Don Valley Brick Works, Toronto, August 2013

Don Valley Brick Works Park is a charming reserve a short bus ride from the lake front in Toronto. It has some interactive features for the kids and has turned an industrialised site into a green and pleasant area. Whilst I am not often fulsome in my appreciation of art, there were a couple of pieces that I found quite engaging. One was a large installation made from a rusted sheet of metal, hung from the side of one of the buildings. It showed the outline of Greater Toronto with the Don Valley picked out in plants that grew through from behind. Water trickled along the water courses and dripped into a shallow tray beneath where House Sparrows bathed. I don’t think it would be too effusive to describe it as “fitting”.

From the bus, it is a short walk to the brickworks and the chimney is visible as one gets closer.

A Gray Catbird was calling as I passed and I stopped to see if something was upsetting it. A young Cooper’s Hawk appeared nonplussed by the attention it was receiving and sat until I passed beneath it.

The industrial buildings of the old brick pit are now used as cycling practice areas and there is a garden store and café. Beyond these are the wildflower meadows and the ponds which have been created in the flooded quarry. American Goldfinches were immediately obvious and were the most numerous bird today after the House Sparrow. In a gap between the buildings, a Downy Woodpecker worked its way through some small trees.

The steep side to the west of the quarry is wooded and a Great Crested Flycatcher was seen in there with a pair of Baltimore Orioles and the only Common Grackles of the day.

The east side of the quarry is covered with seasonal weeds and wildflowers. There were plenty more goldfinches feeding there and they seemed especially keen on the sunflowers (which I think are actually yellow daisies (?)). A path leads up to a viewpoint with a Warbling Vireo, Cedar Waxwings, a Yellow Warbler and American Robins feeding from the berry trees as I climbed the slope.

A dead tree was busy with Eastern Kingbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Flicker and Hairy Woodpecker as well as more goldfinches. Over a rise to the right, I found a disused (I assumed) railway line. Northern Cardinal and my first Blue-gray Gnatcatchers of the year were found here.

Back down in the quarry, a path leads through the meadow with some easy access boardwalks crossing the corners of a couple of the ponds.

The reeds in the margins were very productive with Eastern Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, and Eastern Wood Pewee.

An Eastern Phoebe called half-heartedly while dipping its tail. I should have made more of the oding opportunities this morning. One Blue Dasher caught my attention as it sunbathed by the path. Plenty of Common Green Darners were seen in flight up on the ridge.

In one of the ponds, small fish responded to some crumbs thrown in by a small child. These were soon pushed aside by a Snapping Turtle that came up to assume the feeding privileges.

Birds seen; 29

Great Blue Heron 1, Cooper’s Hawk 1, Ring-billed Gull 10, Chimney Swift 10, Downy Woodpecker 3, Hairy Woodpecker 1, Northern Flicker 2, Eastern Wood-Pewee 1, Eastern Phoebe 2, Great Crested Flycatcher 1, Eastern Kingbird 3, Warbling Vireo 10, Purple Martin 8, Barn Swallow 8, Black-capped Chickadee 2, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher 2, American Robin 15, Grey Catbird 3, European Starling 15, Cedar Waxwing 30, Common Yellowthroat 1,Yellow Warbler 2, Song Sparrow 2, Northern Cardinal 3, Red-winged Blackbird 5, Common Grackle 3, Baltimore Oriole 3, American Goldfinch 40, House Sparrow 80.

Starting before 06.00, Bus no. 75 leaves Toronto’s waterfront from Lower Jarvis Street at Queen’s Quay East, Northside (see Google Earth ref;43 38 39.41N 79 22 9.01W) and passes South Rd and Glen Drive (see Google Earth ref; 43 40 39.38N 79 22 29.58W). A gravel track, Milkman’s Lane, leads steeply down to a stream and becomes Beltline Trail. Keep right and pass alongside the freeway junction. The chimney from the brick pit (see Google Earth ref; 43 41 4.17N 79 21 56.25W) should soon be visible and the walk from the bus stop is just over 1km.

Visit the dedicated USA and Canada Page for more posts from Toronto including High Park and Harbour Square.

ps. when in Toronto, visit the Open Air Book and Map Shop. It is a basement shop down some stairs at the corner of Toronto and Adelaide. It is exactly what it claims to be and even with agoraphilia like mine, I find it a pleasure to spend hours inside. Bird books and mammal encyclopaedia, insects, travel. There are no books about cooking or teen idols, no magazines about overexposed celebrities, just outdoor books and maps.
A Peregrine Falcon breeds on a building across the road from the shop. Each year, volunteers with bikes, rucksacks and radios collect the newly fledged chicks when they make their maiden flights. Apparently the tram lines are a bad hazard. The volunteers communicate on where the chick came down and the cyclist picks it up, puts it in the rucksack and takes it back up in the lift to the roof of the nest building to try again.

