G. HOWARD FERGUSON FOREST STATION
Spring: *** Summer: ** Fall: ** Winter: **
Independent Directions to this Site: From Highway 416 take exit 34 (Leeds & Grenville 43 (formerly Highway 43) west) to Kemptville. Follow 43 west 2.5 km to Leeds & Grenville 44. Turn right or northwest on 44 and proceed 0.5 km to Veteren's Way, on the right or northeast, the entrance to the G. Howard Ferguson Forest Station.
Rideau River East Side Route Directions: From the Sabourins Crossing Heronry along Highway 416, continue south 4.7 km to exit 34 to Kemptville. Turn right or west on 43 and go 2.5 km to Kemptville and Leeds & Grenville 44. Turn right or northwest on 44 and proceed 0.5 km to Veteren's Way, on the right or northeast, the entrance to the G. Howard Ferguson Forest Station.
Map of G. Howard Ferguson Forest Station Area
Site Description and Birding Information: Birding potential is good at this extensive site all year long. Visit the Station's Visitor's Centre, open weekdays, just south of Veteren's Way, near L&G 44. Maps and information are available there. A series of gravel and dirt roads in the forest tracts and test plots of this Forest Station provide easy access for birders to a good variety of woodland habitat. The main road entrances to this under-birded gem are Vetern's Way, off L&G 44, and Grenville Street, off L&G 43. These both lead to the main north-south road through the station, Honour Way, which goes all the way to a couple of private cottages along the Rideau River. Golf Course Lane, in the northwest corner, skirts the edge of the golf course, which seems to be encroaching on the forest (money cuts trees), before coming to more cottages.
Honour Way on Ferguson Forest Station
|
Golf Course Lane on Ferguson Forest Station
|
A series of hiking trails in the wooded tracts of this Forest Station allow access to the forest itself. An interpretive Forest Management Trail begins just northwest of the greenhouses and extends nortghward to cross Honour Way. About 1.5 km northwest of Vetern's Way along L&G 44 is the parking area, on the right or northeast, for the Nursery Trail, which also cuts through the forest. And, of course, you can hike the roads as well. Some of them are little more than trails anyway. The variety of habitats and interfaces insures a good variety of birds.
Along the Trails on the Ferguson Forest Station
The wet area immediately southwest of the Forest Management Trail entry display has Alder Flycatcher and Mourning Warbler breeding. The trail itself has Ovenbird, Black-and-White Warbler and Scarlet Tanager as breeding birds.
Scarlet Tanager at Ferguson Forest Station - June 26, 2004
|
Red Squirrel at Ferguson Forest Station - June 26, 2004
|
Rideau River East Side Route Directions: From the G. Howard Ferguson Forest Station return via Veteren's Way to Leeds & Grenville 44. Turn right or northwest and go 2.9 km to River Road. Turn left or west onto it and go 0.5 km to the next site on this route, Becketts Landing Road, on the right or northwest.
Return to Rideau River East Side.
Return to Birding Ottawa Table of Contents.
|