Trails Of Birds And Flowers

We woke up to the sounds of the Mourning Doves calling and the waves crashing on the beach below us. It was heavenly! 

It was such a beautiful morning. The yellow Meadow Salsify flowers seemed to be shining as bright as the sun. Penny said that she had been up earlier that morning and that it had down poured for about 5 minutes. You couldn't even tell it had rained at all at this point. 

The Robins were hopping around in the grass looking for their breakfast. 

I spotted a Spotted Wood Wasp on the screen of our tent. I had never seen one before and was intrigued by its white antennae and white spots on the underside of it. 

Today was the perfect day to do some hiking.  We decided upon starting with the Burk Trail.  It was not too long and we were interested in seeing the cemetery that is along the trail. 

We didn't drive there. It was within walking distance of our campsite. We walked the roads until we got to the trailhead. 

Most of the trail is a wide, easy to walk path nestled under the shade of the cedar trees and pines. 

Every once in awhile the trail crosses the road and continues on the other side. 

We didn't have to go very far before we arrived at the little historical cemetery.  It was fenced off with just a single head stone in it. 

However, there was more than one person buried here.  There were multiple members of the Burk family here. This family is who the trail is named after. 

Not far away from the cemetery we came across a sign that informed people that they too could scatter the ashes of their loved ones in this park.  It was an odd sign to see and I have never seen a sign like it in any other park that I have visited so far. 

We saw some plants that looked kind of pretty with yellow spots on the leaves, Unfortunately, the spots are not actually part of the plants natural colouring. It is something called "mayapple rust" which is a fungal parasite that forms tiny bright orange cups on the underside of leaves and shows through the tops of the leaves as yellow spots. 

A little further up the trail we came to what they have labeled as a "look out" on the trail map.  There is a cute little balcony area and a picnic table, however, I would personally not call this a "look out" .  where there may have once been a view of some sort , the trees have grown too tall to allow for a far off scenic view anymore. It is still a pretty spot to stop and take a break though. 

We stopped for a rest here and we saw a female cardinal on the ledge of the railing. It flew off too quickly for me to get a picture of it though. As a matter of fact we saw cardinals many times while we were in Darlington Park, but I was never able to get a picture. For a bird so brightly coloured, they sure are camera shy. 

From the look out railing we could see the trail below us. It looked more like an old road than a trail. That was fine by us though because it meant easy walking. 

At the lookout there is an intersection where you can choose to go north where the trail joins up with the Waterfront Trail or south where it joins up with the McLaughlin Trail.  We chose to go to the McLaughlin Trail. 

Where the Burk Trail and the McLaughlin trail connect the trees are large and shady, which was perfect because this was turning out to be a super hot day. 

Through the trees we could see the tall grasses and gleaming waters of McLaughlin Bay. 

It was the entrance to a beautiful marsh land area. 

There was a little side trail that took us right down to the waters edge. 

It was so peaceful and beautiful. As we stood by the water looking around , there was some movement far out in the water that caught our attention. We could make out some white forms moving in the water. 

To our surprised we realized that it was a mother Mute Swan with her cygnets following close behind. 

She had five little cygnets and they all swam in a straight line behind her. 

We watched the swans for awhile, but then something else caught our attention.  There was a Midland Painted turtle out sunning itself on a log. 

Eventually we looked up from the turtle and noticed that there were even more Mute Swans and these ones were even closer to us. 

Darlington Park is a birders paradise.  There are so many different varieties of birds here. Many of them are here to nest and raise their young. 

​A female Red Winged Blackbird was perched in the tree above our heads. 

While a male Red Winged Blackbird was catching insects on a log near the water. 

There was some other duck like bird swimming in the water. Not sure what it was. Perhaps a duck? Perhaps a Cormorant? 

In the water the Pumpkin Seed Sunfish were swimming around. Their colouring is perfect camouflage for them. 

In case you can't see the Sunfish in the picture above, I have altered the lighting in this picture so that you can see exactly where it is. 

By now the mother swan had safely guided her cygnets to their nest on the far side of the bay.  We could barely make out the shape of her through the tall reeds and grasses. 

The tall grasses on this side of the bay waved in the breeze as I stood for a moment taking in the whole picturesque effect.

But we couldn't stay in this spot all day long. We had other parts of the trail that we wanted to see. So, we made our way back to the main trail. 

The main trail had a beauty of its own.  There were many Bindweed flowers that lined the path. 

The thistles were starting to bud but hadn't quite opened yet. 

We saw a worm in a life or death struggle with an insect of some sort as it tried to carry off the worm that was about five times its size. 

There was evidence that a beaver had been in the area. 

There was also evidence of a Glodenrod Gall Fly by way of a hole in a gall where the adult had exited (or perhaps a predator had entered through the hole).

