Birdlife at the Reformatory

I often enter the Reformatory lands paddling on the Eramosa river. One of the great attractions of that stretch of water is the prolific birdlife.

For example, every year there is a great blue heron (or its descendants) who fish in the river in the vicinity of Clythe Creek. It often ignores me and carries on fishing but flies up the Creek if I happen to disturb it. The beaver pond up the creek is apparently its sanctuary.

Other herons, blue and green, occupy the shoreline from there to upstream of the trestle bridge, along with kingfishers, ducks, geese, blackbirds, swallows, and sometimes osprey and egrets.

Songbirds are also common in the OR side trail and along the riverside. These include catbirds, orioles, yellow warblers, redstarts, song sparrows, and house wrens.

The Eramosa river is a treasure for paddlers as well as hikers and cyclists, and the stretch in the Reformatory from the CPR tracks to beyond the trestle bridge are its crown jewels. Few other cities can match it! As Guelph grows, and settlement in the vicinity increases, enjoyment and appreciation for this part of the Reformatory property will only increase too.