Time approximately 11:30, date February 20.
A bit south of the intersection of Martingrove and Rockfield.
I was on my way home on foot, having missed the last Burnhamthorpe 50 bus and not willing to wait 25 minutes for a Bloor bus. On my way up Martingrove I spotted what I first took to be a racoon waddling out to the middle of the road. I would be about 50 feet away when I first saw it.
As I moved closer to it, it remained motionless in the roadway. I then thought that if this is a
racoon then it must be a very sick one as its fur was very pale and its tail wasn't bushy.
When I got within 15-20 feet I noticed that the tail had no fur at all - more like a rat or muskrat tail. Also that the snout wasn't quite like a racoons, especially at the tip where the nose was pink instead of black. Overall size of the body was about the size of a large domestic cat.
It allowed me to walk (cautiously) within 6 - 8 feet of it and take a long look at it (~2 minutes).
The word "opossum" had formed in one part of my brain, but disbelief was trying hard to push it away. After all, weren't opossums just beginning to enter Southern Ontario? How could it possibly survive a winter? And weren't opossums supposed to be much smaller? (My conception of them size wise was somewhere between a chipmunk and a squirrel, possibly the size of a red squirrel. Yet here was something that matched the pictures I had seen of opossums - but larger.
The word "rat" also passed briefly through my mind. I've seen some HUGE rats downtown but this lacked the sleek low set body and the extra long butt prior to the tail. It also wasn't sniffing or behaving like a rat - especially since it let me approach it without apprehension or aggression. So not a rat nor a racoon (nor a Womble for that matter :wink: ): opossum was the only logical choice left.
It held its ground and I resumed my journey homeward (about two blocks to go). I looked back to see it resume its own journey eastward across the street. A quick google of Toronto and opossum later I had found confirmation that what I saw was a real live (docile?) opossum. In suburban Toronto. In February.
And when I mentioned it to a friend today they reported that one of their neighbours on Burnhamthorpe Park Blvd spotted one on their deck.
Further research indicated that the opossum was known in these parts in the 1800s. Probably extirpated as the city grew. I also read of sightings as far north as the Bruce Peninsula and
Barrie.
BTW
Last year I saw a coyote (thought it was a fox until I saw the colour and lack of bushy tail) in the hydro corridor that runs parallel to Kipling and Ashbourne/Martingrove.
Wellington