The fly's eggs are inserted near the developing buds of the plant. After hatching, the larvae migrate to an area below the plant's developing buds, where they then induce the plant's tissues to form into the hardened, bulbous chamber referred to as a gall.

A black squirrel was taking a break from the heat on a shaded branch above us. 

The trail became a bit wild and grassy. 

But then it opened up into a large open area. 

Turns out that the open area was the parking lot and one of the trail heads to the McLaughlin Bay Trail that we were already on. We had entered it at the half way point and now we were at one of the end points. 

The parking lot was empty and there was no one here but us. 

This was a beautiful spot for a picnic if you were so inclined. There was a wonderful large tree near the water with a picnic table and a BBQ pit under it. 

On the other side of the tree was an outcrop of rock and sand that led to the edge of the bay.  I am guessing that people use it as a boat launch for canoes and kayaks. 

You get a great view of McLaughlin Bay from here. 

Looking over to the left, we could see another outcrop area that had a picnic table on it. 

There were more swans over at this end of the bay too. 

And more Red Wing Blackbirds in the reeds. 

We walked down a wide grassy side trail to get to the other outcrop with the picnic table on it to see what was over there. 

There were a bunch of Pumpkin Seed Sunfish in the water on that side. 

There were also some Flowering Rushes growing along the banks of the bay. 

As we walked back we saw more kinds of Bindweed flowers. This park has all sorts of different colours of Bindweed. 

We saw the larva of  a Skeletonizing  Leaf Beetle hanging out on one of the plants. 

Back at the big tree with the picnic table under it, we sat for awhile to take a break. We had been walking for quite awhile and we were beginning to get a bit tired in the heat. 

While we sat, we watched a black squirrel romp through the grass. It had a small white tuft to its tail that made it look like it was a cross between a squirrel and a skunk. 

A Red Wing Blackbird became brave and flew down and landed on the end of the picnic table. 

A young female Robin was taking cover in the shade of a fence post. It stayed there for some time and didn't move. I think she thought that we couldn't see her if she stayed really still. 

By this time we were ready for a bathroom break. Checking our map we found that there was one near by just down a side trail. 

The bathroom was near a large covered picnic area. 

There were some wild roses growing near by. 

The trail from this point changed dramatically to one of thick trees.  It was still easy to navigate though, and we welcomed the shade. 

We came to a bridge that was just before a road crossing. The bridge looked like it was in rough shape at one end. It was warped and the boards were coming apart and we had to be careful crossing it. 

There was another bridge after that which was in much better condition. 

The lush plants growing along the edge of the little creek made it look like a carpet of green. It was a cute little fairy land area. 

We were no no longer in Darlington Provincial Park.  We had crossed the border of the park and were now in the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve. 

​The McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve borders Darlington Park. This is where Lady Google had sent us the day before instead of the park entrance.  It knew that the park border was here but it didn't know that the entrance technically wasn't, even though you could get there through the connecting hiking trails.  

We stood in the shade of the gateway to the Wildlife Reserve as we decided what we wanted to do. We had already come a long way and we still had to walk back yet.  However, we were curious about what this Wildlife Reserve had to offer. 

As we talked I looked up and saw an old abandoned nest of some Organ Pipe Mud Dauber Wasps. 

We looked at the map that was posted and found the red "You Are Here" star on it.   We decided that we would walk just a little bit of the trail to see what was there.  But not the whole thing. We would aim for "Jim's Pond" and then we would see how we felt after that. 

The Wildlife Reserve Trail was very much like an old farm road. It was wide and grassy on both sides.  From time to time you could see a bird house on a post in the middle of the grasses. 

There were a number of Virginia Ctenucha Moths flying around. The orange and blue colours of their heads and bodies contrasted beautifully against the black of their wings. 

The trail was equipped with a Port-A-Potty incase you needed one. 

There was a bench too, but it would have been nicer if the bench had been in a place where there was some shade. The sun was scorching and there was very little shade. 

We made it to "Jim's Pond" but were surprised to see that the signs called it "Greg's Pond"  I guess Jim was having an identity crisis.  On the back of the sign post was a couple more bird houses. 

The pond covered a large area and was filled with the sounds of birds and frogs. 

There was a sign pointing towards aside trail called "Beaton Path" . We declined to go down that path because we thought it might be too long.  Carsten made us laugh when he jokingly said  "Well, we are off the Beaton Path".

Instead we decided that the Dogwood Trail would be a shorter walk and it seemed to have some shade. So we made our way in that direction instead. This trail also had some Bindweed flowers growing along the sides. Once again they were a different colour and type of Bindweed. These were Field Bindweed. 

The Dogwood Trail encircled the edges of another, much smaller, pond. 

There were big Flowering Dogwoods and other trees on this trail.  (One person on iNaturalist has argued that this is not a Flowering Dogwood tree despite there being a sign below it indicating that it is. He says this is either an apple or a cherry tree. He thinks that the sign was put in the wrong spot.  Perhaps he is right. I don't know. I will let you be the judge of that). 

