About 60 participants enjoyed OFO's 24th annual birding trip to the Carden
Alvar. It didn't rain all day and temperatures were fine for walking and
birding. Today we recorded a respectable 86 species including many of
Carden's specialty birds. Highlights were Loggerhead Shrike, Sedge Wren,
Upland Sandpiper, Vesper Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow,
Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Eastern Bluebird, Brown Thrasher and Eastern
Towhee. We also saw American Bittern, Least Bittern, Virginia Rail, Common
Gallinule, Green Heron, Alder Flycatcher, Wilson Snipe and heard several
Soras. A Gray Tree Frog on the blind on Wylie Road was a great attraction.
The alvar meadows were spectacular with Prairie Smoke and Balsam Ragwort.
"The Carden Alvar is Ontario's second most important birding destination"
according to John Riley (2013) in his recent book "The Once and Future Great
Lakes Country - An Ecological History" published by McGill-Queen's
University Press. Alvars are globally rare habitats of limestone or dolomite
bedrock at the surface (pavement) or covered with thin soils and a sparse
vegetation of lichens, mosses, herbs, shrubs and sometimes trees, but never
forming a closed canopy. Vegetation is restricted by shallow soils and
extremes of spring wetness and summer drought. The alvar formed at the end
of the last Ice Age when huge torrents of meltwater from glacial Lake
Algonquin (a super-sized Lake Huron) spilled through the Kirkfield Outlet
washing away glacial deposits leaving the flat limestone plain that we now
know as the Carden Alvar.
Directions: Birding Guide and Map to Carden Alvar
http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/articles.cardenalvar
I especially thank Ron Tozer, Ron Pittaway, Eleanor Beagan, Paul Prior and
many others for spotting and helping participants to find and enjoy the
birds.
Jean Iron
Toronto ON
31 May 2015
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to [email protected]
For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit
http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
Posting guidelines can be found at
http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
