Many birders, while en route to Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area for a day of birding, often drop into Little Bluff Conservation Area, just off the main county road and a short distance east of South Bay. While this conservation area doesn’t offer the super birding that other well known areas in the County have been known to produce, Little Bluff can produce a few good sightings from time to time to make the stop worthwhile.

Little Bluff comprises some 70 acres and was acquired by Quinte Conservation in 1974. The most notable feature of the conservation area is a 60-foot shaley-limestone bluff which offers a panoramic view of Prince Edward Bay where rafts of ducks may be observed in the spring. The property contains over 3,000 feet of waterfront, of which 700 feet is composed of cobble barrier beach severing some nine acres of cattail marsh from Prince Edward Bay. The marsh often contains a good variety of dabbling ducks in the spring, and is home to swamp sparrows, marsh wrens and American bitterns during the summer. Many of the ducks can also be viewed from above the marsh from a hiking trail that runs along the edge of the cliff, paralleling the long entrance road into the area. The trail runs from the picnic shelter area and ends near the entrance to the conservation area at County Road 13 where there is a convenient viewing platform.

Other trails are there for visitors to explore as well. One trail leads to the ruins of a large grain storage facility found along the western shore of the bluff. These remains represent earlier days of agricultural prosperity, fondly known in Prince Edward County as the “Barley Days.” From 1860 to 1890, barley was in great demand by American buyers. As a result, local farmers concentrated on this crop, realizing prosperity never before imagined in Prince Edward County. In 1880 barley was grown on more than 40,000 acres in the County. Little Bluff was a strategic port where the barley would be loaded onto schooners and shipped across the lake to Oswego, New York. Each summer, schooners anchored in the deep waters immediately offshore to await their turn to dock and load. The Barley Days came to an abrupt end in 1890 with the enactment of the McKinley Tariff, effectively ending barley exports, ushering the close of the Barley Days.

Along the trails that wind their way across the Bluff, one may find a variety of birds in the predominately red cedar forest, including song sparrow, chipping sparrow, Baltimore oriole, cedar waxwing, and brown thrasher. Late fall and wintering yellow-rumped warblers feed on the berries produced by the red cedars. Oak trees, and patches of prickly ash and sumac harbor American goldfinches, yellow warblers, and rose-breasted grosbeak. Twice, in 2006 and again in 2007, a rare Townsend’s solitaire turned up here at Little Bluff, and great egrets have been observed behind the baymouth bar in the marshy shallows.

A team of volunteers maintain the trails regularly here at Little Bluff, mowing the trail sides and keeping the grain storage building free from encroaching shrubs and vegetation. There is a newly refurbished picnic shelter present, and during summer, a portable toilet is on site.

To reach Little Bluff Conservation Area from Picton, take Bridge Street at the top of the “Town Hill”, and turn right onto Union Street (across from Tip of the Bay Motel). Follow Union Street out of Picton (eventually becomes County Road 8) and continue for 2.5 km , then turn right onto County Road 17 and follow for 6.5 km , and turn left onto County Road 16, and follow for 1 km to the Stop sign at County Road 13. Turn right and follow County Road 13, past Black River Cheese, and past the South Bay Mariner’s Museum for a total distance of 14 km to the Little Bluff Conservation Area entrance, at Civic Address #3625

(Photo credits and descriptions of photos can be seen by "mousing over" each photo. )