Carden Alvar

Yesterday I decided to go and check out the Carden Alvar as I have never seen an Eastern Loggerhead Shrike and there are many other grassland birds to be found in the area. I got there about 7:45am and right off the bat I found some Wilson's Snipes which I have seen many times before but never been able to photograph because they are usually flying over head or well hidden in the vegetation.

Next I continued up the Road to the viewing blind on Wylie road. Here I found some barn swallows and eastern bluebirds that came very close. The Barn Swallows were actually nesting in the blind so they were there all day.

After watching the Bluebirds, Swallows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Peewees and Meadowlarks for some time from the blind I decide to continue up the road. But when I left the blind I found a Loggerhead Shrike almost right behind the blind. It was along way off so I didn't get any good photos but I was happy to have finally seen one. It remained there only briefly and then was gone. So I continued up the road.

The Highlights of Wylie road were 2 Blandings turtles, 2 Clay Coloured Sparrows and Several Golden Winged Warblers, but other than the Blandings Turtles nothing else really posed for photos. After making the treacherous journey back down Wylie road I decided to do a few other trails. Paire smoke and early buttercup were everywhere and I managed to add bobolink to the birds of the day