Cranberry Pond Nature Trail

Braddock Bay is the place to be if you’re trying to see birds of prey—as many as 100,000 in the spring. The waters of Lake Ontario are cold in the spring and don't create warm thermals. Birds rely on the thermals to assist their flight so Lake Ontario is too wide and cold for them to cross. Instead, the birds go around Lake Ontario where they can find the thermals they need. The shoreline at Braddock Bay turns toward the southeast. Therefore on days with good southwest winds, migrating birds concentrate at this point. Birds Likely Seen: Buteo and accipiter hawks, bald eagles, turkey vultures, ducks, geese, coots, shorebirds, swans, redwing blackbirds, herons, bitterns, warblers, owls, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and brown creepers.