Memories of Minesing Wetlands

2023-05-18 A Quick Tour Of McKinnon Road

Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus — I drove from Oakville, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, to my friend’s cottage near Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, with a couple of stops along the way. One of my stops was on McKinnon Road near Angus Ontario.

Thursday, I drove north, towards my friend’s cottage near the shore of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. I planned a few stops along the way. I charted a route that included a couple of stops to look for birds, and it took me nearly four hours to cover the 125 mile trek to the cabin. The first half of the drive, I took freeways, but then I rerouted to sideroads.

My friend suggested I visit McKinnon Road near Angus Ontario, so I stopped in town and topped off my fuel, then drove out to meet the marshy woods along McKinnon Road. I didn’t see an abundance of birds, but a pair of Eastern Kingbirds entertained me for 15-20 minutes. Red-Winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles were being their usual conspicuous selves, and I got brief looks at Wood Ducks and a Common Goldeneye. I didn’t feel that there was sufficient space to park along the road, so I birded the gravel road from inside the van.

I drove away from McKinnon Road to pay a brief visit to another recommended location called Tiny Marsh. I used the stop to stretch my legs, and being only 20 minutes away from the cottage, I knew I could easily return before leaving the region.

Some twenty minutes later, I located the cottage. Many of her neighbors cleared the trees from their properties, but my friend’s cabin nestled under a dense, mixed woods canopy. The driveway tunneled through the woods, and leafy Cedar branches scrubbed my roof as I approached the parking spot at the end. There is a saying, “Rather than curse the darkness, it is better to light a candle.” Knowing I’d be entering and exiting the driveway during my stay, I thought it wise to trim some of the overhanging branches. None of them were more than ¾” to one inch in diameter. When I finished an hour later, the tunnel was ever-so-slightly higher, but I could pass without the van being pummeled with the tree’s boney fingers.

2023-05-25 Return to McKinnon Road

Wilson's Snipe - Gallinago delicata — *Driving north a week earlier to Tiny Beaches on Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, on the recommendation of a friend, I stopped for a half-hour visit to McKinnon Road.*

Swamp Sparrow - Melospiza georgiana — *Eager to reach my destination, I left, knowing there was more to see than I had time for. On my return to southern Ontario, I spent a whole day, and still I knew there was more to see.*

After a lovely week in the Township of Tiny Ontario, I said goodbye to the region and the friends I made there. I made two stops on my drive back to Oakville. The first was at Wasaga Beach, on the southern shore of Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay. Someone I met at Tiny Marsh reported Piping Plovers on the beach. Authorities have fenced off parts of the beaches here to protect these endangered tiny plovers.. The report indicated that the birds had shown up ahead of nesting, and people saw them on the unprotected beaches. I found the beaches, including the fenced off area, but I saw no plovers. So I continued my journey south to McKinnon Road and the Minesing Wetlands (pronounced mini-sing).

I drove south on Road #10, where my Google navigation made a left turn at Brentwood on a gravel road called Concession Road 2 Sunnydale. Google believed this route connected to McKinnon Road 4 kilometers away. But Google didn’t know that less than halfway down the road, a closed bridge prevented traffic from proceeding further. I parked the van and walked over the bridge. There was another photographer who had just parked on the other side, and we walked 100 yards north to a wooden tower that overlooked the area.

There were scattered trees in the distance, but most of what the eye could see was marsh grass and shallow ponds. We didn’t see much nearby bird-life, so we chatted. I learned until recently, the road and these fields were under water. I had no trouble believing it, Most of what I saw was soggy mud or shallow standing water under the grass and trees. But this was only one corner of the Minesing Wetlands.

I took my leave of the tower, and drove back the way I came, then circled my way east and found my way to McKinnon Road, as I did on my first visit a week earlier. Because I was trying to reach my destination at the Tiny Beaches cabin, my earlier visit was a classic “Clark Griswold” experience. I didn’t even get out of the van. Today’s visit would be different.

I drove to the end of the road and parked the van. I am sure I could have gotten away without paying, but there were instructions on a big sign on how to pay-by-phone. I scanned the QR-Code, and $10 later, I packed up my gear and walked north into the Minesing Wetlands. Less than 100 yards up the trail, the shallow floodwaters stopped me from further advance. I could have gone back to the RV and donned my ditch boots, but I saw plenty of nearby bird-life, so I decided to stand my ground and shoot.

When I finished my visit there, I reversed course, and found the other end of Concession Road 2, then drove out to where I’d begun my day here at the closed bridge. For the briefest of moments, I saw what looked like a Horned Grebe swimming in the ditch alongside the road. The bird took a dive and disappeared before I could get stopped and take a picture. I’m still uncertain I got a positive ID. Driving back out to McKinnon Road, I did a stop-look-and-listen pass through to soggy fields. While so engaged, I met a Wilson’s Snipe, some Least Sandpipers, and Spotted Sandpipers. But I struck out on the Spotties, and the images of the peeps through the tall grass was more a foul tip than a hit.