Birding on Manitoulin Island

I spent last week on Manitoulin Island which is located between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay in the Great Lakes. At over 100 miles (160 km) long and with an area of 1,068 square miles (2,766 sq km), the island is the largest freshwater island in the world. While there, I happened to read a magazine article that mentioned the island being called the Pelee of the north for its 314 migratory bird species. 155 species breed there.

Manitoulin is a birding hotspot due to is location on one of North America's most popular bird migration paths. Like Pelee Island, it's the first/last piece of land the birds encounter on their flight over a large body of water.

Once I returned home, a little more research led me to the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) of which I had been unaware. There are two on Manitoulin Island: On the north shore of Manitoulin is ON150 with a 288,744 acre (1,138.63 sq km) IBA while Spring Bay on the south shore is ON151 with 26,348.85 acres (106.63 sq km).

They are known for their congregating waterbirds, most notably the Sandhill Cranes pictured in the first photo. Just driving around, we often spotted them off in the fields but you have to look twice. From a distance they can be mistaken for grazing deer. The photo to the right, above, is the silhouette of a ruby-throated hummingbird.

IBA Canada website
Manitoulin Island North Shore (ON150)
Spring Bay, Manitoulin Island (ON151)

The island has a variety of birding habitats with maple hardwoods, dense mixed forest, marshlands, boreal forest, farmland, lakeshore, and escarpment. It contains over 100 lakes as well. The provincial park at Misery Bay has rare alvar habitats.

Forest Birds of Misery Bay contains a good map showing the two IBAs.

Holidaying here since my teens, I had taken things for granted so I decided to keep a list of the birds (and animals) I encountered without going out of my way to find any of them. Just walking down the bush road, I could see the signs of woodpeckers everywhere. We later followed the male and female pileated woodpeckers as they flew around here.

Bird list

• herring gull
• cormorant
• common loon
• bluejay (male and female)
• ruby-throated hummingbird (male and female)
• black capped chickadee
• pileated woodpecker (male and female)
• downey woodpecker (female)
• wild turkey
• sandhill crane

Animal list

• snowshoe or varying hare
• flying squirrel (3 on the bird feeder)
• white tailed deer
• mink
• eastern chipmunk
• American red squirrel
• deer mouse

References

Avibase - Bird Checklist for Manitoulin
Important Bird Areas - Canada - pdf
Misery Bay is a provincial park on the south (Lake Huron) coast of Manitoulin.
Forest Birds of Misery Bay

Images

Sandhill crane photo by Pixabay. Other photos from the iPad of @kansuze.

@kansuze