Algonquin Park

[Reuven_M]

My highlights so far this summer at Algonquin Park:

Birds: Broad-winged Hawk, Barred Owl, Purple Finch, Boreal Chickadee, baby loons, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, various common warblers including Canada, all the normal birds of deciduous forest, hemlock groves, pine forests, bogs, lakes, etc.

Mammals: loads of moose including many calves, several deer including a fawn, 2 fox, 1 marten, several snowshoe hare, 1 mink

Herps: garter, ring-necked and red-bellied snake, painted and snapping turtle, mink, green and bullfrog, american toad, red-backed salamander

Damsels: both jewelwings, emerald spreadwing, aurora and eastern red damsel, violet and powdered dancer, hagen's and vesper bluet, eastern forktail, sedge and sphagnum sprite

Dragons: springtime, canada and lake darner, dragonhunter, black-shouldered spinyleg, lancet and dusky clubtail, rusty snaketail, stream and swift river cruiser, twin-spotted and delta-spotted spiketail, american, racket-tailed, lake, kennedy's and occelated emerald, common, spiny and prince baskettail, stygian shadowdragon, frosted, hudsonian and crimson-ringed whiteface, band-winged meadowhawk, calico pennant, four-spotted and 12-spotted skimmer, chalk-fronted corporal, common whitetail

Butterflies: canada swallowtail, pink-edged and clouded sulphur, cabbage white, bog copper, fritillary sp., comma/question mark sp., white admiral, mourning cloak, monarch, little wood-satyr, eyed brown, common pearly-eye, common ringlet, dun, european, long dash, tawny-edged, hobomok skipper

Other highlights: luna moth, several different long-horned beetles, various other insects that I haven't ID'd yet, pitcher plants, sundew, several different orchids

[Whittam]

Sounds like a dream come true summer in the Park!  Cheers Terry

[Moira]

Great sightings Reuven.  I saw lots of moose on my trip as well, but didn't see many birds.

[Ground State]

Reuven, where did you encounter the ring-necked snake? I know the park like the back of my hand, so you can be super-specific if you wish. Snakes are a big hobby of mine, and Algonquin is my 2nd home... an ironic mix considering the elevation of Algonquin is such that snake reproduction is very poor. Michael Runtz explained to me once that night time temperatures are generally too cold to allow proper egg development, which explains the sheer lack of snakes in the entire western half of the park.

As for ring-necks, it has been years since I saw one. There was one summer when I went to Grundy Lake and the population was so incredibly high that there would be new ones each night plastered on the road from being hit by cars. I'll never forget it!

Anyway, over thirty years of going to Algonquin Park.... I flipped over a rock at Kearney Lake a few years back and found a red-bellied. That's literally been it!! Amazing how you can travel FURTHER north and find so many more snakes!

[Reuven_M]

Neither the ring-necked or the red-bellied were at spots publicly accessible, sorry

[Whittam]

Reuven,  have a great summer up there!  I hope you get out on a wolf howl or 2! A few of my relatives are on the naturalist picture wall in the visitor center!    Cheers Terry

[Leslie]

What, no bats, beaver, black ducklings, horned bladderwort?  No bear?  Probably just slipped your mind!
What are you doing up there this summer?  Inquiring minds want to know!

[Reuven_M]

Yes, I've seen all of those too! I'm working as a naturalist at the visitor centre.

I'll post more sightings later, but so far my highlights have been:

2 male spruce grouse sitting on the road right in front of me
the first park record for fragile forktail!
other fairly rare odes including several green-striped darners, lake and occelated emeralds, occelated darners, zebra clubtails, wandering glider
great looks at marten
a large mixed flock trying to mob me for some reason, giving incredibly good looks at many warblers and vireos

[Reuven_M]

Here's my full list of some major groups for the summer:

