Don Valley/Brickworks birding *updated April 24/09*

[mr.sharp-photo]

Hello,
I finally joined this community and I thought I would give you an update on what I've seen in the Brickworks and Don River/Don Valley area over the past few weeks.
This week has been pretty active.
Two nights ago we saw three black crowned night herons (and possibly a fourth in the trees) fishing in the Don River just north of Pottery Road. We took some pictures but it was dusk and they are grainy. I may post later.

Today we saw a hooded merganser swimming just south of Pottery Road in the Don River.  I managed to get 1 picture of it as did my fiancee, but it and the other mallards it was with flew away.


There appear to be 3 red-tailed hawks living near the Brickworks. Two of them seem to hunt together and the third occasional hunts with/near them. Only seen them in the air above the high escarpment at the Brickworks.  The first link is from today and the second link is from 3 days ago:




We saw one on the path 3 weeks ago and got some good pictures:



There are a few pairs of belted kingfishers playing tag in the trees around the Brickworks. VERY hard to get a picture of. This is the best I have:



Some cormorants have made their way to the Brickworks and are swimming with the Canada Geese and ducks. This guy was posing for a few people today:



Also, there are a lot of red-winged blackbirds (seems like more than last year) at the Brickworks:



I've seen 3 or so downy woodpeckers in the trees around the Brickworks. This one got very close to me:



Yesterday, i lucked upon a pileated woodpecker on the upper escarpment. I managed to take 2 pictures before he took off, but it flew away before I got anything decent (so i have nothing to show).

a red-bellied sapsucker almost flew into me last week as well.

I update my flickr account weekly, and since I live near the Brickworks, you will be seeing a lot of updates until May (vacation time!)

Hope this update helps!

[Bird Brain]

Welcome to the forum.  

Great pictures!

Wow, a female Belted Kingfisher!!!  In 15 years of birding, I've only ever seen two - one at Lake Wabukayne out here in Mississauga and one at High Park in Toronto.  I've seen lots of Belted Kingfishers but they're usually the males.  Great sighting!  

Jo-Anne  

[Misty01]

Welcome to the board!  

I love the stare down with the red tail; he's looking at you like a big mouse  :twisted:

[mr.sharp-photo]

Welcome to the board!  

I love the stare down with the red tail; he's looking at you like a big mouse  :twisted:

actually, it was funny watching him look at the dogs being walked on the trail below him.  once, a really small dog went by and you could see him leaning forward and sizing up weather or not dinner was being served

[Niloc]

Welcome, some great pics thanks for sharing, the Brickworks is my favorite place maybe I will see you around cheers...

[mr.sharp-photo]

one quick update to my update.

was there yesterday. horrible rainy and grey day, but i wanted an excuse to go for a walk on my day off.
heard the pileated woodpecker at it again. it loves to hang out on the upper south escarpment.  it spent 10 minutes hopping from tree to tree and, for 30 seconds, was on the ground. is very shy of people, so pictures were very difficult (and the greyness resulted in a lot of horrible photos). but this is the best capture i got:



so i assume that, if you are patient, you will find this guy up in the wooded area.

it was relatively birdless yesterday. nothing exciting going on. on my way home, i found a very noisy American Goldfinch hiding in a stack of overgrown, dead trees close to the observation area on the Don Trail, just north of Pottery Rd (where that swamp is).



think i heard its mate, but didn't see anything.

and if you use flickr and want to see more pictures, you can look up my username (same as my username on here)

[QWK SVT]

Some very nice shots!

PS - Love the handle...  Long time raptor fan, huh?  :lol:

[mr.sharp-photo]

Some very nice shots!

PS - Love the handle...  Long time raptor fan, huh?  :lol:

yep



Just a further update. Was at the Brickworks yesterday and there's some good and bad news.
The good news: lots of American Goldfinches there. There was a male near the front pond on the west side, singing away in the evergreens.  There were 3 females up on the escarpment beside the railway tracks.



and



and the kingfisher pairs are still zipping around and fighting with the sparrows. some interesting displays, including a male hovering in the air in one spot, flapping its wings and looking aggressive...he did that for about 10 seconds and was pretty funny to watch.

The bad news....saw 4 cormorants in the ponds. that's 3 more than i saw a few days ago. guess they're calling their friends to let them know about the Brickworks. so I'm hoping the cormorants don't take over the Brickworks.