Good morning Yesterday I decided to head for The Spit for a day of walking and birding. It turned out to be a beautiful and bird filled day even though the Passerine migration has drastically dropped off.
I made my way out to Pipit Point for the morning and to check the lake. On the way I had a flock of 48 Snow Buntings beside the road. In the second Bay (B2) among the A. Coots, Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, etc. I counted an amazing 162 Hooded Mergansers (a Toronto Record by themselves) but they were part of 178 Hooded Mergansers for the day. Also at this bay were 2 Great Blue Herons and 3 juvenile Black-crowned night-Herons. The next Bay (B3) were hundreds of Scaup and Common Goldeneye and just before Pipit Point a Lapland Longspur walked along the edge of the road beside me for about 100 feet giving me great looks and watching me closely as well. Over Pipit Point was a Northern Goshawk heading west and off Pipit Point were Horned and Red-necked Grebes, many Common Loons, a frenzy of Herring Gulls with a few Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls mixed in. As I stood watching the lake I estimated that besides the hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers and Long-tailed Ducks in the water around the point at least 12,000 Red-breasted Mergansers migrated past over the tip and lake as well as about 5,000 Long-tailed Ducks, quite a spectacle. Before I left Pipit Point a Short-eared Owl landed ahead of me giving nice looks and a Northern Harrier followed. Both birds took off over the lake and disappeared. I also found 4 more Snow Buntings here and a surprising Downy Woodpecker. I left the point and headed for the city side of The Spit and on the way a Lapland Longspur flew over me. Some of the other birds found yesterday were N. Pintails, Canvasbacks, Redheads, Common Mergansers, 391 Bufflehead (not a record), 2 A. Woodcock, 5 Downy Woodpeckers, many A. Tree Sparrows, Swamp Sparrow, Hermit Thrushes, more Great Blue Herons, and a lot of the usual suspects out there. Worth the trip today (Sunday) or any weekend for anyone with the time and inclination. DIRECTIONS LESLIE STREET SPIT (TOMMY THOMPSON PARK) IN TORONTO To get to "The Spit" from Queen & Yonge Sts. Take the Queen Street Car #501 east to Leslie St. and walk south (about 2 km) or as far as you can go on Leslie St. at Unwin Ave. and you will see the gate and signage. You may also catch the Jones Bus #83 at the Donlands Subway Station or transfer to it at Queen St. and Jones Ave. and take it to Leslie St. And Commissioner St. (on Saturday only). By automobile you may drive to Lakeshore Blvd and Leslie St. then south to The Spit. You can park either on Leslie St. or Unwin Ave. You may also park in the parking lot inside the main gate after 9 am. Be sure to observe the parking lot closing time as if you are not out by then your auto will be locked in until the following day. — THE PARKING LOT AND ALL GATES WILL BE LOCKED AT 4:30PM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:- The official hours for The Spit are 9 am to 4:30 pm (weekends and holidays only of course) but the unofficial hours are sunup to sundown. To date no one has questioned any birder, jogger, cyclist, etc. about the use of The Spit from sunup to sundown. 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. The Spit is only open on the weekends and holidays because they are still building it. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON S'ils te mordent, mords les --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net
