Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Anonymous on May 04, 2008, 04:05:08 PM
-
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.
We also observed a Red Fox twice as it roamed around and a nice 10" Blandings Turtle was on the path between the two ponds at the southeast corner of the park. I did assist it in it's walk to the next pond so it would not be a dog toy.
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:
I laughed out loud when I got to the Downy Woodpecker on your warbler-pointing finger. An absolute classic.
Give these hooligans a few handouts over the winter, and they steal your hubcaps in the spring.
Thanks for the detailed (as usual) information -- time to head west for a few mornings.
Regards,
-nb
-
Thank you very much Norm & Margaret, I'm more of a photographer than a birder.. and need to learn a lot from individuals like yourselves. I always appreciate it when some one takes time to identify or point out a bird to me when in the field. It was an amazing day, and the brief time spent with you made it better... thanks again Glen
-
Very interesting, Norm. I was in High Park myself on Sunday. I am always looking for snakes and turtles (I have never seen any in High Park), although I was hoping to see the toads mating this time (I didn't see those either), but I also saw foxes, one adult with three pups.
-
Bart
Check the north end of Grenedier Pond and the duck ponds in the southeast corner of the park. There are still some Turtles that have escaped capture by some that caught them for eating in the past.
I have seen Snapping, Map, Blanding's and Painted Turtles.
-
Thank you so much, Norm!
I had taken the subway to High Park, and went down the staircase at the northwest corner of the park. There is a little stream there, and for some reason I've always told myself that if I were turtle or a snake, that's where I'd like to be. Except, I've never seen a living thing there, except for people. This time, I thought I finally had seen something: a spiny softshell turtle. I could see its head and all. It didn't even run away from me... until I realized it was a plastic bag that was moving in the wind. The head was piece of paper sticking out from underneath. LOL. I have a lot to learn!
In following that little stream, I actually arrived at the north end of the Grenadier Pond. It is very narrow there, and there are some logs in the water. However, when I was there, it was around 4:40PM. The logs were in the shade, and I saw nothing. I am guessing that the (early?) morning is a better time?
I did see one very aggressive red-winged blackbird. It flew straight at me.
You got me jumping up and down, for I have never even seen a snapping turtle. All I can be 100% sure of, is that I have seen a red-eared slider and a painted turtle on the Islands, and painted turtles and one seemingly very lonely Blanding's turtle in Tommy Thompson Park.
I was also at the Duck ponds, around 6:30pm. All I saw there were ducks ^_^ including wood ducks. Are those the "real" thing? I mean, I'm sure they are real enough and that nobody has painted some mallards in order to make them look like wood ducks, but they could be "domesticated", with clipped wings or something?
Anyway, thanks a lot!
-
yes, we regularly see good-sized painted and snapping turtles and once in a while the Blandings... best chance for it is in the eastern duck ponds hauled out on a log
-
Eastern duck ponds? Does that mean that there are several? I didn't know that. I thought it was just one pond, going north-south.
-
well there's the big "pond" called Grenadier Pond and then the 2 little ones right at the most south-east side of the park. so we say east to avoid confusion.
-
Thanks, David! I understand it now.
-
Sat am and there are flocks of Blue Jays going by (west to east) the condo at the mouth of the Humber river.