Beaver inToronto, March 2013

I forgot to mention that North American Beavers, Castor canadensis, can be seen on the lakefront right at the bottom of Yonge Street. From the lakewall in Harbour Square Park I was surprised to have one surface just beneath my feet. It swam across the old dock on the western side of the park and disappeared under a small boardwalk where it would have been able to get up onto the land.

 

The lake front is built up for a couple of miles in each direction from Harbour Square Park so there can only be a few places where it can get up onto the bank. Apart from the small area under the boardwalk, the closest place for it to haul out and find some bark to eat would be on the islands, straight out across the water.

 

Oh and by the way there were more Long-tailed Ducks!

For a previous visit to the Harbour Square Park, follow the link below;
http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/harbour-square-park-toronto-march-2013.html

Visit the dedicated USA and Canada Page for more from Canada and Toronto; including; High Park and Leslie Street Spit
 

High Park, Toronto, March 2013

I am desperately trying to balance family, work, birding, blogging and sleep (in that order). Please excuse me if I catch up by being brief.

High Park in Toronto had been knee deep in snow until last week, but today the thaw was taking hold and the paths were running with melt water. The unpaved tracks were quite boggy, so I stuck to the main roads. Not much was seen in the northern part of the park, until I reached  the pond at the bend in Spring Road (Google Earth ref;  43°39'4.53"N 79°27'39.28"W). A few Black-capped Chickadees were found feeding in the pine trees here.

A road leading down to Grenadier Lake from the Children’s Garden proved to be the most productive spot of the day. Dark-eyed Juncos and House Sparrows joined a black Gray Squirrel helping themselves to free handouts from a kindly seed dropper.

A nasal honk alerted me to a Red Breasted Nuthatch which I couldn’t pinpoint for a while. As I searched I found a White-breasted Nuthatch. It seemed to be using a tool to probe into a hole at the base of a branch. It may have been removing debris from the hole in its search for insects, but it held onto a small length of twig as it did it. Are Nuthatches known to use probing sticks? Anyone?

At last I found the Red-breasted Nuthatch working its way through a derelict squirrel drey.

Birds seen;

Canada Goose 6, Downy Woodpecker 3, Black-capped Chickadee 10, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, White-breasted Nuthatch 2, Dark-eyed Junco 3, Northern Cardinal 1, American Goldfinch 1, House Sparrow 15.

Reach High Park from the Subway train. Take the Bloor – Danforth line (Green Line). Travel west to High Park Station. Simple Huh?

A previous visit to High Park is described at the link below;
http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/high-park-in-toronto-is-public-area-of.html

Visit the dedicated USA and Canada Page for more posts from Canada and Toronto, including;
Leslie Street Spit and Harbour Square Park.

Leslie Street Spit, Toronto, March 2013

The site at the end of Leslie Street in Toronto, where it meets the lake goes by two names; Leslie Street Spit and Tommy Thompson Park (Google Earth ref; 43°38'45.59"N 79°19'15.27"W) . There are 30 or so hotspots and personal locations marked by Toronto’s eBirders, but no concensus on demarcation between the two sites. I have sided with the marker named as Leslie Street Spit – Base as it describes pretty much where I was and is well placed.  I have placed my own marker for the Outer Harbour Spit.  

A short way along the road a manned barrier denies any further access onto the spit except for weekends and holidays. I have chosen to interpret the area beyond the barrier as Tommy Thompson Park. There had been some confusion about accessibility, but the signs seemed perfectly clear when I arrived at the gate. Tommy Thompson Park is the extension of the spit beyond the gate, out into Lake Ontario. It is a working site where trucks dump landfill from construction sites and is closed to the public from Monday through Friday. It is only accessible to the public at weekends and holidays. The park has its own website which can be found at this link.

The area before the gate is accessible and can be freely birded. Black-capped Chickadee and House Finch were seen here and an American Kestrel perched at the very top of a tree, raising and dipping its tail to maintain its balance as the branches moved in a slight breeze. A Northern Mockingbird was seen at the same location by the marina gates each morning.

I found a bay at Google Earth ref; 43°38'44.14"N 79°19'39.39"W which suited me very well as the sun was coming in over my shoulder and giving very nice light for photos. I returned to Leslie Street Spit the next morning and though it was by then a weekend and I could have taken a walk into Tommy Thompson Park, I preferred to go back to the bay and sit there for a couple of hours.

The two visits are woven together as one to avoid too much repetition. Beautiful though Long-tailed Ducks may be, there is a limit to the appeal of posts about them. They were immediately obvious and a Common Golden-eye flushed from close to the bank and flew round the small spit with wings whistling.

