Top 10 DISAPPOINTING Birding Locations in Ontario

A little fun on the blog.... Presenting, the top 10 disappointing locations for birders in Ontario! (Just for fun.. I swear..)

10. Toronto Islands

Seriously Toronto Islands - what have you done for me LATELY? Just because you had a Variegated Flycatcher waay back in the day - you think you can take it easy? I wasn't even birding then!

And let's be honest. No one wants to go bird you. No one. Well - Toronto birders do... But why on earth would anyone else PURPOSELY drive into Toronto? Have you seen your traffic? Have you seen your MAYOR?!


9. Prince Edward Point

You know what PEPtBO? I thought Toronto Islands were bad... NO ONE wants to drive to bird your location. NO ONE - you're in the middle of nowhere. You think getting birds like Fork-tailed Flycatcher will entice us?! NO! It takes OVER AN HOUR to get to you from the highway (401) - and even those locations on the 401 are in the middle of nowhere.....


8. Peterborough

Here's an idea - let's put a nice city - with the NHIC headquarters, and a green-focus university - IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.. Wouldn't want those dang hippies getting into any trouble...


7. Hawk Cliff

An honourary champion of all hawkwatches in Ontario - they sort of lure you in with the promise of huge numbers of birds - but then you have to hang around all those strange hawkwatchers the entire time... Yikes...

Hawk Cliff gets the nod for being in a boring field with no views of the water. You mean to tell me that people watch 100,000 raptors fly past these places every fall - and we still don't have a White-tailed Kite? What the heck? At least Holiday Beach gets cool marsh birds (all though not nearly as often as you'd think - it still beats Hawk Cliff).

6. Caribou Island -

Caribou Island... I am dissapoint.


5. Point Abino

Nothing makes me angrier on a trip to the north shore of Lake Erie in Niagara than driving down Pt Abino... Some interesting looking bays and beaches give some hope - then you arrive at that STUPID gate that blocks you from reaching the actual point... THERE'S GOOD BIRDS OUT THERE - LET ME THROUGH!


4. Algonquin Park

Behold, the single greatest con job in the ornithological history of Ontario. Algonquin Park - you STINK for birding. And not the good kind of bird-stink... How you manage to convince hundreds of birders to visit your stinky park annually is entirely beyond me.

"HEY! Come to Algonquin! Struggle for days to find a freakin Spruce Grouse... Black-backed Woodpecker? Better stay the week!"

Here's some other places to go -

Lake Superior - mega migrations, vagrants, AND 10x the boreal birds that Algonquin has

French River Area - This part of Georgian Bay is BEAUTIFUL - has Black-backed Woodpeckers, Gray Jays, Spruce Grouse, finches etc etc. AND actual bird migration!

JAMES BAY - why not go to the "true realm" of boreal birds?! They're everywhere up there.

3. Long Point

Ugh... Don't get me started...


2. Guelph

You suck Guelph. You're worse than Peterborough. You suck in green-minded people to live there. You suck in avid naturalists-in-training to go to School.. And you're a freakin ecological wasteland.

I lived in Guelph once... NEVER again... Never...


1. Cape Henrietta Maria

Congrats CHM - you win.. You are THEE MOST DISAPPOINTING birding location in Ontario. Geographically, you should be far and away one of the SINGLE most REMARKABLE locations for birders to visit in North America - and possibly the world... Surrounded by semi-salt-water, millions of birds pass your shores every freakin year. Vagrants must be oozing out in all directions.

But you're really really freakin inaccessible... How on earth could keen birders get up there? I suppose it's possible... I mean - it IS possible... One COULD get there..

But then you'd get your backside EATEN by a POLAR BEAR....

Highest density of Polar Bears in the world (I read that somewhere)... SCREW YOU Cape Henrietta Maria.... Screw you...