Most of the expected early winter ducks have returned to the Toronto waterfront.
Interesting -- KING EIDER TRUMPETER SWAN RUDDY DUCK WHITE-WINGED SCOTER Discursive -- Started at Corner Pond in High Park; vehicle access would be Spring Road and Parkside parking lot, but I'd recommend getting off the 501 Queen Streetcar at the Parkside stop. (And walking up to cross Parkside at the lights. Parkside's rather suicidal otherwise.) Only the High Park resident redtails were present at Corner Pond; two entirely white rock pigeons shot across the space, which makes me wonder if there have been some symbolic dove-of-peace releases going on. (And also if the resident redtails are eager to diversify their diets away from chipmunk.) The south-west corner of Grenadier Pond (over by the martin house) had an American Coot, Bufflehead, and Hooded Merganser; one pair, one female, and four males, all busily displaying to the unattached female. Proceeded south on Ellis to the shore of Lake Ontario at Sir Casimir Gzowski Park. (This is all on foot. It's a nice walk with nice paths.) Here we have mute swans, the obligatory mallards, some returned long-tailed ducks, a few red-breasted mergansers diving busily, many many ring-billed gulls, many herring gulls (a surprising proportion of herring gulls for the Toronto waterfront; somewhere between a quarter and a third of the total gulls) but no "interesting" gulls noted. Also three trumpeter swans, two with wing tags, hauled out on the beach and preening thoroughly. (In that "applying spackle with the bill" way swans have when they're really trying to re-arrange their breast feathers.) The immature King Eider was easily visible from the Martin Goodman Trail bridge over the Humber, complete with a convenient group of three Common Mergansers for scale. (The King Eider is obviously larger.) Proceeding west along the walking trails to Humber Bay East Park (that is, toward Mimico Creek from the mouth of the Humber; Humber Bay park isn't on the Humber), I observed mixed flocks of Greater Scaup and Redheads, various Bufflehead, scattered Long-tailed Duck, many still in transitional plumages, one (1) White-winged Scoter (in very close to shore; it started swimming out further as I walked by), a pair of Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, and approximately a hundred Ruddy Ducks. (Four were in close, easy binocular range; the main raft definitely took a scope.) At Humber Bay East Park, there were displaying Hooded Merganser in the ponds by the (closed) bathrooms. Also the ubiquitous and obligatory mallards, in the next pond over. Had a merlin at Queen and Ossington on my way home. There merlin didn't get the house sparrow, but from the furious expression I doubt the next sparrow will be so lucky. -- Graydon _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
