Rondeau hikes help hook new birders
I saw hermit thrushes, rubycrowned kinglets, and more blueheaded vireos than yellow warblers when I visited Rondeau Provincial Park, but the next couple of times I’m down at this Lake Erie hot spot my birds will be completely different.
This is one of the great things about birding during the park’s Festival of Flight that runs through to May 21.
When I was last in the park I started at the visitor centre. I enjoyed the birds at and around the feeders including grosbeaks and orioles. There were also flickers and downy, red-bellied, red-headed woodpeckers here.
I got caught up on recent sightings with park naturalists Laura Penner and Caitlin Sparks. They are always welcoming and they keep their finger on the pulse of what is being seen each day on the trails. I then headed out for a day of birding with James Turland. He is an experienced Kincardine-based field naturalist who is now leading festival bird hikes.
Turland started his time at Rondeau with a bang, seeing a yellowbreasted chat. “On my first day at Rondeau I got a lifer. That bodes well!”
He brings a depth of experience to the park, having led birding hikes for years on the Bruce Peninsula.
In fact he will be leading hikes at the Huron Fringe Birding Festival in late May and early June.
The different habitat at Lake Erie excites Turland. “I’m happy to be at Rondeau. And leading bird hikes is gratifying. To help get someone hooked on birds is great. The birds themselves are wonderful but they’re also an excellent entry point for the rest of what nature offers us.”
Stepping onto the Tulip Tree trail near the visitor centre there were more red-headed woodpeckers found by Londoners Cathy McCrae and Gail McNeil. We also encountered Kent County birding experts Blake Mann and Steve Charbonneau and traded updates. They had had some luck on South Point trail.
The warblers hadn’t yet been streaming into the park so we had to work for the handful of warbler species that we did see. Toronto birders Nettie Lambert and Kate Hunter located a white-eyed vireo that gave us good looks. There were lots of towhees in the scrub as well, and the park’s white-winged dove was there when I drove north again. Turland and I finished a good day of birding on the park’s Maintenance and Marsh trails.
Regular day use for the park is $17 or by annual pass. The 90-minute birding hikes led by Turland are $10. Other events such as birding for beginners led by park naturalists are free. For details about Rondeau’s festival or to pre-register for an event visit
and Environment Canada recently published results of a study that point to a strong correlation between flame retardants used in a host of consumer products and adverse effects on the reproductive habits of birds ranging from courtship to the health of chicks. The authors determined “raptors seem more sensitive to flame retardant toxicity than songbirds.” And it isn’t just birds that should concern us. Birds are merely the “sentinels of environmental contamination.” To review the study, search on “birds and flame retardants.”
on Mother’s Day weekend, remember that the Pelee Wings annual optics expo will be in full swing. It is a great opportunity to check out the binoculars and scopes from ten top manufacturers, and if you are shopping it is their biggest optics sale of the year. I love checking out the bird books as well. For more information see or call (519) 326-5193.