Start at CR 36 and drive slowly south toward Buckhorn Lake. The road shoulder is wide in most places with plenty of room to pull off and park. Parking and walking the road is likely to be most productive way to bird this area. Keep to the shoulder when below the line of sight for southbound traffic at the crest of the long hill. Also, do not park in or otherwise block any of the various fire routes and driveways.

Deer Bay Reach Road is best known as one of the very few locations in Peterborough Co. where Cerulean Warbler may be seen but more often just heard. First detected in the early 1980s when at least five singing males were present, this population has gradually dwindled to one or at most two pairs annually. The best area to watch or listen for them is from the crest of the long hill south to FR 11. Also present in these oak-maple-ash forest are Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-shouldered Hawk and Wood Thrush. The brushy old field (degraded alvar) on the west side of the road just above the crest to the long hill usually produces both Golden-winged and Blue-winged warblers, Black-billed and occasionally Yellow-billed cuckoos, Eastern Towhee, Brown Thrasher and Field Sparrow.  Between CR 36 and the crest of the long hill the road passes through mixed woods supporting as many as 15 species of breeding warblers, including Nashville, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Yellow-rumped and Canada, as well as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush and Purple Finch.

Deer Bay Reach Rd extends south from CR 36 around 2 km to Buckhorn Lake, where it bends to the east and continues through a densely populated cottage community. All property on either side of the road is in private ownership and should not be entered.