Lynde Shores Conservation Area — Attraction in Whitby

A long time favourite spot for myself and my husband. We often do the trails farther back, south of the main chickadee trail. The terrain has changed a lot since we began frequenting it in 2011 or so. As an Ajax resident, I was maybe only at Lynde Shores 2x with my kids. It is a very kid friendly place so wished I had known about it earlier and went more often. For a little conservation and nature trail it does get quite a variety of birds. There are blue jays, chickadees, juncos in winter, American tree sparrows, red tailed and cooper's hawks, red bellied woodpecker, downy woodpeckers, grackles, mallard ducks, swans, gulls, bufflehead ducks in winter, yellow warblers, mourning doves, Canada geese, cardinals, just to name a few. Lots of chipmunks can be seen as well as squirrels. You'll even sometimes see a big group of wild turkeys that make their way over from the farm land areas off Halls Rd. There is now a cement path off the back of the Lynde Shores trails that leads over to Halls Rd.There is a wood walkway on the east side near the entrance, that walks out over the water a bit. There is a path south down to the shores of Lake Ontario, which can be easily accessed from the path that begins east of the little bridge. In Fall, there are pretty coloured leaves on the birch trees. In late Summer, in evenings, the meadow will sometimes be just humming with dragonflies. There is a lookout over the marsh where blue herons, egrets and shorebirds can often be spotted. We even saw 2 sand hill cranes fly over our heads one year. A beautiful area that is not a gruelling terrain to traverse, perfect for families and people of all ages, and can be a long or short walk, your choice. The one thing to note is to respect the private residents' road that goes down the centre from the entrance right through south,...

Newly paved, wide trails. The main route is practically flat. Easy for strollers and young children.

Park on Halls Road. $6 when we arrived at 5pm on a Sunday, pay with credit card and display. From the parking lot you will enter a paved path alongside an open field, where we saw 3 deer, some treed areas, and wet areas. From there the pink trail goes north, which connects back to the parking area on Bayly Road (parking in this lot on Bayly is reserved for annual pass holders ONLY). Just off this parking lot there's a bridge over a water runoff where there were ducks and geese. Cross the parking lot to the wide paved pathway that runs parallel to Bayly on its south side. Walking along Bayly is really the only path from which we had clear views of the wetlands, where we saw a trumpet swan, red-winged blackbirds, geese, ducks, and other birds. But, to me, this path with the best views is not that enjoyable because it is adjacent to a busy 4-lane road with cars whizzing by at 70km/hr. I thought you might see the wetlands from the other trails as you head in from the Halls Road parking lot, but it wasn't the case for the trails we took.

Washrooms in both parking lots, probably open seasonally, did not check. No other facilities, for example no picnic tables, no barbecues, etc.

If you visit, please follow the signs and do NOT feed the animals. You can bring birdseed (e.g. sunflower seed mix) for small songbirds only! Do not leave piles of seeds or toss it on the ground; only put it in the existing bird feeders if they need refilling. Do not feed ducks, geese, squirrels, etc. Do not bring peanuts, bread, etc. The signs tell you not to for a reason, please...

Great place for everyone, especially kids!

This place is absolutely amazing! Right out of a Disney movie, there are two major trails here to check out.

The small one that most people take their kids through is the chickadee Trail, this place you will find friendly chipmunks, squirrels, ducks nd of course chickadees!

The Chickadees will actually land on your hand if you have some bird seeds. Cute.

There are some raccoons, geese and turkey vultures /turkeys that as long as you keep a safe distance you will be fine.

So many different birds! Blue jays, cardinals, morning doves etc etc

The second trail is Levine’s trail (sorry for spelling) This is more of your “dark forest” that leads it to an open grass area with a few abandoned water silos that add to the whole enchanted forest theme.

I go here all season as there is a difference, winter and fall there are much less people so you will see more animals.

When there are a lot of people (weekends and after school) there tends to be less animals, this place can get filled with people pretty quickly.

Sharing some photos as well. I do post photos pretty often of this place on my IG...