A Hike in Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife Area

By Carl Wright2 hours ago

Two or three times a year I’ll get together with my former co-worker friend Alicia for a local nature hike. When it comes to nature, she is a bit of a walking encyclopedia. Alicia is so knowledgeable. We chose July 31st for a hike and I asked where would she like to go. The answer without hesitation was Tiny Marsh. A mere 20 kilometers from my home, it is located at 500 Tiny Flos Townline, Tiny Ontario.

Didn’t get a picture of Alicia at Tiny Marsh this year. This is from last year.

It wasn’t planned this way, but we also went hiking in Tiny Marsh exactly a year ago, July 31, 2025. Where there is water, there is wildlife. The exciting thing is, you never know what you might see. This year didn’t disappoint. Alicia has a great camera with a zoom lens far more powerful than my binoculars. That’s the nice thing with powerful cameras is you get great photos without disturbing the wildlife. Except for the 1st photo and last infographic photo in this article, all photos are from Alicia, with a mix from both last year’s hike and this year’s hike. I was planning on writing an article on Tiny Marsh after last year’s hike. But it never got finished.

Photo taken last year. I couldn’t even see these turtles with the naked eye. Alicia’s camera captured them.

From the book “A Nature Guide to Ontario” Wake, Winifred Cairns 11 August 2014. 1997. University of Toronto Press. 9780802027559. 204–205 (which you can read in its entirety here) on pages 204-205 it describes Tiny Marsh, “Originally a lake rimmed with forests, this wetland is now intensively managed to provide habitat for waterfowl during breeding and migration. The area consists of 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of marsh and 300 hectares (740 acres) of forests and fields“.

Photo taken last year. Water lilies were in their full glory both last year and this year. There was acres and acres of them.

The vast forests that at one time surrounded this lake are all long gone, with the surrounding land across the road now tile drained farmland as far as the eye can see. The farmland is always planted in monoculture corn or soybean crops. Once you arrive at the parking lot at Tiny Marsh, you are immediately greeted by birdsong. The lake and land immediately surrounding it survives.

You are never far from water in Tiny Marsh.

Tiny Marsh is the first provincially owned and managed wetland in the province of Ontario. It is administered by M-T-M Conservation Association. This non-profit conservation group also looks after two other wetland areas, Marl Lake, near Wasaga Beach and Matchedash Bay, north of Coldwater. About 250 different species of birds have been spotted at Tiny Marsh including ospreys, over 10 different types of ducks, and the provincially rare black terns and least bitterns. You never know what you might encounter with each visit to Tiny Marsh.

Photo taken this year. I was stumped with what it was. Identified by one of my wife’s post office birding customers as a Fork Tailed Flycatcher. Not a common bird in these parts, it wasn’t even listed among the 206 bird species spotted at Tiny Marsh through Ebird. I set up an account with Ebird to try to add it to the list, but couldn’t figure out how to do it.

The website Ontario Nature Trails list nine trails totaling 17 kilometers at Tiny Marsh. As noted on the website, “Dogs must be leashed”. A reminder, this is a wildlife area. The first trail that Alicia and I hit both last year and this year was the 1.3 kilometer Loop Trail, also sometimes known as the Beaverland Trail. The trail is rated “Easy”. Though if you attempt this hike during mosquito season without insect repellent, I would be tempted to change that rating to “Challenging”. I originally applied some Deet-Free Lemon Eucalyptus repellent. But it didn’t work at all against these aggressive Tiny Marsh blood thirsty mosquitoes. So I dug deeper in my pack for the heavy duty repellent.

Photo taken this year of a little Black-Capped Chickadee as seen from the boardwalk of the Loop Trail.

Photo taken this year of a juvenile American Robin. It still shows spots on it’s breast. The spots would help them blend in with their surroundings while they learn to survive outside the nest. By late summer or early autumn, most of the spotting will be gone.

The Loop Trail includes a dam for water management to provide an optimal stable habitat for different animal species. Past the dam you will soon be walking through tall grass at the edge of a field. Then the trail bends into a forest which leads to a boardwalk over a marshy area. After the boardwalk ends, the loop trail continues to the right. Instead, Alicia and I turned left, which quickly leads to the lookout tower. Being super quiet on the tower, it is amazing all the wildlife that can be spotted.

Photo taken last year from the lookout tower of a Cedar Waxwing.

Photo taken last year from the lookout tower of a Belted Kingfisher on top and a pair of Mourning Doves below.

