Winter at the Pinery!

We were prepared for cold temperatures and Sunday was a gorgeous day to spend at Pinery Provincial Park!

It wasn’t a particularly “birdy” day, however birds, such as Tufted Titmice could be found at the traditional feeding stations. In total, only 11 species of birds were found in our 5 hour visit.

We began our walk at the Cedar Trail, which starts near the Visitor Centre. One branch of the trail leads to a boardwalk overlooking the frozen Old Ausable River Channel.

Lots of snowy branches lined either side of the trail.

The Cedar trail extension leads into the Dunes Campground where we had access to Lake Huron. The snowy dunes provide a blanket of warmth to critters sheltering out of sight beneath the snow.

In the campground, picnic tables were covered with a foot of snow. We stayed on packed down sections of the road as we weren’t keen to walk through deep snow.

More Snow!!

We were able to complete a walking loop and made our way back to the Visitors Centre where lots of birds including this Red-breasted Nuthatch were hanging out.

This Tufted Titmouse and Black-capped Chickadee appeared to be having a “stand off” as they stood on either side of a pile of sunflower seeds.

Snow scattered when a Chickadee dropped down for some food.

Our last stop was beach parking #9. There is often lots of "discussion" amongst the birds as they argue about the feeding order! 

Tufted Titmouse

Some people get hair extensions....This Red-tailed Hawk has a TAIL extension!! The hawk flew in with the squirrel and landed on the branch of a Spruce Tree. Other squirrels in the area were sounding the alarm, but it was too late for their "friend"!