A spit of land projects out into the water of the Outer Harbour, as the small bay is known. To reach it, I had to pass through the gates of the marina. There was no guard on the first occasion and I tried to find an office to ask permission (honest), but no-one was available. On the second visit the guard happily waved me through and confirmed that I could assume access on my next visit if the gate was open.

Ducks made occasional flights back and forth from the small bay into the bigger water in the lee of Tommy Thompson Park. Common Mergansers and Red-breasted Mergansers were found in good numbers and a small flock of Buffleheads flew past.  The small spit brought me closer to the action and closed the distance with flying birds often passing quite close.

A surprise came in the shape of a White-winged Scoter which paddled away from the end of the spit as I arrived. A small flock were seen later flying past.

Small bushes allowed me to sit quietly, invisible to the birds approaching from either side. Occasionally a Red-breasted Merganser hove into view and grunted a warning to its companions before it dived out of sight.

Evidence of Beaver activity was plain to see and I noticed a jumble of logs, sticks and varied flotsam that proved to be the lodge against the edge of the spit.

Birds seen; 24

Canada Goose 10, Mute Swan 2, Gadwall 15, Mallard 30, Redhead 8, White-winged Scoter 6, Long-tailed Duck 80, Bufflehead 15, Common Goldeneye 20, Common Merganser 45, Red-breasted Merganser 15, Cooper’s Hawk 1, Red-tailed Hawk 3, American Kestrel 1, Ring-billed Gull 60, Herring Gull 10, Mourning Dove 2, American Crow 15, Black-capped Chickadee 3, American Robin 1, Northern Mockingbird 1, European Starling 60, Northern Cardinal 1, House Finch 4.

Street Trolley number 501 and 502 (frequent service, but check Sunday schedule) run from downtown Toronto along Queen Street East and cross Leslie Street about 1.5kms (15 – 20 mins walk) from the gate.

‘Immigrant Family’ by Tom Otterness

In case you are given to xenophobia, check out the brass work by New York artist, Tom Otterness at the bottom of Yonge Street. You can’t help but luv ‘em.

Harbour Square Park, Toronto, March 2013

At the southern end of Bay St. in Toronto, where it meets the shorefront, is the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. At Google Earth ref; 43°38'24.13"N 79°22'36.23"W is a small park known as Harbour Square Park. It is well attended by dog-walkers looking for a quick and easy place to relieve their pets first thing in the morning. A wooden promenade stretches along the lakefront and from it, one can look out towards Toronto Island.

The water here is sheltered in the lee of the islands and was very calm this morning. The light on the previous evening had been poor and this morning, the sun was taking its own sweet time to come out from behind a thick bank of cloud close to the eastern horizon. I was impatient to get some pictures, so I started anyway.

Long-tailed Duck were feeding on mussels and fish that sheltered around the concrete, dock-like shoreline. They were close in, sometimes too close and wouldn't fit into the viewfinder. 

I cannot say why some of the males carried their long-tails, stiffly, out of the water, while others allowed it to trail in the water behind them.  I got the impression that it was dominance-related rather than a mood-influenced behaviour. The cocked- tail males had a more virile, energetic look to them whilst the trailing-tail males appeared submissive and passive.

Red-breasted Mergansers found good eating close to the bank too and dived for small fish along the wall. Most of them were females with the brighter males in their breeding colours appearing to be more wary and staying further from the bank.

The square, concrete bay at the southwest end of the park was probably an old dock. A single Redhead mixed with some Greater Scaup and American Coot, while a female Common Golden-eye dived for mussels in a shallow corner.

The sun works its way around to be full in your face by mid-morning. Its best positioning is in the early afternoon, by which time it has moved to behind your right shoulder as you look out across the water. The old dock gives a good angle to catch the early morning light and the reflections from the apartments make the water much more interesting.

Birds seen;

Canada Goose 5, Mute Swan 2, Mallard 8, Redhead 1, Greater Scaup 2, Greater/Lesser Scaup 8, Long-tailed Duck 50, Common Goldeneye 4, Red-breasted Merganser 25, American Coot 6, Ring-billed Gull 6, European Starling 8, House Sparrow 10

Harbour Square Park is so convenient from our hotel that I visited each morning and evening as I came and went. The list above represents an average over those visits in early March.

Visit the dedicated USA and Canada Page for more posts from Toronto including High Park.

 

Fill-in post from Toronto

I hope you like Long-tailed Duck, or Oldsquaw if you want to go old-school. It was in Toronto that I first found a Long-tailed Duck and I returned there this week to find the lake flat calm and the ducks visible from my hotel window.

I visited the lake shore in Toronto City, Leslie Street Spit and High Park, but the big story was the love-affair with the ducks. There were other birds too; Mergansers showed well as did Common Golden-eye and I even got a picture of a White-winged Scoter.

There will probably be at least three posts, most of them featuring the Long-tails, but here are a few pictures to keep you clicking until I can wade through the pictures and select a few to accompany the posts.