Photo taken last year of a Great Blue Heron. Highly zoomed in.

After the Loop Trail, we went right back to where we started, and then continued on to the Dike Trail. At the beginning of the dike trail is another dam. The dikes were also built for wildlife habitat. They act as a buffer and protection in this open area so plants and wildlife can thrive. Out on the dike the sun can get quite hot on a summer day. Please make sure you have plenty of water and sun protection whether it is sunblock lotion or sun protection through a good hat and protective clothing.

Last year there were loads of these type of dragonflies on the dike trail. Called Halloween Pennants, they were so fast. After much patience, Alicia was able to get a photo of one. There are 5,000 species of dragonflies in the world. The 19 species found in Ontario are listed here.

On the dike trail you might encounter amphibians such as frogs or insects such as dragonflies and butterflies. You will also likely spot plenty of waterfowl. A real treat last year was the nesting osprey high above the dike on a special pole and platform. Unfortunately the osprey wasn’t there this year.

Photo taken this year. Northern Leopard Frog. There are eight known species of leopard frog that live in North America. The northern leopard frog is the only leopard frog species found in Canada.

Osprey nest 2025. With the high zoom lens on Alicia’s camera the photo was taken from a long distance to not disturb the birds.

No sign of the osprey’s this year. Unless the young ones have already vacated and taken flight.

Spotted this year. A juvenile Pied-billed Grebe. Adults have a black coloured ring on their bill.

Canada Geese are very social birds. Love this photo Alicia has taken this year. A flock of geese is known as a gaggle. Geese have a lifespan of 20-25 years. They often mate for life.

We hiked out on the dike 1.4 kilometers before turning around to head back. A gaggle of Canada geese had the trail blocked. In an Audubon article “Ten Fun Facts About Canada Geese” it mentions “In the early 1900s, their numbers had been decimated due to habitat loss and hunting. Today there are more than 5 million Canada Geese across North America thanks to conservation efforts and regulations.”

Canada Geese can sometimes be known for their nastiness if you get too close and they think their goslings or nest is in danger. Spent a few minutes letting the geese get used to us. They were fine. I was far more at ease walking past these geese than if I had to walk past an unfamiliar unleashed dog.

After a few hours in nature our hearts are full. Even though we had only covered about 4 to 5 kilometers in a few hours, it had been a wonderful day. Tiny Marsh is not the place to cover as much distance in as little time as possible. You would miss so much. With water levels controlled by dams, dikes, ditches and transfer systems, it may not be the pristine wilderness that there was 250 years. But with management this gem in Tiny Township (where the name Tiny Marsh comes from) helps provide survival for many species of animals in an area experiencing high rates of industrialized agriculture and urban sprawl. Thank you MTM Conservation Association for all the work you do. They are helping vulnerable species much like I’ll plant a pollinator garden to help the threatened Monarch Butterfly and other pollinators. It’s not pristine wilderness. But it works.

Photo taken this year from the dike trail. The Trumpeter Swan weighs more than any native North American bird. Relentless, unrestricted hunting from the 17th to the early 20th centuries brought this beautiful bird to the brink of extinction. The Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE) mentions that ” *By the early 20th century, the population had dwindled to fewer than 70 individuals in the contiguous United States*.” The trumpeter swans now found in Central Ontario such as Tiny Marsh are here through reintroduction programs. Swans were captured from healthy populations and relocated to areas where they had disappeared.

Signage at the beginning of the Dike Trail.

One last photo. It always warms my heart to see several monarch butterflies with each summer visit to Tiny Marsh.

Our pollinators are so important. Some of the wording from a Monarch Ultra promotion this year reads as follows, “These mighty beings move pollen from plant to plant, allowing flowers, trees, and many of the foods we eat to grow and thrive. Many pollinators are struggling due to habitat loss, fewer native flowers, and pesticide use.” At the Monarch Ultra we are having a Photo Contest during August. Simply tag a photo or video to the Monarch Ultra Instagram account. Winner announced September 19 at the Monarch Festival at Millennium Park in Peterborough. Infographic Source Emma Scott of Emma Scott Design.

Disclaimer: All written content is my own original content with no AI assistance. Credits given to the source of any excerpts used in the article. Except for the 1st photo and last infographic, all photos are taken by Alicia Freeborn. No digital editing with these photographs and definitely nothing AI. Doing what I can in my little corner to not support this technology oligarchy, data centers and environmental destruction.