The Burwash area has many habitats suitable to a variety of birds.  Roads through the Burwash area afford access to a variety of these habitats.  From the roads, or with a short walk off the roads, it is possible to observe a variety of birds in wetlands, mixed forest, coniferous forest, open grassland, and disturbed or waste areas. The presence of open grassland in the Burwash area is not a common habitat on the Precambrian Shield of Ontario.  The Burwash area is ideal for bird-watching throughout the year.

©2006 Ken McCausland Chukar Partidge (Alectoris chukar) For more about this bird and sighting read here.

Bobolink

Sandhill Cranes photographs ©2003 Andy Fyon

American Bittern

The Burwash site is unique in this district in that a large part of the acreage is wide open grassland.  Also present are wooded areas, marshes and small lakes.  With such a wide variety of habitat a great variety of birds is to be found here.  A good example is the Le Conte's Sparrow, a grassland bird which prefers unkempt and unused old fields where the grasses are long and where small bushes are scattered over the fields.  This species is quite rare elsewhere in the district in fact quite uncommon throughout the settled parts of the province.  A population of Golden-winged Warblers can be found here in some of the willow thickets annually.  These are also uncommon elsewhere.  Migrating raptors such as the Rough-legged hawk, Gyrfalcon and Short-eared Owl can be found regularly on both spring and fall migration.  The best breeding populations of bobolinks and eastern meadowlarks in the district are also to be found.        The marshes harbour sedge and marsh wrens, sora and virginia rails, american bittern and the rare least bittern.  Our only district record of the Blue-winged Warbler is from burwash.        The Sudbury Ornithological Society normally has two official spring field trips to the site annually.   Some individual members make regular visits on their own. Charlie Whitelaw Chair, Sudbury Ornithological Society e-mail: c.whitelaw@sympatico.ca

The Trumpeter Swan photograph ©2003 Ken McCausland The Trumpeter Swan, once an endangered species and subject of a restoration program, is a frequent visitor to the Burwash waterways.