Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Trillian Flummox on August 06, 2013, 09:41:39 AM
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After reading an ebird report of 2 Least Bittern in the Triangle Pond at the Spit, I headed out early yesterday morning with my bike. Although I dipped on the Bitterns, I was pleasantly surprised to tally up 45 species for the morning. Having not been there since late Spring, I was also surprised at how lovely the Spit can be in August. The fields all along the roads and pathways are overgrown with a riot of colourful wildflowers, attracting a variety of butterflies which I mostly can't identify. An assortment of giant dragonflies patrol various areas throughout the spit, and before the crowds arrived there were rabbits everywhere - I stopped counting after the first 14. Bonus creatures included 2 mink and 1 beaver. Thankfully I managed to come home with no new mosquito bites, but that may be because I stayed in the sun and out of the wooded areas.
I was really hoping for more shorebirds, but here are a few highlights from my morning:
2 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Spotted Sandpiper
3 Solitary Sandpiper
5 Great Blue Heron (some were being harassed by Tree Swallows!)
3 Great Egret
3 Belted Kingfisher
18 Caspian Tern
1 Northern Harrier
1 Black-billed Cuckoo (heard calling loudly across from Triangle Pond but I couldn't find it)
7 Trumpeter Swan (parents with 5 large grey goslings)
3 Chimney Swift
Large flocks of Bank, Barn, Tree and NRW Swallows
5 strangely out-of-season Bufflehead
Maybe in another week or two there will be more shorebirds arriving. Unfortunately right now the water level in all the ponds and wetland areas is very high - not much in the way of mudflats to attract them.
-kris