Algonquin Park trails ideal for spotting wildlife
Mizzy Lake, Spruce Bog offer opportunities to get a glimpse of local fauna
Algonquin Park’s Mizzy Lake Trail
While there are good opportunities to see animals anywhere in Algonquin Provincial Park, one of the best trails for wildlife viewing is the 11-kilometre Mizzy Lake Trail. Drive to the northern access point off of Arowhon Road in the early morning and walk a popular section of the trail between Wolf Howl Pond and West Rose Lake.
For bird watchers, this hike is one of the best places in Algonquin to find all four of the “boreal specialties” — the grey jay, black-backed woodpecker, boreal chickadee and spruce grouse. Or rather, in the case of the grey jay, a great place for them to find you. An extremely friendly bird, the grey jay is partial to sharing trail mix with passing hikers. If one finds you, just hold out some peanuts and stand still — one might just land on your hand.
Other animals to watch for include moose. These large deer regularly use the trail as their own personal corridor, and their tracks are usually easy to see. In the fall, you might even hear a female performing her long, drawn-out mating call. Imagine a nasally cow with a bit of a constipation problem (really).
This area can also be a good place to watch beavers and other aquatic small mammals such as otters and muskrats. If you listen carefully in the early morning, you might hear the distant call of a pack of eastern wolves.
Hooded mergansers, ringnecked ducks, wood ducks, rusty blackbirds, American pipits and many warbler species can be found during the fall migration period. If you’re really lucky, a hunting northern goshawk or even a great grey owl might swoop past.
Algonquin Provincial Park’s Spruce Bog Boardwalk
The Spruce Bog Boardwalk trail in Algonquin Provincial Park is a 1.5-kilometre-long loop with very little change in elevation, so all levels of hikers can comfortably explore this ancient ecosystem.
A bog is really a lake that has, over hundreds of years, filled in with floating mats of vegetation. As this sphagnum moss and sedge-filled vegetation dies and sinks, it becomes the peat for which bogs are largely known. The accumulated peat grows thicker and thicker, until it eventually reaches the surface of the water. At that stage, it is able to support the black spruce, the primary tree of northern boggy areas.
While the acidity of a bog doesn’t allow many species of plants to survive, those that do are everywhere. Sphagnum moss serves as the base for woody shrubs such as leatherleaf and Labrador tea, with sweet gale and speckled alder also appearing closer to the creek’s flowing water. All of these plants have evolved to handle the nutrient-poor conditions of the bog.
Keep your eyes peeled for this spot’s most sought-after resident: the spruce grouse. This boreal bird has adapted to the unthinkable in culinary menus: spruce needles. The grouse appears to survive the winter on this nutrient-poor diet by eating it in extra-large volumes. On the positive side of this menu choice, there’s no risk of this bird running out of its food source in the spruce-dominated Algonquin bogs.