The Binocular Site
Amherst Island, Ontario
Amherst Island is found in Lake Ontario, and has been described in shape as “like a squid swimming away from Quinte’s Isle”.
The island and its archipelago of smaller islands only cover 26 square miles, with 400 human residents living there year-round.
Bluffs and beaches give way to meadows, pastures, and forests, inviting deer and other wildlife. Ferry services are always available, allowing visitors to see a wide range of migratory birds.
Screen owls, great horned owls, and long-eared owls, live here year-round, with snowy owls, boreal owls, and saw-whet owls stopping during migration. A bird sanctuary is found on the eastern tip of the island, and The Birds of the Kingston Region is available there for bird watching visitors. Snowy plovers, willets, and wigeons, are also sighted on Amherst Island.
Summers are warm, and winters are typical of Ontario’s climate, with bracing winds. Nonetheless, the lake ensures the island experiences less frost than the mainland, which delights the gardeners and flower-lovers on Amherst Island. Interestingly this shifts the flowering of plants by a surprising degree from one end of the island to the other, with south shore lilacs starting to bloom just as north shore lilacs finish. See the Amherst Island website for more information.
The provincial bird of Ontario is the Common Loon and you can find a checklist for birding activities in Ontario here.
Photo credit to Kristin Maling, used with permission under the creative commons license.
If you've visited Amherst Island, please take the time to share your experience and any tips or insight you have about this Ontario bird watching location below.
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Average User Rating
Living in Kingston I can hop the ferry usually once a week. Winter birding is a perfect time for many hawk species as well as owl. This winter has been no different with a total of a least 6 owl species being seen.
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