Good evening all. If I had known retirement would be as good as the last few days I would have retired sooner but then of course I would have had a long wait until I got to the last few days.
Today Ian Cannell, Margaret Liubavicius, Ed O'Conner and I birded the Toronto Islands and you should have been there. There was a medium fallout (maximum for Waterthrushes) and as we slowly made our way through The Islands on another beautiful day we encountered some nice birds despite only finding 77 species and the following are some of the high lights. Great Egret, Long-tailed Duck, 2 Black-billed Cuckoos, 5 Belted Kingfishers, R-T Hummingbirds, again 9 Flycatcher species including Olive-sided, 11 Yellow-bellied, 10 Great Crested, and 16 Eastern Kingbirds, Blue-headed, Philadelphia, Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos, 75+ Cedar Waxwings, Veery and Swainson's Thrush, 10 Gray Catbirds, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Purple Martins, 21 warbler species including 9 Tennessee, 24 Chestnut-sided, 104 Magnolia, 11 Black-throated Blue, 17 Blackburnian, Pine, 11 Bay-breasted, 12 Blackpoll, 28 Black-and-white, 25 American Redstarts, 89 Northern Waterthrushes (yes I said 89), 2 Connecticut, 19 Wilson's and 10 Canada Warblers. We probably miss at least 25% or more of some of the above birds as you can't check every tree down there, but we did our best and with the good company that I had it was a pleasure all day. It is hard to believe that others are avid enough to spend 12 hours down there and walk 9 to 11 kms with no complaints, except for me saying my feet hurt, makes the outing that much nicer. Directions:- TORONTO ISLANDS (Wards Island to Hanlans Point - without side trips is 5 km) To get to the Toronto Islands from Queen and Yonge Streets on the TTC. If your on the subway southbound stay on it and get off at Union Station, walk south about 1 km to the ferry docks at the foot of Bay Street at Queens Quay and you are there. If in an auto on the Gardener Expressway or on Lakeshore Blvd, then exit at Bay Street and drive south to Queens Quay, there are lots of parking lots nearby (fee). There is a fee for using the island ferries ($6.00 adult / $3.50 for seniors & students) and to find out the sailing times you can phone (416) 392-8193. There are washrooms on the islands as well as the city side at the ferry docks and you can pick up a schedule at the docks or check on line. The 1st boat to Wards Island (my preferred starting point) is 6:35 am and the 2nd is 7:00 am Monday to Friday. The 1st is at 6:35 am and the 2nd boat is at 7:15 am on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays. The 1st boat to Hanlans Point is 8:00 am and the 2nd boat is at 8:30 am Monday to Friday. The 1st is at 8:15 am and the 2nd boat is at 9:15 am on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays. If arriving in early am you must obtain your ticket from a machine just inside the gate so be sure to have $1.00 and $2.00 and/or 25 cent coins before you arrive at the docks as there is no place to get change and the machine does not make change. (There is a change machine there if you want to chance it). There are coffee shops across from the ferry docks in the building on the northwest corner and they are open early. food and beverages on The Islands when open are very expensive i.e. soft drink $3.00 plus. For a detailed ferry schedule check the following web site. For a detailed ferry schedule check the following web site. http://www.toronto.ca/parks/island/springschedule.htm Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net
