Good Morning
Yesterday I joined Ian Cannell, Irwin Batalla and Bud Rowe for another great trip to the Kirkfield area and we found most of the sought after species before Bud and Irwin had to leave and drive back to Kingston so I am sorry :>)) Bud and Irwin for some of the birds listed below that we all missed together.
After Bud and Irwin left Ian and I returned to Wylie Road and then drove west along Alvar Road and through Dalrymple and onto some of the roads just south of Kirkfield and below are a quick count from my records of some of the high lights from the 97 species we did find.
Common Loon, D-C Cormorant, 4 American Bitterns, Least Bittern, Wood Duck, 10 Osprey including 6 active nests, Cooper's Hawk, Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, 8 Virginia Rails, Sora, Common Moorhen, Sandhill Crane, 24 Upland Sandpipers, many Wilson's Snipe, 4 Black-billed Cuckoos, Common Nighthawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, 5 Woodpecker species including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Pileated Woodpecker, E. Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Alder, Willow, Least and Great Crested Flycatchers, tons of Eastern Kingbirds, Cliff Swallow, Common Raven, House, Sedge and Marsh Wrens, 27 Eastern Bluebirds, Veery, Wood Thrush, many Brown Thrashers, Gray Catbird, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo, Cedar waxwing, 7 Loggerhead Shrikes ( we found these Shrikes in 4 different locations including one on each side of the road about 200 yards south of Bluebird box #10 on Wylie Road ), 12 Warbler species including 4 Golden-winged Warblers, Northern Waterthrush, Pine Warbler and Canada Warbler, Indigo Bunting, 10 Sparrow species including many Eastern Towhees, 4 Clay-colored Sparrows, Field, Vesper, Swamp, White-throated, many Savannah and 34 Grasshopper Sparrows, Baltimore Oriole, many, many Eastern Meadowlarks and Bobolinks and a nice male Purple Finch right in front of us on the road.
Another great trip up there and again with great company. We didn't see a Bear but we did see Snapping and Painted Turtles, Green Frog and Grey Tree Frogs, Beaver, Deer, and Varying Hare ( Snowshoe Rabbit ) and for those that love Wildflowers, Butterflies, Dragonflies or just the outdoors then the Kirkfield area is a great place to spend a day ( or longer ) in June.
Even though we did not find that the biting insects were much of a problem yesterday be sure to go prepared for them.
Directions:-
CARDEN ALVAR INCLUDING WYLIE ROAD / THE SEDGE WREN MARSH / PROSPECT ROAD
Wylie Road is north of Kirkfield in Victoria County and Kirkfield itself is on County Road 48 east of Highway 12 and well north of Whitby and about 130 km from Toronto if you follow the roads and not a Crow.
From the centre of Kirkfield go north on County Road 6 passing under the Lift Lock on the Trent Canal and drive about 2
