Jessie Barry and I met a friend who flew into Toronto yesterday (originally scheduled to fly into Rochester, NY). Unfortunately for our friend, he ended his 27 hour airline adventure spending three hours sitting on the tarmac in Toronto while they waited for gates to clear. Fortunately for us, we checked a few parks in the area.
The biggest highlight and surprise was at the Lakefront Promenade where we found a Hooded Merganser x Bucephala sp. We believe that this bird is likely a hybrid with Bufflehead, a combo neither of us has seen before. Link to some photos is below. Perhaps this is a well known bird, but I don't recall seeing mention of it on this list (though I admit to checking it irregularly). The Hooded Merganser traits are fairly straightforward so I won't go into them here, but will focus on those characters that seemed to fit Bufflehead better than either goldeneye. The overall size and shape seem more consistent with Bufflehead than either goldeneye (particularly the relatively small and rounded head). Neither of these features comes across particularly well in the photos, but I believe you can get some indication of the smaller and slightly more rounded head. There was also relatively large white horizontal patch above the flanks without any white patches higher on the back/scapulars that are shown by hybrid Hooded Merganser x either goldeneye. The white breast and extensive white in the wing suggested an adult male. Given this, the amber eye also seem to suggest Bufflehead (goldeneye x Hooded Mergansers males have bright yellow eyes). I uploaded several photos of the bird here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/ Directions: The Lakefront Promenade is located in Mississauga. Exit the QEW at Dixie and take that southeast to Lakeshore Rd. Take Lakeshore southwest along the lake. The entrance will be on your left in about a km. The bird was to the right of the main road in the harbor before the sailing club. Cheers and Happy New Year, Chris Wood eBird Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
