Wood Bed and Breakfast

It is hard to believe that we welcomed our first guests more than six years ago.

We haven’t changed much in those six years with the exception of a small increase in rates that we believe better reflected the cost of us doing business. 

The year 2019 was our busiest year to date.  This ran counter to other attractions in the area who had difficulty due to necessary closures because of high Lake Erie water levels.

Birds and Birders

Many or our guest are birders.  And birder know that Long Point/Port Rowan area is one of the best areas in Ontario to see migrating and nesting birds.  We continue to see warblers, sand hill cranes, tundra swans and more.  There is something interesting every day, it seems.  Just checking today and notice that the Port Rowan Wetlands on Hunter Street North just up the street from us has now reached a total of 219 species seen at the site over the years.

Here is a picture of a Rose Breasted Grosbeak that Graham got earlier this year. 

Much to See

For example, we have always thought that we should get to all the tourist attractions, restaurants etc.  in Norfolk county so that we could offer informed opinion to you our guests.

In fact, this has proved to be an impossible task.  There is just too much to see/do here.

However recently we joined in on the South Coast Wine Spirit of the Season Passport tour.  This program has been going a few years and has kind of flown under the radar as far as we are concerned.

Karen drove the getaway car and I sampled the various wines, ciders and beers of Norfolk County.  There was food pairing at each location that Karen took advantage of.  Here is what the passport program looks like. https://ontariosouthcoastwine.com/spirit-season-passport/


A similar program runs in the spring.

We wonder if our guests would be interested in participating in the Passport program next year.  The idea is that we could offer some sort of package and provide the transportation.  Let us know if this might be of interest to you. 

If you haven’t already found this resource, check out https://www.norfolktourism.ca/ to find out about upcoming events.

Changes in Town

There are, at least three new places to eat in Port Rowan.  Chef Stan, who operated a food truck at the Legion last summer is transforming the Chinese restaurant into something called “Saloon.”

The Gallery Art Bistro https://shaunap.ca/ has been open for a while now and has live music.

And now there is local competition for Godfather’s Pizza.  Pizza Buoys https://pizza-buoys.business.site/, on Front near Highway #59, opened at the end of summer.

Let us know if you have any comments or feedback for us.

And best wishes for the holiday season to you and your loved ones

Karen, Graham and Bob Wood

What the Huffington Post Left Out (about Port Rowan)

A recent piece in Huffington Post listed six top coastal towns in Canada.  The list was comprised of Tofino B.C., Lunenburg and Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia, Twillingate Newfoundland, Cavendish in P.E.I and our town Port Rowan.  See http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/allison-eberle/coastal-canadian-towns_b_9522064.html


The story was actually entitled 6 Coastal Canadian Towns That Will Blow You Away.  And, yes, it is nice that a “hamlet” like ours gets this kind of recognition for its great vacation opportunities.  It seems stroppy to quibble but……….

What about the birds?

Among the many attributes (camping, beachcombing, swimming, hiking and shipwreck diving to name a few) that the Huffington Post listed for Port Rowan there was not one mention of birds.
So just to help out Huffington Post readers I figured some further information was in order.

Six Things you need to Know about Birds in the Port Rowan Long Point Area

1. Port Rowan is situated within a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.  Reserves are internationally designated protected areas intended to show a balanced relationship between people and nature.  There are 16 in Canada.


2. Because of its geographic location, sticking out 32 km into Lake Erie, Long Point attracts large numbers of birds during migration. Many birds, tiring as they fly over Lake Erie in the spring, head to Long Point as the nearest landing point.  Here they can rest and feed before continuing on their journey.


3. According to E-bird Canada, four hundred species of birds have been observed in Norfolk County – most in Port Rowan/Long Point. That is more than 81% of the species that have been recorded in Ontario.


4. So it makes sense that Port Rowan is home to the national office of Bird Studies Canada (BSC), Canada’s leading national charitable organization dedicated to bird science and conservation.

Old Cut Field Station

5. Affiliated with BSC is the Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO). Founded in 1960, LPBO was the first organization of its type in North America.  Three research and banding stations are operated by LPBO where they have banded an amazing total of 972,216 birds since 1960.  The Old Cut field station, a ten minute drive from Port Rowan, is open to the public beginning this weekend (April 1).


