Camping on Bruce Peninsula

Everyday my first grader brings a little booklet from school to practice reading at home. And yesterday he brought a book titled “A Camping Trip”. And so we started talking about his favourite memories of summer camping. He also told me about stories that children in his class are writing at school.

It turns out that most children write stories related to their camping trips. How interesting. This is what I have always remembered from my own childhood as well. Camping is the best time to spend with your family and to create wonderful memories for children. This is what they will cherish and remember for the rest of their lives.

This past summer we were lucky to spend the whole two months at our trailer in a town of Red Bay. We have seen many animas and interesting plants. Red Bay is located on Bruce Peninsula, which is famous for its wildlife as there are numerous wildlife conservation areas, national parks and Indian Reserves (with annual pow-wow) there.

There is a famous hiking trail called Bruce Trail passing through the whole length of the Bruce Peninsula. Bruce Trail covers many interesting natural wonders including waterfalls, cliffs, grottos and caves.

One day we went on a hike in our Red Bay area. The rocky shores look relatively wild, although there are many cottages more inland. And right there we could observe many animals, which normally run away from people. First we saw a snake lying on a big rock and enjoying the sunshine. Then we saw three large hawks sitting on the shoreline rocks. As we stepped closer they got into the air and started circling above our heads. I have never seen these large birds from so close up.

But further on a pier the were two more large birds that did not resemble the hawks or even the loons, so popular here. They were much larger and all black, most likely cormorants. As we got a bit closer to take a picture they also tried to fly away. One got air-bound easily, while the other one struggled. It would go up a little bit and then it would land on the pier again.

After a few times we could easily see that one of its wings was hanging down, probably broken. While the other bird could have easily gotten away, it was clear that he did not want to leave the sick one behind and was circling him closely in the air. We stepped back to see what happens, but the healthy bird just landed back just to be beside his partner. My son was very moved by this scene and started crying. He didn’t want to leave the injured bird. 

We don’t know what happened with the birds, as finally we had to leave. Nature had to take its course, as with all living things.