Alfred Birding Sites -
Connecting Waterfowl and People!

The Township of Alfred and Plantagenet and the Prescott-Russell Stewardship Council have developed a Bird Watching Project in the Alfred area.

No other region in Ontario can feature such ecological jewels: a provincial significant wetland – the Alfred Bog; and a municipal lagoon which is, based on bird watchers, one of the best birding site in Canada. These natural sites form a corridor for wildlife and are located within a short travelling distance.

The Alfred Bog is a provincially significant wetland and is designated as an "Area of Natural and Scientific Interest” (ANSI). It is a little piece of boreal forest, hundreds of miles south of anything like it. Yet, at 4200 hectares, it is the biggest bog of its kind in Southern Ontario, big enough to give refuge to many plants and animals that were stranded as the warming climate pushed the boreal forest northward. A domed peat bog that has been building for 10,000 years, it shelters many plants and animals that are rare or endangered, some of national significance. Examples include the Bog Elfin butterfly; Fletcher's dragonfly; white fringed orchid; Atlantic sedge, and rhodora. The Alfred Bog is also home to a unique moose population in Eastern Ontario.

Wetlands like the Alfred Bog and Atocas Bay provide habitat for wildlife and improve the quality and quantity of our water resources. It also offers good opportunities for naturalists, bird watchers and wildlife photographs.

The Alfred Municipal Lagoons are getting a reputation as a first-rate home for waterfowl rare to Eastern Ontario. Over the past 25 years, the Alfred sewage lagoons have become the premier birding spot in Eastern Ontario and are certainly one of the most significant spots in all of Canada to view and study wildlife. They are used annually by thousands of birds as a stop over, resting spot or place to nest and raise young. The diversity of habitats on the site, and the fact that is located along a major migratory pathway, lends to its attractiveness to the birds. Many significant nesting records and observations of provincially or nationally rare or significant birds have been documented at the lagoons. Birders and ornithologists have been studying the birds at the lagoons for over a quarter century and the observations made have greatly contributed to the scientific knowledge base.

Downloads:

Brochure: Alfred Birding Trail - Connecting Waterfowl and People! (PDF, 1.7 MB)

Brochure: Alfred Birding Trail – Circuit Map (PDF, 1.3 MB) 

Alfred Bog Bird Checklist (PDF, 63 KB)

Alfred Lagoons Bird Checklist (PDF, 63 KB)

Atocas Bay Bird Checklist (PDF, 65 KB)

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