Downsview Today

[Dinusaur]

Took some time off of work and went to Downsview Park today after lunch. Overcast sky and wind made it a bit cooler than it was supposed to be.  Saw a plenty of red-tailed hawks, killdeer, ravens, blackbirds, robins, horned lark, a tree sparrow and a northern mockingbird and of course Canada geese. Interestingly no Kestrel. May be the competition from RTHs drove them away. Here are some shots taken today.

1. Red-tailed Hawk. Usually the RTHs in Downsview park are very skittish; this one seems to ignore my presence and landed on a nearby lamp post and then on to the ground in search of something.



2. Killdeer - one could hear and see them all over the  park.



3. Common Raven - they were together with a large flock of blackbirds and scavenging the leftovers from RTHs I think.



4. Northern Mockingbird


5. A flock of blackbirds, there were some Grackles in there too.

[thouc]

Nice variety, I believe those are American Crows, I cannot see a wedged tail and the bill looks too small for a Raven.

/Thomas

[Dinusaur]

Thanks Thomas; that's one keen observation from your part. When a couple of crow-like birds first flew over my head I thought that those were massive - as big if not bigger than the RTHs that were flying around. Then I saw them landing among the Canada Geese. As I followed them around along the road I didn't realize that both varieties were present. Here are two overhead shots for what clearly appears to be Common Raven based on the wedged tail you mentioned. I ignored these because of their poor quality. Interestingly it's the American Crow that was with the flock of blackbirds; the Raven kept its distance - mostly flying solo.

[Rotarran]

Thanks Dinu...but unfortunately those images are not showing at the moment.  Is it just me or are others having trouble as well?

While not unheard of, Ravens are quite uncommon in Toronto so I would be interested to see those pictures especially at Downsview Park!

Thank you.

[Flyingbass]

Hello,

Wow wonderful pictures, I especially like the one of the RTH landing on the classic downsview lamp post.  I have been seeing a mating pair of Kestrels that have been hanging out at John Dury Dr. and Sheppard for about 3 weeks.  Today I saw a lot of these birds with a school group, we also so a turkey vulture!  

I encourage anyone who visits the park to upload their results to ebird.org.  Downsview Park is now a "hotspot" (http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L1437376) so anyone who comes can pool all of their Downsview Park data into one location.  Our species count is at 96 but I know there are a lot of birds that have visited the park and gone unrecorded.  

Keep up the good work!

Jonny

[Dinusaur]

My apology; new Flickr interface gave me a headache. IE 11 doesn't support anything other than the original size in embedding pictures; whereas my Chrome browser defaulted to the new Flickr as of yesterday. I messed up the security setting. Hope it works now. Thanks for point this out.

[Andygod]

I also got stuck with the new Flickr page yesterday, I couldn't figure out how to get the pictures to post so I had to use the ones on Facebook.  Great shots for such a crappy weather day, I still haven't been out yet today.

[Rotarran]

Thanks Dinu.  Intriguing pictures... I think you got Ravens...but let's wait for Thouc to chime in with his take on it.

And as Flyingbass mentioned, we've got 96 species at Downsview and is currently a blue Hotspot on ebird.  If we get it to 100 species, that'll become a green hotspot and therefore gain more prominence as a great park for birding!  And a Raven sighting would be new IIRC!!

Hey Flyingbass, I noticed quite a bit of digging going on at Downsview.  Are they doing this for the tonwshouses they're planning on building?  I think we have to try to do more to protect Donwsview as a natural park and have the city view it as a place of great benefit to birds and wildlife.  There are very few parks like it in Ontario.

[Dinusaur]

... There are very few parks like it in Ontario.

So true. Though I live 20 mins away from it and also used to drop my daughter for her voluntary work in the animal shelter opposite to the park I didn't venture into the park until recently when Snowy Owl sighting was reported. It's a great park to visit and spend hours walking along its well-maintained road systems. I once heard from a jogger that digging on the south side of park was for building condominiums. Also, I noticed a set of bird boxes on poles lying on the south east corner just where the construction started. Any plan to erect those? Now will be the time.

[Rotarran]

No those were up before and were recently yanked out.  Probably for this condo project.  But I never did see those bird houses being used much by any birds.

[thouc]

Yes, those new pictures are of Ravens. Nice find! They seem to be expanding into Toronto, there was a pair reported at the base of the Spit recently.

[Rotarran]

Cool!! We have Ravens at Downsivew, that's so awesome!  Dinu, when you get a chance, please submit your sightings to ebird under Downsview Park.  

[Dinusaur]

Cool!! We have Ravens at Downsivew, that's so awesome!  Dinu, when you get a chance, please submit your sightings to ebird under Downsview Park.  

Thanks. I just submitted the findings; I had a blast.