Look Who Is Back At The McKenzie Marsh, The Osprey

Last week one foggy night we were driving on the St. John’s sideroad. I peeked on my right and I noticed a big bird sitting on the very famous Cormorant tree (north side of St. John’s, east of the main observation deck). No doubt it was the Osprey, the fish-eating bird of prey. I was so excited of his return, and I was even more excited that he was closer than ever to the boardwalk.


I am not sure if it is the same Osprey, but I been following him since July 2007. That was the time when I first photographed him fishing with his amazing talons – stunning action to experience. He used to sit on the far tree on the back, hard to spot, but with my zoom lens I was able to see him many times. Then he moved closer to the evergreen tree in the following years. However, in 2010 I have been to the pond many times during spring, summer and fall, but there was no trace of him, until last week.


It is possible that he never left, he just moved to the marsh closer to the Hadley Grange. When they started building the Nokiidaa Trail boardwalk, he probably got disturbed and moved back to this side of the marsh, but picked a new tree to reside on (just my theory). However, it will be interesting to see what will happen when the Cormorants come back? Will they fight for the spotlight? In the past the Great Blue Heron lost that battle.


It was time to take the new red-wagon and see what was happening at the McKenzie Marsh. So, couple of days ago we went for a walk to the pond. I couldn’t believe how much activity was there at this time of the year – everyone was there, including the soaring Osprey I have been looking for. On the way back he was sitting on the famous Cormorant tree close to the boardwalk (and may be one day I will find out the name of this tree too).



Not just sitting, but enjoying his captured meal – a fish. As every fish eating bird in this ponds dives for the fish and catches with its beak, the Osprey, catches with its feet. The Osprey’s toes are of equal size, and the outer toe is reversible, allowing them to grasp their prey with two toes in front and two behind. Also, the barbed pads on the soles of its feet help to grip slippery fish. The Osprey carries fish headfirst to maintain the aerodynamic flight as possible.

Seeing Osprey fish is an amazing action and I think we are very lucky to have this remarkable bird at the McKenzie Marsh in Aurora.

My journey in Aurora is always full of surprises. I have to say people are very friendly, always say Hi and smile. I also have a social butterfly (my 3-year old Matthew) with me who got into habit of saying Hi to every passing person. That day in addition to the Osprey discovery, I got to meet Barry who was walking his dog along the same path. The Canada geese are usually good starting point to initiate the conversation, especially since for the past few years they been nesting closer and closer to the boardwalk. They are definitely getting used to the busy traffic on the St. John’s sideroad.

As we conversed more, I found that myself and Barry have very similar interests, mainly photography. Barry is owner of the Algonquin Adventures website (Barry’s own information-sharing website for Algonquin park users such as campers, canoeists, hikers, photographers, fishermen) and he is also Executive Committee Member of the Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists.

Beauty is all around us, we just have to look more closely. When Matthew was born three years ago and I wanted to continue with my photography hobby I realized that you don’t have to go far, Aurora has lot of places to explore. So it looks like Barry will be sharing some of his Aurora adventures with us too on his bbaurora blog.