GTA Beach Report

[Anonymous]

Went for a stroll on a beach in the GTA and saw the following waterfowl:

Female and Male Lesser Scaup
Female and Male Long-tailed Duck
Female, Male, and 1st Winter Common Goldeneye
Female and Male Bufflehead
Female and Male Common Merganser
Mallards
Mute and Trumpeter Swans
Canada Geese

I also saw what I believed to be a Common Loon, but won't confirm it until I can ascertain its identity with some bins.  All in all, a cold but good day.

[Axeman]

Is it just me or...are there fewer (species and numbers) ducks overwintering on Lake Ontario this year? In past years I've seen large flocks of buffleheads, mergansers, scaups, golden eyes and ummm....longtails (?) in the Port Credit area...

[Anonymous]

I've only been out twice to Lake Ontario, once at the Scarborough Bluffs and yesterday at Frenchmens Bay (first report in this thread), but from what I've seen the numbers and species have been higher than they were last year at this time.  Especially neat for me is actually seeing flotilla's of Long Tails (formerly known as Oldsquaws) at both locations which weren't present this early last year.  It's also neat to see the interaction between the different species.

I've also seen numbers of Red Breasted Mergansers this year, which is a complete 180 from last year as I saw maybe 5 the whole winter.  I'm certain the Harlequin's are around, just haven't spotted them yet because I haven't put in the time.  

Next week I'm hoping to head to the Spit to see what's about, and I'll be sure to file a report when I get home along with any pictures that hopefully turn out!

[Tyler]

From what I have seen from Prince Edward County to Niagara on the lake, the waterfowl numbers over all appear to be similiar to previous years for most species. However a much clearer picture will come out tonight or over the next few days when all the results of the lake Ontario waterfowl count  arrive.

In some local areas waterfowl appear sparse, and in other they are thick. But in the big picture it looks relatively normal except for some dabbling waterfowl that are stacked up in Windermere Basin in Hamilton. Lots of Pintail, wigeon, shovelers and Green-winged Teal there. Also there are 400+ Ruddy ducks there just like last winter. For Photographers the best place to take pictures of several diving ducks is  in the Burlington ship canal at fisherman's pier beside the lift bridge. 1000s of ducks there on the 9th (scoters, scaup, canvasback, redheads, etc).

I participated in the lake Ontario waterfowl count at dawn today and the numbers for my area (east Oshawa-Courtice) other than no swans and low dabbling ducks (due to nearshorefeeding areas iced over)  the numbers appear to be normal.

results were: 1145 Greater Scaup, 465 Common Goldeneyes, 79 Bufflehead, 2 Mallard, 140 Canada Geese, 157 Long-tailed Duck, 38 Red-breasted Merganser, 31 Common Merganser 25 just a typical daily winter count for this area.

ps Attila there is a Harlequin Duck off rotary Park in Ajax (mouth of Duffins creek)

[Kin Lau]

We had the Harlequins at Humber East on Boxing Day, 1 male, 2 femaies. After about 1hr of feeding, they flew west past Col Sam towards Port Credit.

[Greg Schneider]

In some local areas waterfowl appear sparse, and in other they are thick. But in the big picture it looks relatively normal except for some dabbling waterfowl that are stacked up in Windermere Basin in Hamilton. Lots of Pintail, wigeon, shovelers and Green-winged Teal there. Also there are 400+ Ruddy ducks there just like last winter. For Photographers the best place to take pictures of several diving ducks is  in the Burlington ship canal at fisherman's pier beside the lift bridge. 1000s of ducks there on the 9th (scoters, scaup, canvasback, redheads, etc).

Is the Windermere basin accessible? I went past there in the summer and I couldn't see any obvious way of getting down to the water.

[Anonymous]

Tyler and Kin, thanks for the information - looks like I shouldn't have 2nd guess making my way further East yesterday!  I might even drive further West next Saturday after spending a couple of hours at the Spit.

[Tyler]

The Hamilton Harbour Commission has closed the old access point to windermere basin and they do POLICE and CHARGE tresspassers.. However they also opened up a new park, planted trees and even built a trail at Windermere Basin.

To access it there is a small Parking lot on Eastport drive JUST SE of the Steelcare warehouse. I did the capitals for the parking lot is not marked and it is right after the warehouse when you are coming from the ship canal towards Hamilton.

Currently there are a few thousand ducks there, 60+ Double-crested Cormorants, 3+ Black-crowned Night herons, and if you lucky one of the 9 locally wintering Bald Eagles will come by for a looksie.

The waterfowl are quite skittish there so if you want a picture you will need patience.