Huron Fringe Birding Festival 2024
May 26 - The Bountiful Bruce with Erik Van Den Kieboom
We got to sleep in slightly today, since our
all-day trip on the Bruce did not start until 7am! We awoke to a
foggy morning, which did not improve for a few hours.
We met Erik at the Camper’s Beach parking lot
and proceed to Bruce Road 33 to stop for the winged warblers.
They were buzzing when we got out of the car, but seeing and
photographing them in the fog was difficult. But we did see both
Blue-winged and Brewster's Warblers (no pure Golden-winged).
We also saw a Great-crested Flycatcher (common)
and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
We then drove to the J&I Line for grassland birds as the fog
slowly lifted. The hoped-for Upland Sandpiper did not appear, but
we got lots of Eastern Bluebirds, Bobolinks, Savannah and
Chipping Sparrows, a Yellow Warbler, an Indigo Bunting, Eastern
Kingbirds, and Clay-colored and Grasshopper Sparrows.
Our next stop was at Tim Hortons, where the group got separated
and went to two different ones. We lost time, but got reunited at
Horseshoe Bay where saw a Killdeer and extremely distant
Black-bellied Plovers and Dunlins.
Next, we stopped at Oliphant Fen where we admired the vegetation
and herps. We almost got a photo of a Wilson’s Snipe. An
adult Bald Eagle flew over.
We moved on to Sky Lake where we saw a Pied-billed Grebe and many
Black Terns, including some on nests.
Erik cut the trip short since he had to go to work. So, we slowly
made our way back to Port Elgin, stopping at the Isaac Lake boat
launch for another look. Here we got a Common Raven, an Eastern
Phoebe, a Common Grackle and a Great Egret.
It was still early, so we decided to revisit the J&I Line.
Unfortunately, it was really quiet except for the Bobolinks.
Instead of going out for dinner, Colin ordered us a pizza which
we ate beside our pool. After dinner, Hilda and B&B drove to
MacGregor for a very interesting talk on Dune Ecology by Jenna
McGuire.
We were tired, but a least we had not done a lot of hiking today.