Toronto Islands Migration - Sept. 18th

[Anonymous]

Good morning

  Yesterday Ian Cannell and I spent leisurely  day birding the Toronto Islands during another beautiful day and some of the birds that appeared for the first time this season on Tuesday have noticeable increased including Sapsuckers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Creepers, Both Kinglets, Swainson's Thrushes, and White-throated Sparrows. New this season were Yellow-billed Cuckoo, House and Winter Wrens, and Gray-cheeked Thrushes.

  Following are some of the birds we did find down there as we strolled along on islands devoid of any other birders :- Black-crowned night-Heron, Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks, Merlin, Kestrel, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, R-T Hummingbirds, Belted Kingfishers, Sapsuckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, 51 Flickers, 12 E. Wood-Pewees, Yellow-bellied, Least and Great Crested Flycatchers, 11 Red-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creepers, House and Winter Wrens, both Kinglets, Gray-cheeked Thrushes, 26 Swainson's Thrushes, Brown Thrashers, Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos, 20 Warbler species including Orange-crowned Warbler, 5 Northern Parulas, Nashville, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Tennessee, Cape-May, Blackburnian, Pine, Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Wilson's and Canada as well as Ovenbirds, Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and 58 White-throated Sparrows.

  Although there are few Waterfowl, no Shorebirds and only 2 species of Sparrows so far we did see 70 species of birds. The Hanlans Island beaches are still being used by sun bathers so until it cools down Shorebirds are not to be expected there and be aware that there are still naked men trolling along the trails in the sand dunes on Hanlans.

  Good luck IF anyone heads down there.

Directions:-
TORONTO ISLANDS ( Ward

[tellin]

Thank you for your reports on birding the Toronto Islands. I took a trip down there last week and found quite a lot migrants. I went again this week on Wed, the 17th, but didn't find too much. You found the birding to be quite good on the 16th and the 18th. I am thinking of going again tomorrow, the 20th. I was wondering if you would expect tomorrow to possibly be a good day - you seem to be able to predict when it's good to go. I don't have excellent identification skills, and I know that this is part of the reason I'm not coming up with as much.

[Anonymous]

tellin

  For prediction I have a direct line to the big birder upstairs.  

  I / we check the weather forecasts for The Islands before going of course but most of all we check the wind direction overnight or if a cold front passes through the evening / day before or if it rained overnight to prevent birds from flying. Most of the birds migrate on northerly winds but of course the birds migrate on other winds but not as many. Strong southerly winds are not condusive to a good migration. A north wind that changes to south overnight or rain that happens after midnight could cause a fallout of birds as they decide to come down until the weather changes.

 Identification is very important. We walk along slowly and at this time of year we react to the chipping of birds and also if we hear or see Chickadees we check them as quite often they are part of a feeding flock of mixed birds.

  I also go down there some times just to get out.

  Tonight and tomorrow have southerly winds so probably not too many new arrivals and with the clear skies a lot of the birds already down there may pick up and head south but there are always some migrants present.

  Watch the weather and especially the temperatures up north as that is also a trigger to start some birds along their way.

Good luck if you do go tomorrow.

[tellin]

Thank you for your reply, which has been very helpful. I was paying attention to changes in weather in Toronto but not wind direction or weather changes up north. I'll use this information to decide when to visit the islands next. I think I'll do something else tomorrow since I was there recently.

[Jan McDonald]

Hi Norm,

Your Island reports are great.

I would like to meet up with you when you bird the Islands during the week. My email is janmcdonald@interlog.com if you have time to let me know when you'd be going. I'm about a 15 minute bike ride away from the Ferry Terminal.

Hope to see you out there.

Happy Trails,

Jan

[Andrew McKinley]

I went out today (20th) and Norm was right, the stability in the weather over the last couple of days meant there wasn't alot of activity. In the morning there was quite abit going on but by about 11 it got pretty quite indeed...I think the smaller songbirds fed and then split. When the beer festival started things got very loud there too, which I am sure contributed to the disappointing birding.
It is hard for those of us who can only go on weekends....