Carolinian East

Special Places and Species

There are many exciting and accessible natural places to explore within the Carolinian East region

1. Interested in marshes? Visit Rattray Marsh in Mississauga, the last remaining shoreline marsh between Burlington and Toronto. Look for swans, ducks and other waterbirds from the knoll that overlooks the marsh; in the woods, look for migrating warblers and trilliums in spring and for resident pileated woodpeckers all year round. Try to identify Carolinian trees such as sassafras (with its ‘mitten-like’ leaves). From Southdown Road and Lakeshore Road (Highway 2) in Mississauga, go 3.5 km east to Jack Darling Park. Enter Rattray via the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail in the southeast corner of the park.
   
   
2. A full day’s fun! The Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton has several nature sanctuaries, among them Cootes Paradise. Cootes Paradise has trails through hickory, maple and oak woods and boardwalks out into the Dundas Marsh; Grindstone Creek, surrounded by cattail marshes and wooded ravines; the Arboretum, a collection of specimen trees and shrubs, including redbud and the eastern flowering dogwood. Follow the signs from Highway 403 or Highway 6 and ask for a map at the information kiosk on Plains Road.
   
   
3. A hot spot for hawks! The best spring hawk-watching spot in Ontario is the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area on the Niagara Escarpment near Grimsby. Tens of thousands of raptors migrating northward (including bald eagles) can be seen following the shoreline of Lakes Erie and Ontario in March and April, especially on warm days with a southeast wind. Take the QEW to Fort Erie and work your way back along the Niagara Parkway to the Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
   
   
4. Swans and butterflies! Long Point is a 32 km-long sandspit protruding into Lake Erie. Open lake, shallow bays, sandbars, beaches, dunes, ponds and marshes provide habitat for a number of rare or endangered species of plants and animals not found elsewhere in Canada. Thousands of tundra swans rest here during spring and fall migration. Look for them along the Long Point causeway or in nearby cornfields. Visit Long Point in the fall to see migrating monarch butterflies. Go south on Highway 59 to its end.
   
   
5. Harold Mitchell - Federation nature reserve.
   
   
6. Crozier - Federation nature reserve.
   
   
7. Niagara Glen.
   
   
8. Turkey Point Provincial Park.
   
   
9. Grand River.

For more areas to visit, see A Nature Guide to Ontario, available from Ontario Nature.

	The Ontario Nature Network is a province-wide network of more than 140 groups that protects Ontario's nature and provides provincial leadership in parks and protected areas, land-use planning policies and conservation science. A strong commitment and concern for nature is shared by each group and demonstrated through their own activities.