Walking through the neighborhood this afternoon, I found a merlin sitting on a TV antenna near the intersection of Mortimer and Donlands. This is the first merlin I've seen hereabouts this winter, though in the same general area over the past several weeks, there have been several red tailed hawks, kestrels, a couple of sharp-shinned hawks, a cooper's hawk, and one peregrine.
Walking or biking through nearby ravines over the past couple of Sundays, I've seen the following birds. In Taylor Creek park, there was a great horned owl hooting under the O'Connor bridge at three in the afternoon, and further west a pileated woodpecker working through the trees at the top of the ridge to the north. Found another GHO in ET Seton park, behind the Science Centre. In the lower Don Valley there have been several red tails, and behind the K9 facility south of the Overlea Blvd bridge, by the warm-water outflow, the usual concentration of mallards has been supplemented by a pair of black ducks and four wood ducks, three males and a female. This is also a good place to see kingfishers and great blue heron.