Many of the trees had a sign in front of it that identified the type of tree it was. The signs were written in both English and in braille.  

The bridge across the pond looked new and was aesthetically pleasing. I believe it was made out of recycled materials too, if I recall correctly. 

The little ponds had algae growing in them that may seem unsightly to some people but is actually creating a good home for its inhabitants. 

The frogs are particularly fond of it. 

And the turtles seem to like it here too. 

The pond wasn't the only host to wildlife here. There was a large plant that had a whole bunch of Black Bean Aphids on it and a colony of ants was farming them and harvesting the honeydew from them. Ants literally “farm” aphids much like humans farm livestock. The ants will protect the aphids from predators like ladybugs, defending them fiercely.

Among the treetops the Song Sparrows sang and flitted around. 

Other birds were singing their songs too, but I was not familiar with them all. 

Eventually we decided it was time to head back to camp and make the long trek back. 
We went back the way we had come and we got to see all the wonderful swans and visit all the beautiful spots again for a second time. 

We also got to see a few new critters along the way, like a toad hiding in the grass. 

And a Northern Crescent butterfly posing for us on some pretty pink flowers. 

I madly chased a bunch of these White Spotted Sable moths before I finally got one to land long enough to take a picture of one. They were plentiful but they are also fast and very active. 

Along side it was the White Striped Black moth which was also hard to photograph. 

As we left the trail a Blue Jay came to bid us farewell. 

After a long, hot, day of hiking we decided to stop at the park store to treat ourselves to some ice cream before heading back to camp. 

And when we got back to the campsite, it was chips and dip on the menu. 

While Carsten and Penny stayed at the camp to relax, I took the time to go by myself to see if I could do some birdwatching. I had just come back from a hike and here I was walking some more. Call me crazy I guess.  Sometimes I just can't sit still. 

I started searching the trees to see what birds I could find. I could hear them but I couldn't really see them through the thick foliage of the maple leaves that were striped in various shades of green. 

A cute little red squirrel kept an eye on me as he ate a peanut that someone had left for him. 

My walk took me to where the showers were. 

I took a quick peek inside. They seemed clean enough and in good repair. 

Just outside the showers was a tall lamp post. It had 2 holes in it.  The holes looked just like the ones you would see in a bird house. 

The only reason why I had given it any notice was because I saw this little House Wren land there.  At first she landed on the smaller hole at the top. But then she darted into the bigger hole at the bottom and disappeared for a bit. 

I stood and waited to see if she would come out again. I assumed that she had a nest in there. As I waited I could hear the cheerful trilling song of another House Wren. And moments later a male House Wren landed on a near by branch.  He seemed to be on look out.

As the mother came and went with food for the babies, he would sit and watch and warn if he saw any danger. 

I stayed silent and didn't move a muscle, so I was able to watch them for quite sometime before I finally got tired and headed back to camp. 

Back at camp we could see a ship out in the distance on the lake. As we looked over the cliff at the boat, it made Carsten and I want to go and explore the shores below the cliff. Penny had enough walking for one day so she chose to stay at the camp. 

We followed the shoreline to see how far we could go before we either made it back to our campsite or before we had to turn around and go back the way we came. 

Even out here on the lake we found some swans swimming past us. They were headed in the direction of the bay so they were probably on their way home for the night. 

Behind us the sun was starting to get lower on the horizon. 

A flock of seagulls were soaking up the last of the evening sun on the shore. 

The cliffs began to get taller and taller. They got steeper and steeper with a wall of loose sand between the ground and the trees at the top of them. They would be a difficult climb if we had to climb them.  We figured we would probably have to turn around. We couldn't see what was around the bend yet though so we kept going. 

When we rounded the bend we found some very large cement X's all along the shoreline. I am unsure what these are for. Looking further ahead we were not sure we would be able to get past them. 

Looking up we could see the roots of trees above us. 

To our surprise we did find a trail up to our campsite and we didn't have to turn around and go back the way we came.

We took a moment to look around and enjoy the view of the gulls silhouetted against the evening sky before attempting the climb.  

The trail actually joined up to the one that Penny and I had found on the other side of the fence when we first arrived at camp. It was a bit steep but we had been on much more difficult trails on previous backpacking trips so we were able to navigate it with a bit of effort. 

​​From the top of the cliff we turned around and looked at where we had come from. The view of the lake was as marvelous up here as it was down below. 

With all of our hiking done for the day, we settled in for an evening of board games and fun. 

We played board games until long after the sun went down. Before we knew it, it was midnight and time to turn in. 

As we walked to the washrooms to brush our teeth and get ready for bed we felt blessed to be able to see the bright orange moon in the sky above us and to have experienced such an amazing day.