A lot has happened since this year's trip to Algonquin Park, Feb 28-Mar 2.
Geordie and I packed up our respective houses, and moved into a big house in Severn, just north of Orillia. It's been a whirlwind, and I'm reaching back into the recesses of my memory to write this trip report.
A group of ten of us Pipits met at the Visitor Centre on Friday Feb 28 2025.
There we were mostly fortunate enough to see the lone Red Crossbill that sat briefly in a tree top right beside the VC deck. Likewise, some of us were able to get our eyes on the lone Pine Siskin hanging around with a mob of American Goldfinches at the VC feeders. There were a few Evening Grosbeaks that also came into the feeders, as well as a Pine Martin, and some Wild Turkeys!
Through our trip, we visited the Logging Museum trail, but saw very little here other than a Pine Martin and Black Capped Chickadees. We also drove up Opeongo Road to where it is gated closed, and then walked past the gate up to Costello Creek. Canada Jays were our reward on this component of our trip. We saw several in the parking lot just before the gate on Opeongo Road.
The following photos are by Angela Eady, thanks for sharing!
We explored the area around the Spruce Bog trail, searching for Black Backed Woodpeckers and Spruce Grouse. Again, we were graced with Canada Jays in the parking lot, but dipped on the woodpeckers and grouse.
We also visited Mew Lake and the Old Airfield but saw nothing there, and it was just too cold for us to stay. Other places we visited included the trailhead of the Western Uplands Hiking Trail where we enjoyed the beauty and open water of the Oxtongue River curving gently around the bridge. Here we also saw a lone Red Crossbill singing quietly from the top of a tree. There was one stop at a road pulloff where the day before Geordie and I had seen a single otter - unfortunately the open water had frozen overnight and we did not find otters as a group. And it was here we had the adventure of pushing one of the cars back onto the road - the overnight snowfall was not yet plowed in this area.
Our group joined up at various restaurants for dinners, and it was a really fun trip. There were some weather challenges between snowfall and extreme cold over the weekend. But the Pipits are troopers and it didn't stop us! Thanks everyone for making this such a fun trip. Even though it certainly was not a birdy visit - this year the northern finches did not make a great showing in the Park - and we didn't see some of the more usual species such as Spruce Grouse and Black Backed Woodpecker - it was very scenic, and we had terrific company. Thanks all!
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