Good evening
Today Margaret Liubavicius and I birded the Toronto Islands on another beautiful pre-fall day. The bulk of the birds were behind the houses on Wards Island BUT as we approached the Hanlans Ferry dock we ran into many more birds. Because we had to catch the 4:15 ferry or wait another 2 hours and 45 minutes for the next ferry at 7pm ( from Hanlans ) we missed many birds and in fact we had to stop viewing them to board the ferry and Margaret was still looking from on board.
A good day and following are some of the high lights, some in fair numbers:-
Ospreys, Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, a low flying Northern Goshawk being dive bombed by a Sharp-shinned Hawk giving us a good look at the size difference, A. Kestrels, Merlin, Black-billed Cuckoo, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Belted Kingfishers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, many N. Flickers, Red-headed Woodpecker, E. Wood-Pewees, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Least Flycatchers, Phoebes, Great Crested Flycatchers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Swainson's Thrushes, Gray Catbirds, Blue-headed, Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos, 17 Warbler species including Tennessees, Cape May, Black-throated Blues and Greens, Yellow-rumps, Blackburnians, Pines, Palms, Bay-breasteds, Blackpolls and Wilson's, Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows ( White-crowned singing ), plus the usual birds to be expected down there along with a good selection of Butterflies and many migrating Dragonflies.
