So, back to our Algonquin trip. It was a warm(ish) day, with overcast skies for the most part. We were very excited to see some birds that are on our life lists!! (which, btw, we have revised to 100 species each. I just haven't had time to post the additions. We maintained our original lists that are posted on earlier on this blog and just added to those lists). ANYWAY!
Upon arrival at the West gate to the park, we were at the Park Store and spotted multiple Pine Grobeaks! We saw both males and females and multiples of each (6 male, 7 female). This was a first for both of us and I believe we both had "other grosbeaks" on our lists (we have only seen the Rose-breasted GB before this). Other birds at this location included the white breasted nuthatch, redpolls, crows and LOTS of bluejays.
So we paid our entry fee and decided to drive to the other end of the park and make a few stops along the way. Dave pulled the car into one camping area and we drove around a bit. We just happened to see a Ruffed Grouse in a completely bare tree. It was working away at some of the branches. It is such a beautiful bird- lots of browns and golds, with a crown on his head. So lovely! It stayed there for quite awhile and let us take all kinds of pictures. Then it flew away into the cover of some evergreen trees and we saw it again on a branch of a tree.
We also saw a pine marten in one of the trees there too, but it moved on (this is not a bird, but a small furry creature- I have to look up some more info on them b/c I really don't know much about them other than they are SUPER CUTE, but more likely to eat your face off I suspect).
Moving on, we made our way to the visitor's centre. We took Arthur and Lola for a bit of a walk before heading in b/c dogs are not allowed inside. We went up a hill and another ruffed grouse crossed our path just ahead of us! We were able to get a few pics of it and then it was lost in the forest. Arthur caught wind of it and was on the hunt for a bit, but he was foiled again by that pesky leash.
Into the Visitor's Centre, we walked to the back deck viewing area. Something very interesting!! I guess someone had hit and killed an adult female moose with their car a little while ago. The staff moved it off the road and covered it. A few days later, the MNR used a helicopter to bring the body out to the open area that is viewable from the Visitor Centre so that people can see what comes to eat it. There has been multiple wolf sightings there. Unfortunately, all we saw today was the wolf tracks. Apparently the wolf had been out eating at it earlier in the day though. There were lots of ravens working away at it too. I think it's neat that they do that so that even in the tragedy of a moose losing it's life, we can learn from it and see other wildlife benefit from it too.
There were multiple feeders set up at the VC too. There were sunflower seeds, niger seeds and two GIANT suet feeders filled with sides of meat/fat (ewwwww!). There we saw well over 30 blue jays (I did say these are tenacious little guys and they are thriving in Algonquin). We saw another Pine Marten gnawing at the beef and a few red squirrels who had alot to say for themselves. Also spotted: one male hairy woodpecker (the only one we saw, surpringly), more pine grosbeaks, pine siskins and common redpolls. It was so peaceful and beautiful, we could have spent hours there watching, but those two dogs of ours were patiently waiting for us to get back to them.
So it was time to take those guys for a good long walk, so we got back in the car and headed up to Opeongo Rd in the park. This road has been the hot spot for bird sightings lately. As soon as we got out of the car, we were accosted by multiple chickadees and a red-breasted nuthatch. Apparently these guys are accustomed to being hand fed, so they come right up to people! We took turns feeding them. Before Dave even had a chance to get any food for them, a rb nuthatch flew right into his hand! Pretty exciting for us since these guys are so shy at our feeders. I happened to get a picture of it too. After that, we had multiple chickadees coming in to feed from our hands. They get a pretty good grip on our hands and then take a bite and fly off. Their feet are pretty rough and I was a little nervous (don't worry, Dave said I can't get the bird flu from them).
We walked down the road for awhile and saw again more blue jays and ravens. We stopped to talk to a couple of other birders (whose paths we kept crossing all day). They were on the hunt for the black-backed woodpecker, which we had been trying to see too, but no luck. I really would like to expand my list of wps, but it wasn't in the cards today (alas). As we were talking to the couple, we saw some other birds come up from behind them and move closer to us. It was a small group of gray jays! These are also on our life lists and this was the first time we've seen them as well. Very exciting! They were also brave guys and came for hand feeding. I thought it might hurt when they gripped onto our hands since they are fairly big (compared to the chickadee), but it didn't hurt at all. Each one would gobble down quite a bit of food, so we ran out quickly. These are also such beautiful birds. We got some great pictures of these guys too. Unfortunately Dave's laptop doesn't have one of those things that you stick the card into to upload the pics, so those will have to be added at a later date. (pics added on Monday, March 9).
After that, we decided to walk an official trail that Kevin at the gate said was good for birding. Of course that meant that we didn't see a damn thing. So it goes though! And anyway, it was a great, fun day. Arthur and Lola were so good and don't care at all about the birds and the birds didn't seem bothered by the dogs either. A great, great day!!!!
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