Today I did a half day at the south end of High Park in Toronto and after spotting Margaret Liubavicius I joined her for an enjoyable walk in the park. Below are some of the birds we found during our stroll.
Great Egret Black-crowned night-Heron 6 Wood Ducks 2 Hooded Mergansers 13 Downy Woodpeckers and 3 Hairy Woodpeckers 50+ Chimney Swifts Purple Martin 100+ Blue Jays migrating east 7 Red-breasted and 8 White-breasted Nuthatches Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Hermit Thrush - only Thrush seen 11 Blue-headed Vireos Warbling Vireo Great-crested Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler Northern Parula 12 Nashville Warblers Cape May Warbler 3 Black-throated blue Warblers 35+ Yellow-rumped Warblers 10 Black-throated Green warblers Blackburnian Warbler 7 Palm Warblers Black-and-white Warblers Ovenbirds 25+ Chipping Sparrows White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows 1 Purple and several House Finches 8 Baltimore Orioles Plus the usual suspects to be found in the park plus Rose-breasted grosbeaks were seen by others and Margaret. Warning - There is a roaming gang of thugs in the south end of the park and Margaret and I were swarmed twice while walking along. This gang consists of Downy Woodpeckers, both Nuthatches, Chickadees and a couple of Cardinals. They will get in your face and twice as I tried to point out a Warbler a Downy landed on my finger and glared at me and in fact as I first stepped into the park in the early morning a male Red-winged Blackbird tried to take me out. It attacked and hit me on the head twice. Directions:- HIGH PARK High Park is located in the west end of Toronto and is bounded on the south by The Queensway, the north by Bloor Street and on the east by Parkside Drive. To reach High Park you can take the TTC Subway to the High Park Station or the Queen Street Streetcar #501 to either the Parkside Drive or the Colborne Lodge Drive streetcar stops or you may drive in from High Park Avenue at the north end of the park. Be aware that on the nicer weekends it will be very hard to find a parking space unless you arrive earlier than 8:30am. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON "Sils mordent, mords les" _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
