Algonquin Park

I had a chance to visit Algonquin Park a week or two ago. From Ottawa it's about a three hour trip. Take highway 17 north to Cobden. Turn left to the highway 60 and then turn right onto highway 60. Follow this to the East gate through Whitney. You will have to purchase a day pass which cost around $13.85. Once in the park there are only a few good birding places. The first you come to is Opeongo Rd. take it to the gate, there is a parking lot to the right that you will often find Gray Jays, Blue Jays, Black Capped Chickadees. Also Boreal Chickadees and Spruce Grouse are in the area.

The next area is the Spruce Bog trails. We did not see much there but reports of Spruce Grouse have been coming in. The best area we found was at the visitors center. It is not open during the week but there is usually someone there and if you ask they will let you inside to the rear observation area. In the back there a number of bird feeders that attract a large crowd of birds. We found alot and I mean alot of Blue jays there which gave excellent possibities to get nice photos of them. Also there were Black Capped Chickadees, Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks. The Evening Grosbeaks were a pleasant suprise as we have not had many up in Ottawa this winter. I was able to get some excellent shots of both the Pine and Evening Grosbeaks. These shots can be found on my website www.mtcmediaproductions.com.

We also had a visit from the Pine Martin and it came in very close for some good shots. If you want to get to ground level below the decking go around the left side of the building as it has better access. On the right side is a small straight drop of about six feet so stay away from there.

All in all it was an excellent trip and I would recommend going before the migrant birds move back north