OSHAWA RESERVE TOP NATURE SPOT

The best of the best: birding the Mclaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve at the height of spring migration. So many unique habitats right next to each other — lakeshore, meadow, woods and wetlands — support an amazing variety of birds, lots of which can be seen, heard, discovered in a single visit. With Darlington Provincial Park and Second Marsh as part of the mix, it's just about the top nature destination in all of Durham Region, and I love going there.

Orchard orioles, northern mockingbirds and yellow warblers prefer the more open upland portions of the reserve, so be on the lookout as you head out on the trails from the parking lot at the east end of Colonel Sam Drive. Marsh wrens will be singing their rattling song from the cattails edging the marsh, and blue-grey gnatcatchers lisping in the willows of Cool Hollow as you near the lake.

Second Marsh is famous for so many bird sightings, including the first nesting record of little gull in North America, discovered by George Scott in 1962.

A visit any day in May could turn up four or five species of herons, half a dozen different ducks, four gulls, three terns and a whole bunch of shorebirds — and you never know when a real rarity might show up. Be sure to keep scanning the skies for falcons, hawks and eagles that could be soaring by.

Every year, the evergreens in Darlington grow taller and denser, exactly what migrating songbirds need to rest and recoup in after an exhausting overnight flight. Park entry is free to pedestrians, so wander through the woods there, listening for the twittery songs and calls of warblers, vireos, kinglets, catbirds, orioles and wrens.

So many natural ecosystems so close together are not only of interest to visitors hungry for a dose of the out-of-doors, they provide a valuable opportunity for biological research, judging by the number of studies graduate students from various universities have carried out there.

Perhaps that fact was the spark of inspiration for members of the Friends of Second Marsh, who came up with an "audacious" vision: creating a research and education centre right there on site, in the beautifully designed building overlooking the marsh, the wildlife reserve, the provincial park: GM Canada's former office headquarters, currently up for sale.

The world sure could benefit from a Great Lakes centre as they envision it, with specialists working together to address everything from climate change to invasive species management.

Just thinking about the possibilities sends a ripple of hope through the cloud of climate despair.

Nature queries: mcarney1490@gmail.com or 905725-2116.