Black Tern at the Wetlands last Spring

6. On Hunter Drive in Port Rowan there is a unique feature – wetlands recently converted from sewage lagoons.  The sewage lagoons have been decommissioned and the site has been transformed into an engineered wetland. This change will also restore the balance of the property with prairie grasses and other native shrubs and trees.  Threatened birds like bobolinks and meadowlarks may be attracted to the enhanced habitat and begin to nest here. In the last decade, nearly 30 per cent of all the bird species that have been seen in Canada have been observed at this spot.

Port Rowan Wetlands Opens

(This story originally appeared in the Norfolk News on September 30th.  Since then birders have observed a  Hudsonian Godwit, the first recorded at the Wetlands. Below is a shot of the Hudsonian Godwit taken Sunday evening.   

Wetlands Opening

It was fitting, perhaps, that a shorebird joined the crowd that had gathered on Hunter Drive North for the official opening of the Port Rowan Wetlands Sept. 24.

A pectoral sandpiper came in low and glided through the assembled group of dignitaries and interested observers. The bird landed on the newly constructed concrete walkway just metres from the viewing platform.

It was easy to imagine that the sandpiper was paying tribute to the newly restored area.

Birds have been coming to the former Port Rowan Sewage lagoons for years, of course.

Steven Price, president of Bird Studies Canada, whose national headquarters is just to the southwest of the site, recalls driving here from Toronto about 40 years ago.

“We’d tell people to go to the cannery road and turn north,” he said, recalling that the lagoons provided easy access to see swallows, waterfowl and a few shorebirds.

In the last decade, nearly 30 per cent of all the bird species that have been seen in Canada have been observed at this spot. That works out to 190 different species according to E-Bird, an online database of bird observations.

Although the pectoral sandpiper is a species that is doing well, fourteen species at risk have also been observed here, said Price, whose organization was one of the partners involved in establishing the wetlands.

With the completion of the adjacent wastewater treatment plant in 2012, the sewage lagoons were decommissioned.

Funds were then obtained to transform the site into an engineered wetland and restore the balance of the property with prairie grasses and other native shrubs and trees.

Water that once went directly into Dedrick Creek now moves through the wetlands and is naturally filtrated. This natural cleansing works to keep pollution, toxins and nutrients out of the water system.

Mayor Charlie Luke referenced the construction of the new wastewater facility and pointed over his shoulder to the wetlands.

“This is the icing on the cake, here for generations to come,” said the mayor.  

Steering committee members like Peter Bryan-Pulham, senior drainage superintendent for Norfolk County, spoke of how the Drainage Act, often a piece of legislation that is a challenge to navigate, actually worked in favour of getting the project done as the various partners worked together.

“It is a good example of groups who can sometimes be at each other’s throats agreeing on a common objective to restore sewage lagoons that aren’t much use to people when they are closed,” Price declared.

He expects that threatened birds like bobolinks and meadowlarks may be attracted to the enhanced habitat and begin to nest here. Nighthawks and chimney swifts could be drawn to the wetlands area too.

The County hopes that people from around the province and from across Canada will come as well.

They’ll be interested in how they may be able to replicate this unique Norfolk venture that benefits the natural world but will also be of economic value to Norfolk and Port Rowan.

Mushroom Hike

The Norfolk Field Naturalists have a hike this weekend.

They are calling it the:

Lots of mushrooms from a previous NFN Hike

Fascinating Fungi:  Mushroom Identification Hike

It is on Saturday, October 3rd from  1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Join NFN on a fall hike in Backus Woods to look for and identify mushrooms and other fungi of all shapes and sizes. 

Bring a camera as you can't harvest mushrooms in this NCC property.

Meet at the 3rd Concession entrance to Backus Woods (by the Turkey Cairn).  Dress appropriately for the weather. 

For more information contact Inga at 519-875-5601.

More information on the Norfolk field Naturalists can be found at http://norfolkfieldnaturalists.org/

Goings on in Port Rowan/Long Point This Week.

It has taken a long time but it appears that the grand opening of the Port Rowan Wetlands will take place this Thursday.

Some of you will remember the sewage lagoons on Hunter Drive North.  They were decommissioned three years ago and since then they have been in the process of being converted into a functional table wetland.

We’ve been observing the complex process of the transformation over these past three years.

The most obvious changes occurred this spring.

That was when the berm that separated the two ponds was removed.

Now there is a long point that looks like an island.

According to by Shirley Rothery, Chair of the Long Point Biosphere, 

at the “north east where the municipal drain enters the wetland

the bottom will be contoured so that it rises gradually to the height of the island. This will help to keep water circulating in the wetland from the north east where it enters to the north west where it will exit. The variation in the water depths will encourage the growth of different types of vegetation and attract different birds and animals.”

