Humber Bay Plenty Of Ducks

[BIGFRANK]

Birders not driving NOTE,The bus from Old Mill subway now runs both Saturday and Sunday to Humber Bay Park. Only every 30mins Sats and every 20mins Sunday. It was the first weekend for it. More convient for sure.
Alot of what we saw was at Humber West behind the condos. Nothing remarkable but a quick way come Monday to start you winter list off. A Harlequin Duck was reported to us but we didnt see it.(east side)  We did see Canada Goose,Mute Swan,Trumpeter Swan (E21 & E27),Gadwall,American Wigeon,American Black Duck,Mallard,Green-winged Teal,Redhead,Greater Scaup,Lesser Scaup,Long-tailed Duck,Bufflehead,Common Goldeneye,Hooded Merganser,Common Merganser,Red-breasted Merganser,Black-crowned Night-Heron(flew out of sight),American Coot,Ring-billed Gull,Great Black-backed Gull,Downy Woodpecker,American Crow,Black-capped Chickadee,Northern Mockingbird,Dark-eyed Junco,Northern Cardinal. Enjoy!

Humber Bay Park is at the lake,at the bottom of Park Lawn and Lakeshore.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like it was a great time Frank.

Were the duckies tight to shore or were you using a scope to see them??

[BIGFRANK]

The large rafts of Scaup and Redheads were a ways off. Dont own a scope,never have. A few of most species came reasonably close,some for decent photos ops,others just had to enjoy them. Since discovering Humber Bay Park,Ive always enjoyed it for viewing ducks. Its great for begginers too,for variety and that they are reasonably close and dont rush away,giving the chance to use a guide book. Before I started birding Id swear I never saw another duck aside from a Mallard! Of course I never went looking for them in winters cold. And I always thought every duck "quacked" never dreamt they made the variety of sounds they do. Amazing what we can see and learn when we look!

[Kin Lau]

Humber East is one of the _best_ spots for winter waterfowl, especially once ice starts to form.

Many of the ducks get used to people, and come in very close.

The Harlequin sounds like it's hanging around the same spots, I usually find a spot on the rocks, lay down and wait for it to swim by.

Like this last year

[Bluffs Birder]

That's a great shot Kin!

Had a great day out at Humber Bay today with BIGFRANK, very enjoyable walk and great views of almost all waterfowl.  I tried and tried to make a couple of distant female Long-tails turn into Harlequins but it just didn't happen.  Oh well, there's always next time.

Walter

[Anonymous]

I'll echo what Walter said - great shot Kin!  

I think I'll have to head down there this winter to see what's around as I've heard nothing but great reports from that region of the City!

Attila