Malcomson EcoPark

Malcomson is one of my favourite places to walk.  It is a natural area right on Lakeshore Road beside the canal, at the end of Niagara Street.  There is a network of walks of hard-packed earth, and quite easy to navigate.  It comes equipped with ponds and small streams, and an abundance of trees of all kinds and ages.  In the summer, there is such an abundance of birds!  I've seen many species there, including American Bittern, Green Heron, plenty of warblers and vireos and other songbirds, and even a yellow cuckoo!

Spring still awaits the arrival of migrators, but I did see a hairy woodpecker, cardinals and plenty of chickadees, plus a pair of robins.

This early in the season, before the leaves grow in, the effects of the great vines that climb up many of the old trees can be seen.  Where vines have died off, some of the trees can be seen to be shaped into corkscrews by the growth of the inch-thick vines that climbed ten or twenty feet up the trunks.

Being a natural area, deadfall is left to rot, returning to the soil and nurturing new growth, providing shelter for small animals and food for insects and on up the food chain.  Mossy logs and stumps are plentiful, and live trees that tower fifty or sixty feet are not unusual.  The canopy is far above, and there is moderate underbrush, which makes it a great place for birds.  I saw no migrators today except a pair of early robins.

Malcomson is delightful, and if a walk in the woods appeals to you, it's a great place to check out!