Birds (highlights only):
Ring-necked, Wood, Black, Mallard ducklings
Many loons
American Bitterns
Spruce, Ruffed Grouse and Wild Turkey
Broad-winged, Sharp-shinned, Red-tailed Hawks, Osprey, Merlin
Barred Owl
Black-billed Cuckoo
Sapsucker Fledglings
Least, Yellow-bellied, Olive-sided and Alder Flycatchers, Kingbird, Pewee and Phoebe
Gray Jay
Boreal Chickadee
Veery, Hermit and Swainson’s Thrush, Bluebird
Scarlet Tanager
Tennessee, Nashville, Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Cape May, Blackpoll, Bay-breasted, Pine, Redstart, Black-and-white, Yellowthroat, Wilson’s, Canada Warblers
White-winged Crossbill, Purple Finch and Evening Grosbeak

Herps:
Red-backed and Two-lined Salamanders
Bull, Green, Mink, Leopard, Gray Tree Frogs, Spring Peeper, American Toad
Red-bellied, Ring-necked, Water, Smooth Green and Garter Snakes
Blanding’s, Painted and Snapping Turtles

Mammals:
Little Brown Bat
Shrew sp.
Woodland Jumping and Deer Mouse
Meadow Vole
Snowshoe Hare
Eastern Chipmunk
Red Squirrel
Groundhog
Muskrat
Beaver
Mink
Marten
Eastern Wolf
Red Fox
White-tailed Deer
Moose
Black Bear

Odonata:
Ebony and River Jewelwing
Northern, Lyre-tipped, Spotted, Slender, Elegant, Swamp and Emerald Spreadwing
Eastern Red and Aurora Damsel
Violet and Powdered Dancer
Eastern and Fragile (first record for Algonquin park found by me!) Forktail
Sedge and Sphagnum Sprite
Marsh, Hagen’s, Tule, Stream and Vesper Bluet
Springtime, Common Green, Variable, Shadow, Black-tipped, Mottled, Canada, Green-striped, Lance-tipped, Lake, Fawn and Occelated Darner
Black-shouldered Spinylegs
Dragonhunter
Eastern Least, Moustached, Lancet, Dusky and Zebra Clubtail
Rusty Snaketail
Delta-spotted and Twin-spotted Spiketail
Stream and Swift River Cruiser
American, Racket-tailed, Occelated, Williamson’s, Kennedy’s, Ski-tipped and Lake Emerald
Common, Spiny and Prince Baskettail
Stygian Shadowdragon
Wandering Glider
Calico Pennant
Hudsonian, Frosted, Belted and Crimson-ringed Whiteface
Band-winged, White-faced, Cherry-faced, Saffron-winged and Autumn Meadowhawk
Twelve-spotted, Four-spotted and Slaty Skimmer
Common Whitetail
Chalk-fronted Corporal

Butterflies
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Clouded and Pink-edged Sulphur
American and Bog Copper
Summer Azure
Aphrodite, Silver-bordered and Great Spangled Fritillary
Crescent sp.
Eastern and Green Comma
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell
Mourning Cloak
White Admiral
Common Buckeye
Viceroy
Northern Pearly-eye
Eyed Brown
Little Wood-satyr
Common Ringlet
Monarch
European, Leonard’s, Common Branded, Peck’s, Tawny-edged, Long Dash, Hobomok and Dun Skipper

[Molebird]

Hello Reuven

We have just booked a week at Algonquin Oct.2-9.  I expect it will be cold if not wet.  Have visited many times over the years but have only been birders for the past five.  Could you offer any recommendations as to where to visit to see most birds ?  I suppose there won't be many at that time of the year expect perhaps those lovely gray jays on Mizzy Trail.

Thanking you in advance

Molebirds

[MEGHAN]

Great list Reuven.
Did you happen to get a chance to see the nesting Great Greys?

[angieinto]

Reuven- how long you up there for? Rob and I are heading up next week for a couple days.

[Reuven_M]

I'm back and in guelph right now!

The great greys didn't return this year

Mizzy lake trail would be your best bet probably, plus sparrows and pipits, etc. in the Mew Lake Airfield

[angieinto]

aw, shucks. was hoping to meet you up there! We're really looking forward to our trip. Hoping to see the Boreal Chickadees, be a first for both of us, and the Gray Jays are always a treat.

[Rob'in'To]

I just posted in another section about this kind of thing.  Doh!

Mizzy Lake is a one full day walk, isn't it?  9 or 11 km long if I recall correctly.  Wheeeeeeee!