Tommy Thompson Park (Leslie Spit) TOC Walk Saturday

[Andrew Don]

What a day went down to the leslie spit for the guided bird hike put on by the TOC. Was little early so checked the wet woods myself for a bit and saw and photographed 2 rusty blackbirds. Also saw the gray coyote. Then headed back to meet for the walk and was glad i did because soon as i got back to the gate Hugh Currie shouted yellow headed blackbird ,was a female one sitting in a big tree at the south east corner of the garden plots. Then it flew eastward towards Ashbridge's bay. What a way to start a walk!

Then we went into the wet woods and saw a black and white warbler.A male eastern towhee popped up when i tried to pish the warbler in closer. Also flock of white-throated sparrows with couple swamp sparrows. As walking through the woods an American Bittern flew over us and landed in a nearby tree,then it left the tree and went by us again in plain view! Such a beautiful bird. We proceeded to walk through the fields and saw brown thrasher, couple meadowlarks and a few savannah sparrows. Next went to the bird banding station and in the bay along the way saw 2 great egrets, 2 blue winged teal, 3 northern shovelers and a raft of common terns. At the station saw osprey , 2 common loons, palm warbler and yellow-bellied sapsucker.

We ate lunch at the banding station then went back up towards cell 1 where 2 dunlin and a greater yellowlegs were spotted. Also watched a peregrine falcon try to catch a common tern for lunch but no success and instead the flock of terns chased the falcon away.
After that the people who were left followed Hugh out to the lighthouse without seeing too much out of the ordinary ,nesting canvasbacks and pair of northern rough-winged swallows basically. Then as we walked through the open area south of the lighthouse we flushed a Whimbrel! flew around us and landed in a little mudhole where we watched it for bit in the scope. Then something spooked the whimbrel and all the gulls along the coast and they went up in the air like a hawk was around. The whimbrel flew back out over the lake.
We then walked back to the entrance and ended the walk ,the final tally was 73 species.

Many thanks to Hugh for an amazing walk ,will be there next year

[Craig McL]

Andrew

was the YHBB haning with starlings ?? or was it by its self ??

great spit bird !!!

Craig McLauchlan

[Andrew Don]

The Yellow-headed blackbird was hanging by itself by the gate but there were cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds around ,was a beautiful female bird.
Quite the sighting but liked the bittern and whimbrel just as much ,as Hugh posted to ontbirds was an amazing day ,one of those days of birding not forget for a while.

[Craig McL]

I some how mist any post from Hugh to ontbirds ?? I even just look at my deleted box and nothing ther ??

wonder what up with that ??

Craig

[Anonymous]

hi all

I am posting a reply but the original subject line is not coming up. Re the posting about the TOC walk:

1) What is TOC?
2) How can I find out about other walks at Leslie Spit? I am having such difficulty identifying warblers and sparrows that i want some help!
3) While down at Leslie Spit  on Sunday, in the wettish brush just before the turn off to the aquatics club I saw two yellow warblers. No one else has mentioned this so hope I am not getting that wrong.

Julie

[Julia]

Julie:

TOC is the Toronto Ornithological Club.  They host walks in various parks in the Toronto area throughout the year.  It's very helpful for beginners, as a lot of the people who come are very knowledgeable.
Their website is www.torontobirding.ca
There's a walk this Saturday in Lambton woods, check under "Outings" on the web page for more details.

Hope this helps,

Julia

[Andrew Don]

There is a walk run by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) on Sunday May 28 at 8am
John Carley is the leader ,he was at the TOC walk for a little while ,very nice and knowledgeable birder. I am going down that day and sure there will be lots of birders , experienced and novices.