Jonathan DeBalko, a PA birder on flickr, just posted a trip report from southern Ontario. Inga and I had taken a trip to Amherst Island two winters ago and it was quite an awesome time.
See more photos from Jonathan’s trip here, and check out more from my past trip here. This is a tempting early semester excursion I might have to embark on…anyone game?
Jonathan’s original post to PA-Birds:
Hello,
I know that this is off-topic, but I remember someone mentioning Algonquin
Provincial Park in a previous email. I just wanted to second the thought
that it is a great place for a short birding trip from PA.My fiance Brittany, my parents, and I visited southern Ontario, including
Amherst Island and Algonquin Provincial Park at the end of December. We
spent Friday, December 29th birding Amherst Island in southern Ontario.
This area is only a 5 and a half hour drive from NEPA. Our highlights on
the island were 1 Snowy Owl (lifebird for Brittany), 15-20 Long-eared Owls
(lifebird for both my parents), Rough-legged Hawk, and adult Bald Eagle.
The best area for owling on the island is a preserve called Owl Woods.
Two years ago when we visited we saw a Boreal Owl, which occurs every few
years at Owl Woods.Saturday, December 30th we birded at Algonquin Provincial Park, which is
about 3 hours north of Amherst Island. The number of crossbills, both Red
and White-winged (lifebird for Brittany) was amazing. Coincidentally, the
CBCs for both Amherst Island and Algonquin Park were being conducted on
the days that we were at each place. The count for Red Crossbill at
Algonquin was over 300 and White-winged Crossbills was over 1500!
Unfortunately we missed Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, and both of the
northern woodpeckers. They counted 10 Am. Three-toed and 37 Black-backed,
but somehow we missed them all. Other highlights at Algonquin were a
flock of near 100 Evening Grosbeaks at the Visitor Center (lifebird for
Brittany and my mom), Gray Jays (lifebird for all of us) that ate peanuts
from our hands, Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, 2 imm. Bald Eagles (we were
told this was a pretty good bird for the area during the winter), and
Ruffed Grouse (including 1 in a treetop, which I’ve never seen in PA). As
we began driving back from Algonquin in the dark, I caught an object on
the powerline out of the corner of my eye in my high beams. I drove past
it, then decided I should turn around and check it out. We drove back and
found a beautiful Barred Owl sitting just a few feet from us on the
powerline. This was the first time my mom had seen a Barred Owl, a pretty
cool first look. After we got back, we found out that a Great Gray Owl
was reported from in the park while we were there. Oh well, I guess you
can’t see all the birds that are in the park. Ontario is a great place to
go to bird for a long weekend, or even a regular weekend if you don’t mind
alot of driving in a short time period.Jonathan DeBalko
McAdoo, PA
Schuylkill County