You can read a summary of the project at http://www.longpointbiosphere.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/biosphereBeacon_summer2015_loRes.pdf.  It is on page 7.of this informative newsletter from the Long Point Biosphere.

Tall prairie grass has been planted on both sides of Hunter Drive.  This will eventually transform the area into an ecosystem once common in the area.  It will benefit wildlife and help protect the cold water creek from erosion.

Snowy Owl at the Port Rowan Wetlands December 2014

E-Bird records 190 species seen at this site http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L382681?m=&yr=all&changeDate=Set . Last Saturday one of our B & B guests observed 35 species on a quick trip to the wetlands.  They are located just 600 metres north of our house.  The ongoing transformation will certainly promise that even more species will be seen in future years.

Barn Swallow / Forest Birds Workshop - September 24, 2015

Also this week, there will be a couple of presentations at Bird Studies Canada (BSC) headquarters on Thursday evening.  BSC’s Kristyn Richardson will talk about stewardship programs for swallows.  She will be followed by wildlife biologist Gregor Beck and BSC’s Jody Allair.  They’ll talk about forest birds that are at risk.  The workshop runs from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at BSC headquarters,115 Front Road in Port Rowan on Thursday, September 24th.

Spring is Here. We think.

Motus Tracking System

Earlier this month I decided to check out the rumour that spring had arrived.


So I headed out so seek confirmation.


One way to do that if you live in south Norfolk County, as I do, is to go to the Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) banding station at Old Cut on Long Point.


Thousands of Tundra Swans have already passed through the area on their way to their Arctic breeding grounds.  The Swans were somewhat behind this year due to lack of open water but on this Easter Monday migration was more widespread.  Swallows, Eastern Towhees Kinglets, Phoebes and others were moving through, evidence that we may finally be able to put winter behind us.


The banding station staff and volunteers were busy with birds and, as always in my experience, easily approachable to take questions from visitors.


One question about the technology involved in banding and tracking birds was a timely one.


That is because LPBO has been using the same relatively simple, labour intensive bird monitoring and research techniques since 1960.  That was the year when LPBO was established as the first organization of its kind in North America.                                                                                                                     


Banding and monitoring requires mist nets (Imagine elongated badminton nets.), cloth bags, favourable wind conditions and people power.  Here is a short video that shows how it is done.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihvgEERGKqU


Soon, an LPBO staffer will band the research station’s one-millionth bird at one of their three Lake Erie shore locations. The records provide a huge database of knowledge.  And, while I believe this work will continue, a new system has been developed over the last few years that will take research to a completely new level.


The Motus Tracking System fits birds with miniaturized radio transmitters so that researchers can track the real-time movements of these radio-tagged birds. 


These small transmitters cost about $200.  They weigh 0.3 grams and less depending on the bird that is being tagged. A warbler, who tips the scales at about ten grams, receives a transmitter that weighs about 0.1 grams, for example.

More than 250 tracking stations have been set up to date.  These stations resemble those TV aerials that we all had on our roofs in the fifties.  Each one of these stations can pick up the signal from tagged birds when they pass within about 20 kilometres.  


LPBO Program Co-ordinator Stu Mackenzie is the Motus Wildlife Tracking System Manager.  He reports that researchers and organizations radio-tagged over 1800 birds and bats of more than 30 species in southern Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, and as far north as Southampton Island, Nunavut last year.


The Motus Tracking system is an exciting new development that will foster cooperation among bird researchers throughout the western hemisphere.  They’ll gain a better understanding of how migratory animals move over land and water.  Better wildlife policies and regulations will result.
For a more detailed description of the tracking system go to http://www.bsc-eoc.org/download/BWCfa14.pdf

Sandhill Cranes near Port Rowan

This time of year, we spend a fair bit of time heading westward a kilometre or two looking for Sandhill Cranes.

They aren’t hard to find as they are usually feeding just east or west of highway #59, north of Front Road/Lakeshore near Port Rowan.

On Christmas Eve at dusk, we watched from the Big Creek viewing platform as a couple of hundred came in for the night.

The Long Point Christmas Count conducted on Saturday December 20th tallied 730 Sandhill Cranes.

Here they are:

More details on the count at http://www.mail-archive.com/birdalert@ontbirds.ca/msg35028.html