Find Out Where the 2026 Spring Camping Season Takes Us, Plus Birdwatching Bill Returns

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Welcome back to Hiking with Kathleen. In today's video, this is a medley of things that are put together because we are on the doorstep of camping season.

[00:00:08]So, I'm going to reveal to you the destinations that Shannon and I are planning to go to. But even before that happens, which is only about a week and a half away, she and I are going to go do a paddling experience on the Grand River. So, that's coming up in the next episode. And in the meantime, I'm also going to get out to Rondo Provincial Park with my nature club, Nature London.

[00:00:29]and I'll bring you some highlights from that. Those are all in separate videos.

[00:00:33]But for right now, stay tuned to the end as well. We're going to have bird watching Bill and an update on how he is doing. Between that time, you're going to hear about all about the camping season, but you're also going to see some really neat wildlife shots, including raccoons and squirrels, and of course, lots of birds. Tis the migration, and we are in it fully right now. So stay tuned, and all of that is coming your way soon.

[00:01:37]So, I'm just hiking a trail that's along the Tums River. And across the Tums, there's a family of Canada geese. And by my count, they have about five gslings. Uh, these goings are a few days old.

[00:01:54]They sort of develop darker colors as they get older and the parents are keeping them quite close to them. So, I can tell that maybe a sound of some sort has been made so that Junior doesn't go too far away from mother or father. And Canada geese, males and females both raise the young, unlike ducks where it's just the female that raises the young. And these golings are going to spend the next year with their parents. So the parents, you know, show them the survival skills, but then they also teach them um if they are migrating Canada geese, they show them the migration route and where they stop off and of course the breeding grounds cuz now the young have have hatched here. So anyway, it's a it's a neat thing to see the the process. I know we get to see Canada geese all year long, so these are not migratory ones, but it's still neat to see them when they're creating that new life and a new family for themselves.

[00:03:13]Heat.

[00:03:25]Heat.

[00:07:32]So, let's talk about that camping season. So, once camping season is underway in whatever it is, nine days or so from now, here are the places that we're going to go to. Fanshaw Conservation Area, that's located in London, Ontario, and we've never camped there before. So, we're looking forward to that as our first experience, our first outing for the year. Um, we will make our way all the way up to Manatulan Island. So, we're going to be spending some time there. Shoots Provincial Park.

[00:08:04]We've been there before. Oh my gosh, we loved it. Uh, we'll be spending time in Toberi, McGregor Point Provincial Park, and Aenda Provincial Park. So, not necessarily in that order, but those are the parks that we intend to get to over a 7-week period of time. So, we're really looking forward to that and really happy to be bringing you along on that. Mhm.

[00:08:42]I like to stop and have a look around open fields because I have a better vantage point than if I'm in the middle of a forest or very dense, you know, understory.

[00:08:52]In this area here, there's a lot of open space and there are at least three white tail deer and they're just moving along watching me but just out of the range of being right out in the open. So they're sort of concealed and at this time of year it may look like you know they have mange or something like that but this is being videoed on the very last day of April and they are blowing out their winter coat. So, they've got some, you know, bare patches. So, they get rid of the gray brown type of fur and it's going to be replaced with a beautiful reddish brown color for the summertime.

[00:09:35]So, they're better camouflaged for that time of year. So, as I say, they're just watching me just behind the row of trees and shrubs. So, but this is still an open enough area that I can have a look around and stop and notice if there's any motion cuz often times wildlife give they give themselves away, right? They move or they make a sound.

[00:10:02]So, yep, they're just moving on.

[00:12:17]I just scared off a juvenile bald eagle.

[00:12:20]It was perched in one of the trees across the way and I'd already seen the interaction between two adults that flew overhead. I mean, all the trees and everything were in the way, so I couldn't film that.

[00:12:33]This is a very active time of year. So, and I guess it means that not everything that I see is meant to be filmed and they're just moments that I can appreciate. And that's how I look at it.

[00:13:27]Okay.

[00:13:32]So, I want to provide everybody with an opportunity to have an update from bird watching Bill himself. Instead of telling everybody he's doing fine, you get to see him in the flesh and blood here today. So, Dad, >> yes. They're going to want to know how you're keeping.

[00:13:51]>> Uh, it's very poor.

[00:13:54]No. And the last time they had a chance to see you was at Christmas time because you were showing us the Christmas trees that were set up in your retirement home.

[00:14:02]>> Yeah.

[00:14:03]>> So now we just came for a drive back from his home and got to see a lot of trees that are just popping their leaves and some that have uh you know flowers like the magnolia trees.

[00:14:15]>> So how do you how do you like that? I like it very much and I like I love to see these leaves on because it's been a very bare time since they lost their leaves.

[00:14:29]>> Well, and you were asking about that cardinal, too. Like it's uh it's nice to hear the bird song. See, my dad's not out very often in his home. You know, everything is sort of the same, but it's only been nice around here in terms of comfortable temperatures for the last couple of weeks in southwestern Ontario.

[00:14:45]And that's why it's nice that you're having a chance to get exposed to that a little bit. And uh and I mean this is one of our favorite places to be is here in the backyard.

[00:14:54]>> Yeah.

[00:14:55]>> So you got to hear the birds singing.

[00:14:57]You got to see the flowers on the trees.

[00:14:59]Are you ready to start back into hiking?

[00:15:01]>> Yes. I'll be hiking for the next two months.

[00:15:09]>> All righty then. You heard it from him directly.

[00:15:11]>> And then I will fall flat on my face.

[00:15:15]only if you need to.

[00:15:18]All right, that's a wrap for us. Thank you so much for tuning in and I guess I'll let bird watching Bill wrap up. You can say a an adu to everybody.

[00:15:29]>> All right. Thank you very much. I looked in the camera and I didn't know anyone and I see this my daughter and me. So, I guess I don't know too many people.

[00:15:42]Excuse me.

[00:15:43]>> All righty. Good stuff. Take care and I'll see you out on the trail next week.

[00:15:47]>> God bless.

[00:15:49]>> Here's a guy.

[00:15:50]>> What's going on? H >> is this a male or a female cat?

[00:15:55]>> Miley, she's our little girl.

[00:15:58]>> Where's the baby?

[00:16:02]Is she getting ready for uh Oh my. She's obviously not in distress.