TITLE: CARDEN ALVAR EXCURSION
DATE: MAY 17-19, 2025
LEADER AND AUTHOR: STEWART MACDONALD
DAY ONE
On May 17, 2025, the “unofficial” Carden Alvar excursion commenced with Stewart, Neil Gray, and Neil’s friend Bob trekking to see if we could spot the endangered Loggerhead Shrike on Couchiching Conservancy property, which Stewart had permission to bird on. Although no Shrikes were seen by any of our group over the weekend on the Alvar, numerous other Carden “specialities” were seen, which will be noted below.
The visit to the property was highlighted by Stewart seeing a Short-Eared Owl cruising a farm property during the drive there. We then decided to drive the Alvar Road and Stewart also wanted to drive all the way down Wylie Road…top to bottom! A Grasshopper Sparrow gave wonderful looks during the drive!
Well…let’s just say that a flat tire on Wylie Road stopped further birding for that day. The ensuing adventure — getting the tire changed, driving to Orillia in a thunderstorm to buy a new tire, and having Neil’s nephew change it for the author back at his local garage —will result in a future “tall tale” by the author of this report!
THANK YOU NEIL…who seems to know everyone in Carden.
DAY TWO
On Sunday May 18th, 35 people from the Waterloo Field Naturalists, Peterborough Field Naturalists, Carden Field Naturalists and special guests, gathered at the Kirkfield Locks for a great day of birding and botany exploration! The weather was overcast with cool winds, but turned into sunshine and pleasant temperatures later in the day!
Nine Botany lovers joined Susan Chow from Trent University for a morning walk, while 22 birding enthusiasts were split into two groups. The co-leaders for one group were Ellen and Jerry Horak and the co-leaders of the other group were Aaron Rusak and the author.
The birders went out for morning, afternoon and evening walks, while the botanists went out for a morning walk only. Later in the day 25 of the group attended a group dinner at Portage House Restaurant to share some stories and enjoy good food! The author went through a Carden Alvar checklist and the group in total had identified 99 Species of birds! One short of the magic 100…but one more day to go of course.
The standouts were many: Golden-Winged Warblers, Wilson’s Snipe, Black-billed Cuckoos, Marsh Wrens, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Bluebirds, Upland Sandpipers, and others too many to mention!
The evening highlights included American Bitterns and vocalizing Virginia and Sora Rails as well as Least Bittern. We did not observe a Loggerhead Shrike on our outing, although we “bumped” into some others who did.
DAY THREE
On Monday morning, May 19, Neil escorted our group of birders (now about 15 of us) to properties just outside Carden Alvar, where songbirds were most numerous. The day was sunny and chilly (to start) and turned into a beautiful morning.
During our walks, the numbers of singing Golden-Winged Warblers was a highlight for all of us. Bird #100 was a vocalizing Wood Thrush. Other warblers, such as Chestnut-Sided and American Redstart, were very numerous. Another highlight was a pair of Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers going in and out of a nest hole in the forest. At the end of our morning, the glorious call of a Winter Wren wrapped up our adventure with 103 Species identified by the group over the weekend.
I wish to give special thanks to our exceptional guides:
Ellen and Jerry Horak and Aaron Rusak for their bird guiding on Sunday, as well as Susan Chow for leading our botanists on Sunday. A special thanks to Tom Regan for his outstanding photography, which creates lasting memories for us all.
And another shout out to both Ann and Neil Gray for their advice and assistance in helping me organize and deliver on my plans to make this weekend happen!
