Outdoors: Birdwatching in the region

Birdwatching is a wonderful way to get out with friends and family and enjoy the beautiful outdoors in Algoma. You will get lots of fresh air and exercise. All you need for birding are good walking shoes or hiking boots, binoculars and/or a camera, and a good bird identification book or app.

Birds have been a fascination for humans for centuries. Birds range from as small as a hummingbird to as large as an albatross, but you won’t find the later here in Algoma. The colour selections are a varied as the birds themselves, ranging from black, gray, white, buff/brown, red/rufous, yellow, olive/green, blue, and orange.

You can find the birds eating at feeders, swimming or wading, on the ground, in trees or bushes, on a fence or a wire, or soaring or flying high in the sky. Birds have distinctive sounds which you will probably hear before you see a bird.

The best times of day to find birds are early in the morning just after sunrise, or later at night just before sunset.

The best times of the year to view birds migrating north are mid-April to mid-May; for breeding birds, go in late May to early July; for birds migrating south, view in mid-July to October, and for winter birding, view in December through to February.

- Sheri Minardi

Read the full article about birding in the Algoma region.