Spring birds in Trinity Bellwoods Park: A Summary

[Andreas Jonsson]

The following is a summary of my 15 morning walks in Trinity Bellwods Park during 2-21 May 2010. In total during this period I found 61 species in the park, including 4 Flycatcher sp., 5 Thrush sp., 20 Wood Warbler sp., and 4 Sparrow sp. The full list is included below.

Winners of the Species totals category in the four groups above were: Least Flycatcher (3), Veery (31), Black-throated Blue Warbler (28), and White-throated Sparrow (34), but note that there is most likely some double counting of individuals between days. The second and third placed warblers were Ovenbird (27) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (21). Most of the Black-throated Blue and Yellow-rumped Warblers came during the major fallout on the 14th of May, a 45 species day with 15 warbler species, while Ovenbirds were seen on two thirds of the observation days.

I wonder what the summary for Queens park would look like? I any case, I think it is pretty cool that so many migrating birds can be found in our central parks. Has anybody been out checking the fall migration yet?


Trinity Bellwods Park,  2-21 May, 2010:

Double-crested Cormorant
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's)
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

[Matthew Strimas-Mackey]

I went to Queen's Park almost every day during that period. Looking at eBird I apparently saw 43 species.

My list probably isn't comparable to yours because I missed a lot of birds. I remember Mathieu Siol and BC would post lists from the same time as me and get almost twice as many species.

The top 3 warblers in descending order were: Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, and Chestnut-sided.

Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Chimney Swift
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

[Andreas Jonsson]

Hi Matt, thanks. Yes, I have a feeling you guys may have seen more birds altogether in Queens park.

[Gary Player]

Hi

I am a UK birder who is planning to stay in Toronto for afew days in June. Its not primarily a birding trip but I'm sure I will fit some in do you have any suggestions as to sites I could visit? My email is garyplayer1962@hotmail.com. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Andreas Jonsson]

Hi,

You'll probably get more responses if you ask in the Birding Area section here:

http://outdoorontario.net/birds/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=4

And it would help if you let us know what time in June you are visiting, as in the beginning of the month you might still be able to catch some late migrants, while in the second part of the month you have to focus on locally breeding birds. Will you have access to a car, or are you looking to bird locally with public transit?

Good luck!

[mr.sharp-photo]

i don't plan on doing birding at Trinity Bellwoods or Queen's Park, but I'm curious as to which parts of those 2 parks give you the most success?

[BC]

Always check the stand of pines just south of the King George V monument, especially in the middle of the day. Get right under them. Many warblers can be found there. Also, they seem to generally prefer the mature deciduous trees to the east of the monument.

[Andreas Jonsson]

@mr.sharp-photo: I haven't birded in Queen's Park as much as in Trinity Bellwoods, but judging from the reports over the past few seasons the two parks seem comparable in quality. I do note, however, that while Queen's Park lacks shrubby areas (ground cover), In Trinity Bellwoods there are several shrubby areas (mainly around the "dog-bowl") where ground-dwelling species (Sparrows, Thrushes, Thrashers, Ovenbirds etc.) often stay around for several days.