turn around places. And there were birds.
There were dozens of Bobolinks and Eastern Kingbirds, and a Wilson’s Snipe on a post. Tree Swallows were in a lot of the boxes. In the fields we saw Barn Swallows, a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks, a Brown Thrasher, and a distant Grasshopper Sparrow. Only the Loggerhead Shrikes and Upland Sandpipers failed to appear.
We got back on track and headed for Orillia where we stopped at Kawartha Dairy for an ice cream treat.
The final leg of our journey to MacGregor Point Provincial Park went without a hitch. The park registration was closed for the day, but the Huron Fringe Birding Festival registration was open, so we signed our waivers and received our kits. We headed off to find our campsite and set up.
We checked out the trail beside our site which went back to the Visitor Centre. We found a few American Redstarts (theme of the festival), Red-eyed Vireos and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. When we came back, there was another vehicle parked behind ours – Colin & Hilda. They had found our campsite and were doing some birding too.
Finally, they returned. Hilda was keen to show us where they had seen an Eastern Towhee and a Great Crested Flycatcher. They had moved on, but we enjoyed the many Red-breasted Mergansers on Lake Huron. So, we birded for a short time, then said goodbye as we all had an early 6 am guided hike the next day.
As we tucked into our tent, an Eastern Whippoorwill began to sing mere feet from us. It had been many years since we had heard that song.