Last week I had around four hours free in the late afternoon to visit the Carden Alvar. I was originally going to have much more time to explore the alvar, but my car died while finishing up on my job site near Haliburton which initiated a 3 hour delay as I arranged a tow and the repair at a shop in Haliburton.
With a fresh battery installed, I navigated my Mazda 3 down the country roads towards Carden Alvar. During warm days at this time of year, turtles are frequently seen crossing roads. Today was no different and I stopped to help several Snapping Turtles and Painted Turtles cross the road. Unfortunately there were an equal number of flattened turtles, the victims of inattentive drivers. I often wonder how a driver could hit an object as big as an adult Snapping Turtle on the road. If the object was a boulder instead, would they have avoided it? Are all the dead Snapping Turtles I see the result of someone trying to run them over?
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| Snapping Turtle - Head Lake, City of Kawartha Lakes |
My main goal at Carden was to search for one particular butterfly that I had never crossed paths with before. The Olympia Marble looks like several other species of whites when seen in flight, but if one lands, the intricate green patterning on the underside of the hindwings becomes obvious. This species is one of the earlier butterflies to take to the wing in Ontario and is single brooded, meaning that by the first few days of June the species can no longer be found. I was running out of time to see Olympia Marble but fortunately they can be reasonably common at Carden.
I drove down Alvar Road from the east, easing my car around massive ruts and even through a foot of water across the road. Eventually I decided that walking the road was a more advisable strategy.
Though it was firmly mid-afternoon, butterflies were downright abundant along the roadside. Eastern Pine Elfin, Black Swallowtail, Columbine Duskywing, Spring Azure, Eastern Tailed-Blue, Silvery Blue and others were noted right away.
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| Eastern Pine Elfin - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Lucia Azure - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Black Swallowtail - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Columbine Duskywing - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
An interesting looking White species drew my attention and fortunately it landed, choosing to nectar on a few patches of Virginia Strawberry. Indeed, it was an Olympia Marble! Views were brief and I only snapped off a couple of distant photos before it took off again, flying into a neighbouring property that was posted with No Trespassing signs.
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| Olympia Marble - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
The Carden Alvar is an amazing place, with a unique mix of habitats and the species found within. One of the signature plants found here is Prairie Smoke, a species of Avens that thrives in the alvar habitat.
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| Prairie Smoke - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
As I mentioned above, late May is a great time to find turtles out and about. This Blanding's Turtle was resting near a roadside ditch!
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| Blanding's Turtle - Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Blanding's Turtle - Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
Mustard Whites were flying in good numbers as well. This species is double-brooded in Ontario, with the spring form showing dark scaling along the veins on the underside of the wings. I had never photographed this form before.
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| Mustard White - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Mustard White - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
Even as I kept my eyes to the ground I could not help but notice a few birds here and there. I watched a standoff between male Chestnut-sided and Golden-winged Warblers, saw and heard Clay-colored and Grasshopper Sparrows, and even found a migrant Lincoln's Sparrow.
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| Golden-winged Warbler - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
Lucia Azures were downright abundant along the roadsides, many of them posing for photos (if one was patient).
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| Lucia Azure - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
Silvery Blue appears very similar to Lucia Azure in flight, but once one lands, the white-rimmed black spots on the underside immediately give away its identity.
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| Silvery Blue - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
Another similar small blue species, the Eastern Tailed-Blue, is easily identifiable while in flight as they appear noticeably smaller with a different flight style. This is one of our smallest butterflies in Ontario.
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| Eastern Tailed-Blue - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
The wildflower show at Carden is always excellent at this time of the year!
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| Barren Strawberry - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Early Saxifrage - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Field Chickweed - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
By the time I reached the intersection of Wylie Road and Alvar Road a few more Olympia Marbles began to appear. They rarely landed but occasionally they would, preferring to nectar on Common Dandelion, interestingly enough.
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| Olympia Marble - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Olympia Marble - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
This is a great time of year for insects and signs of life were everywhere. I believe this is a Dark Paper Wasp.
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| Dark Paper Wasp - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
A common species often seen during the day, the Forage Looper Moth.
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| Forage Looper Moth - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
As afternoon turned into evening I began walking back east to where I parked, satisfied with my visit so far! But I was distracted one more time as an Olive-sided Flycatcher materialized on the top of a roadside dead snag. Olive-sided Flycatcher is an uncommon migrant through southern Ontario and I always enjoy coming across them.
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| Olive-sided Flycatcher - Alvar Road, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
With a long drive ahead of me I hit the road, making one last detour at the Prospect Road marsh. This can be a peaceful location full of birds, and today was no different. While the booming American Bittern was nice, the highlight was certainly a vociferous Sora that kept coming to the edges of the cattails to check me out and belt out its whinny call.
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| Sora - Prospect Road marsh, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Sora - Prospect Road marsh, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Sora - Prospect Road marsh, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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| Sora - Prospect Road marsh, Carden Alvar, City of Kawartha Lakes |
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