DATE: MAY 16 & 17, 2026
LOCATION: CARDEN ALVAR and SURROUNDING AREA
LEADER: STEWART MACDONALD
On May 16 and 17, 2026, a group of 29 Botany and Birding Enthusiasts descended upon the Carden Alvar, to experience the Outdoors. Mother Nature cooperated and we were met with sunny skies and warm temperatures throughout the weekend.
Led by our Experienced Guides, Susan, Mak, Eric, Ginny and the Author, we divided ourselves into 3 groups Saturday Morning…2 Birding Groups and 1 Botany Group.
Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening and Sunday morning Outings were dedicated to Birding, with some interesting Mammal sightings along the way!
During our weekend of Birding, Our Groups totalled 125 Different Species, including 22 Warbler Species. This included a sighting of the Endangered Loggerhead Shrike.
During the Saturday Outings, Our Dedicated Birders sighted many Warblers, including the Brilliant Coloured Blackburnian as well as Northern Parula. Wilson’s, Golden-Winged and Blue-Winged Warbler’s were also spotted. 2 Virginia Rails seen on Wylie Road entertained one of the groups to say the least!
Grassland Species, such as Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Upland Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe and Grasshopper Sparrow were welcome additions to Our Growing List.
Other Songbirds included, the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Northern Rough-Winged Swallow and Eastern Bluebird.
Our Group enjoyed a dinner at the Portage House Restaurant where we enjoyed a lovely meal and did a bird checklist, before our evening Bird Outing at Sedge Wren Marsh.
A # of visits to the Sedge Wren Marsh during the day, yielded Marsh Wren, Swamp Sparrow and Northern Harrier, amongst others.
Highlights of the visits to this Marsh included sightings of Sora Rail, American and Least Bittern, the latter being one of the most difficult Marsh birds to locate in my opinion.
A Beaver was spotted here as well and slapped it’s tail as a greeting to us.
Our evening concluded (well almost) by visiting a Chimney Swift roost and watching a few of these birds take shelter for the evening.
To top off the Saturday evening festivities, 2 of our attendees spotted a Moose on their drive back to their residence (kindly provided by Neil and Ann Gray). Fortunately, it was not spotted in front of their car while they were diving!
Sunday morning started out foggy and this delayed the start of the Bird Outing. Once the fog cleared, over 20 members of the group proceeded north of the Carden Alvar for some excellent birding in a forested area, which was quite a bit different than the Alvar.
During this sunny and warm Sunday Outing, numerous Warblers were spotted, including a Canada Warbler seen by a few of the participants. Other Species of note were Indigo Bunting, Golden-Winged, Blue Winged, and Bay-Breasted Warblers, Veery and Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, to name a few.
Many of our participants saw Life Birds on this weekend, which made the Outing even more rewarding for myself as the organizer and leader of the group.
Many thanks to our Guides and to Tom Regan for his photography!
I think it is safe to say that many fond memories of this Outing were taken away by our participants. Thanks to them for their enthusiasm and participation during this weekend.