Places to Bird in the Quinte area

Places to go...	Birds you may see...
PRINCE EDWARD POINT - Located at the most south-east point of Prince Edward County  - Includes the Point Traverse woods and the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory. - Directions: Follow County Road 13 south-east past Little Bluff  until the road becomes Long Point Road This is the place to go if you're serious about birding. It is a wildlife preserve, a bird migration hot spot - and it even has a banding station and everything.	Pretty much every bird that can be seen in the Quinte area can be seen at Prince Edward Point.    -  Excellent for warblers, waxwings, swallows, wrens, thrushes, jays, kinglets, flycatchers, finches, vireos, blackbirds, sparrows, shorebirds, waterfowl, and raptors. Best times to visit Prince Edward Point SPRING (March, April, May, June): The birds are active, vocal, and colourful - and during the Spring Migration, Prince Edward Point provides a stopover for hordes of northward moving birds. FALL (Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov):  The birds may not have their Spring colours but the Fall Migration still provides some excellent birding opportunities. I would not recommend Prince Edward Point in the winter. The roads are not good, there are no facilities, and the birding is rather mediocre - or at best, very specific. Also, don't be fooled by what you may read about the variety and numbers of birds. Remember that bird counts are often based on birds that are caught in the banding station nets, bird calls that are heard, glimpses of birds flying over, etc. Getting good unobstructed looks at birds can be just as tough there as it is anywhere. However, if you go to Prince Edward Point at the right times you will have more success than at any other spot in the Quinte area.
H.R. FRINK CENTRE - Located at 381 Thrasher Rd. - Directions: From Belleville,  go north on Highway 37 to Thrasher Rd. - go east 2 km to #381. The map below shows only a small portion of the Frink Centre, but it is the area that I have spent the most time exploring. Some pretty good birding here, especially in the wetlands.	The main entrance feeders (location "A" on the adjacent map) are a very reliable spot for Blue Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches (White-breasted and Red-breasted), Downy Woodpeckers, Finches, Sparrows, and even the occasional Cardinal. There is a small parking lot on the south side of Thrasher road about 1/2 mile west of the main entrance. This is a great spot to go birding from. The wooded areas offer a good variety . Location "B" on the map is a spot where I often see Flickers, and location "C" is good for Catbirds. Both spots offer a lot of Warblers during migration times and there are also Grouse, Thrushes, Flycatchers,  Cuckoos, and more. The wetlands area is good for Canada Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, Kingbirds, Grebes, Mergansers, several types of Ducks, Moorhens, Herons, Rails, Sparrows, and even Northern Harriers. The Frink Centre is perhaps the best birding spot within 10km of Belleville.
KAISER CROSSROAD - Located near the end of Adolphus Reach - Directions: Take Bridge St. (Highway 33) north out of Picton, past the Lake on the Mountain, where it becomes County Road 7. Keep going along Aldophus Reach until you get to the Kaiser Crossroad. The Kaiser Crossroad is famous locally for the corn fields that get flooded in the early Spring and attract a huge number and variety of waterfowl and shore birds. NOTE: Take a scope or some very strong binoculars because you will have to do your viewing from the side of the road some 200 feet or more from the birds. Also, be careful of traffic. Although this is not a busy road, you should always be extra careful not to let your focus on birding interfere with common sense adherance to roadside safety.	Between mid-March and the end of April (mixed in with the more common ducks, geese, and gulls) you could see many of these less common birds:    American Coot    American Wigeon    Blue-winged Teal    Bonapart Gull    Bufflehead    Cackling Goose    Gadwell    Great Black-backed Gull    Greater Scaup    Greater White-fronted Goose    Greater Yellowlegs    Green-winged Teal    Hooded Merganser    Lesser Scaup    Little Gull    Northern Harrier    Northern Pintail    Northern Shoveler    Redhead    Ring-necked Duck    Ruff    Snow Goose    Tundra Swan    Wilson's Snipe    Wood Duck There is also a pole with an Osprey nest on County Road 8, near the south end of the Kaiser Crossroad.
QUINTE CONSERVATION AREA - Located on Highway 2 just west of Wallbridge-Loyalist Road. There is parking on the north and south sides of Highway 2. Quinte Conservation Area is a great little spot that is very close to Belleville. It has a variety of habitats on the property which provides for a diverse selection of birds.	South of Highway 2, you could see:    Common Flickers    Mallards    Spotted Sandpipers    White-breasted Nuthatches    Red-winged Blackbirds    Warblers (in season)    as well as Gulls, Sparrows, Robins and more. North of Highway 2, you could see:    Baltimore Orioles    Brown-headed Cowbirds    Eastern Phoebes    Red-eyed Vireos    Belted Kingfishers    Wood Ducks    Great Blue Herons    House Wrens    Red-winged Blackbirds    Northern Cardinals    White-breasted Nuthatches    Blue Jays    Warblers (in season)    as well as Robins, Chickadees, Sparrows and more.
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