Why not Plan - Algonquin

Think Algonquin in 2008 Earl Plato

Memories of late spring time in the Shenandoah and Great Smoky National Parks in the United States but I am standing in a Spruce forest of our great provincial park, Algonquin. It is mid-June and the forest floor is covered with a familiar plant. A clue - it’s flower is a giveaway. It’s white with four petals. Wait! These four petal-like structures are actually bracts. In the centre of each plant are a cluster of tiny yellowish green flowers. The plant lies close to the ground only a few inches high. It makes a beautiful ground cover. So, back to the Shenandoah in late April and we see covering the ground are tons of flowering shrubs carrying a similar but larger white petal-like bracts. Of course you know what they are - Flowering dogwood! Here all along Spruce Bog Trail in Algonquin are Bunchberries, a member of the Dogwood family (Cornaceae). Naturalist Ernie Giles told me to look for the tight clusters of bright red berry-like drupes of the Bunchberries come fall. Some people like these juicy fruits with their crunchy little seeds. Ernie does. To me they were mealy and tasteless. But this is spring. Look for this showy wildflower, Bunchberry. It is found throughout Southern Ontario. Remember the four white bracts surrounding the minuscule flowers aren’t flowers!
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Over the years while walking the trails of Algonquin Park in summer and fall plenty of vehicles were in the various parking lots. Not this late spring of 2004. We were all alone. Strange. This was a bewitching and itching time. Why? Could be black flies for there were ominous clouds of them present. Thank goodness for Deet!
We were doing the Spruce Bog Trail this day. Plenty of showy Bunchberries on the trail. Where were the birds? No songs or flashing wings as we walked deeper and deeper in the thick spruce forest. Then I saw then heard a feathered friend I recognized. I had seen these birds, kinglets, in the winter time at Beaver Meadows south of Buffalo, New York. This bird had a solid yellow crown. It was a Golden-crowned Kinglet. The call came - a thin “ti-ti-ti” followed by a chattering ending. That’s it. This will be abundant bird country in a few weeks. We were lucky to see one on Spruce Bog Trail. Elaine worried about black bears and carried a big stick. I took a shot of her brandishing her club and have enlarged it without her permission.. Visit our most famous Ontario Park, Algonquin. Advice: Wait until July and after. The black fly season should be over. Despite the Deet applications I am still itching!