Black Bear Road

This seasonal road is often flooded and therefore walking is safer than driving. This is the headwaters of Sedge Wren Marsh Wetland - look for dragonflies and butterflies. Canadian Tiger Swallowtails, Northern Crescents, Eastern Comma, and Question Marks have been seen along this road as well as Columbine Duskywings.

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Insects of the Carden Alvar  By Bob Bowles     ( Reprinted from Prairie Smoke)                Index

We have long known that the Carden Alvar is a great location to observe birds and plants. I first discovered the area in the 1970’s while taking a short cut across country from Gravenhurst to Lakefield to observe a rare bird. Vegetation along the roadside told me that the area was very different than any of the surrounding area. The word alvar was first used in North America to describe the habitat of a thin layer of soil over limestone bedrock as early as 1967 near Kingston but it was not until 1975 that it was used for the Carden area to describe unusual plants found in this habitat.  In the spring of 1980 I joined other regional coordinators for the first Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas (1981-5) conducting a primer for the upcoming atlas where we spent the day in Carden township recording all the nesting locations of Loggerhead Shrikes. Therefore, naturalists have been aware of the unusual birds and plants of Carden Alvar for the last thirty years.

The alvars of Carden have a feature not found on many other Ontario alvars. There are large areas of excellent wetlands between the isolated alvar areas in Carden and the surrounding area. This feature adds to the diversity of the area and makes Carden an excellent location to observe many species of insects, especially butterflies and dragonflies.

When I became the regional coordinator for Eastern Canada for the North American Butterfly Association in 1996 one of the first things that I wanted to do was to document and build a database for Carden insects. I conducted the first dragonfly count at Carden on July 5, 1997 which makes the 2005 count the 9^th annual Carden dragonfly count. The following year June 28, 1998 I organized the first Carden butterfly counts making the 2005 count the 8^th annual official Carden Alvar butterfly count registered with the North American Butterfly Association. The Carden Alvar Christmas Bird Count was also started in the winter of 1998. These counts have help build a strong database for Carden insects over recent years.

Interesting butterflies include Olympia Marbles, Pink-edged Sulphurs, Henry’s Elfin, Tawny Crescents, Baltimores, Green and Grey Commas, Common Buckeyes, Appalachian Browns, Chryxus Arctics, abundant Columbine Duskywings, Crossline, Delaware, Broad-winged, Dion, and Two-spotted Skippers, Mulberry Wings, and Common Roadside-skippers giving a total of 75 butterfly species for the alvar including the 2005 count.

The Carden Alvar Butterfly Count was held on Sunday, July 10, 2005 and 28 participants recorded 50 species of butterflies and 3289 individuals. Wild Indigo Duskywing was a new species for the count and 42 Monarchs were recorded during the day as well as 19 species of dragonflies.

Interesting dragonflies observed in Carden over these years include damselflies like River Jewelwings, Amber-winged, Spotted, Sweetflag, and Lye-tipped Spreadwings, Eastern Red Damsels, Orange Bluets, Sphagnum Sprites. Dragonflies include Lance-tipped, Lake, Fawn, and Swamp Darners, Horned and Midland Clubtails, Dragonhunters, Ocellated Emeralds, Halloween Pennants, Eastern Pondhawks, Slaty and Elfin Skimmers, and Ruby Meadowhawks giving a total of 67 species including the 2005 count.

The Carden Alvar Dragonfly and Damselfly Count held on Saturday, July 17, 2005 had 22 participants who recorded 36 species and 1108 individual dragonflies and damselflies. The only new species for the count this year were two Shadow Darners.

We expect to add to these lists on future counts. The fact that there are so many insects on Carden Alvar is the reason, in my belief, that Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes have done so well at this location. Their numbers continue to remain stable on the alvar patches between wetlands at Carden while their numbers have dropped or even disappeared on other Ontario alvars. Several rare species of ground beetles, tiger beetles, locusts, katydids crickets, and saw flies also have recorded on Carden Alvar. Only over time by conducting counts and recording species into a database will be really be able to know and understand all the interesting features of this great ecosystem. Recently the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Carden Field Naturalists have joined me in these counts in an effort to introduce naturalists to their first dragonfly or butterfly species. I can not think of the better location to learn and get to know the many insects that can be found in Ontario.