Their wear some good birding to be had at the High Park hawk watch and tomorrow looks just as good( I thought I wood only be their for 1 hour -5 hours later I got home). All though I will live the # of birds to the "official HPHW" post their wear some interesting birds worth posting over. Like Blue Jays 478 in 5 hours, Bald eagle and Golden eagle! C Loon 18 also we had a Red-Tailed hawk land and hunt in the trees around the hill with a red band ( no # could be seen all though we could focus right on the leg ) on its left leg if any one has any info on what that band means I wood love to no Only 5 Monarchs in 5 hours bad year for them Craig Craig & Bev McLauchlan Toronto, Ont, Canada, World From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Sep 25 19:23:04 2004 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts22-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts22.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.184]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D39D548554 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 25 Sep 2004 19:23:04 -0400 (EDT) Received: from VALUED7B9600FA ([216.209.153.131]) by tomts22-srv.bellnexxia.netSMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Sat, 25 Sep 2004 19:27:08 -0400 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Norm Murr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ONTBIRDS" <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 19:27:02 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Subject: [Ontbirds]Leslie Street Spit X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 23:23:05 -0000
Hi all Today I abandoned Stan to lead a TOC group on the Leslie Street Spit and even though it was a fairly quiet day bird wise we did see 54 species. We started out at 8 am with an American Pipit overhead and the first 50 or so of approx. 800 Blue Jays for the day flying west. As we walked through the quiet west side of the base the best we could come up with was a Cooper's Hawk and an American Kestrel that posed for us at the top of a dead tree. We then continued along the causeway to the first bay on the right where we found a female Pintail Duck, we then crossed the road to the 1st bay on the left (they are doing quite a job building a wetland habitat). Here we were told about a Golden Plover that we did see along with 3 Black-bellied and 3 Semi-palmated Plovers and 3 Sanderling, 1 Dunlin, 32 Killdeer and a Belted Kingfisher. Off we went down the road onto Peninsula D where the group was invited to watch the banding of a netted bird. While standing here 9 Northern Shovelers flew overhead and in the trees at the banding station were Golden-crowned Kinglet, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler. E continued on out the peninsula where it was very quiet but we did add Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Grey-cheeked Thrush.We were also told that a Red-headed Woodpecker was seen earlier. Again off we went along the main road towards the tip and off to our left on the lake side of the spit (the outer arm) a large Accipiter was spotted on a post. It flew off and the consensus was that it was a Northern Goshawk. The rest of the walk to the small pond just past Peninsula B was quiet except for 2 Winter Wrens, an American Wigeon and an Eastern Phoebe at the Triangle Pond. Some say I got lost on this leg of the walk but I claim that the trail led the wrong way. The well worn trails between Peninsula's C and B are grown over from lack of use. I think maybe the old spit gang should return and reopen these trails. While checking out the area around the small pond across from Peninsula B we found a Swainson's Warbler and overhead at about 100 feet we had a great view of a Cooper's Hawk with a full crop. This hawk circled us several times giving great views. The hawk was great but the bird of the day and one not seen too often was an adult Red-headed Woodpecker that posed at the top of a Cottonwood Tree. Off we went to the outer arm and along the way saw 4 Palm Warblers and 20+ Greater Scaup and along the outer arm were 4 more Palm Warblers, 5 Horned Larks, 30+ Greater Scaup and only 1 Hooded Merganser and on the return walk along the Causeway 1 of 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks was seen and we had a total of 3 Cooper's hawks. Other notable sightings were 48 Mute Swans (only 1 Juvenile), 2 Map Turtles, 100+ Green Darners and 30+ Monarch Butterflies along with several other Butterfly species, unknown to me. DIRECTIONS LESLIE STREET SPIT (TOMMY THOMPSON PARK) IN TORONTO To get to "The Spit" from Queen & Yonge Streets. Take the Queen Street Car #501 east to Leslie Street and walk south (about 2 km) or as far as you can go on Leslie Street to Unwin Avenue and you will see the gate and signage. By automobile you may drive to Lakeshore Blvd and Leslie Street. If before 9 am you can park either on Leslie Street or Unwin Avenue, after 9 am the parking lot inside the gate is open, be sure to note the closing time as your car will be locked in at that time. Pipit Point is the extreme left hand (southwest) point. When walking out towards the lighthouse you will come to a road going off to the left (at the Quonset hut or tin shed). Follow this road along the outer arm as far as it goes and at the T junction where the paved road goes off to the right continue straight onto the dirt road and you will end up on Pipit Point. NOTE- This is a dead end road and also you are not allowed onto it during nesting season. ANOTHER NOTE:- The spit is only open on the weekends and on holidays, at other times you will not be able to access the area. This area is extensive, 7 km to the tip, but be prepared to walk more than that. There is a van available after 9 am from Victoria Day weekend to Thanksgiving Day weekend that will take you out or back. The "SPIT" is only open on the weekend as they are still building it. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net
