Hello Birders, This morning while doing Urban Bird Surveying on Lennox and Palmerston Blvd, myself, Bérengère Paternostre, Andrew Kuzniecov and Eric Davies had a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. It was first in the tall Norway Maples on the South side of Lennox, east of Palmerston and then moved to the big Silver Maple (with deadwood) on the North side of Lennox.
This has been a very productive spot, amazingly only a little ways away from bustling Bathurst Street! Also today in roughly the same spot we had two SCARLET TANAGERS with three male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS in the foreground in one binocular view, as a NORTHERN PARULA sounded off, along with 13 additional warbler species including CAPE MAY, TENNESSEE, BLACKBURNIAN, MAGNOLIA WARBLERS and AMERICAN REDSTARTS. A female ORCHARD and several BALTIMORE ORIOLES were seen...all right in the city! Béren was especially excited as she's visiting from Belgium and has never seen most of these before..and what a show! In the past we have had GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER here as well. Palmerston runs from Harbord St. to Queen St. West. It intersects with Lennox North of College St. It is possible to take the Subway to Bathurst Station, and walk South on Bathurst until you reach Lennox (about 4 minutes) and then take a right (West) on Lennox. Another good spot was the west side of Grace St, which can be accessed from Harbord St or Bloor St. West, West of Bathurst. Here, in the small rows of trees, once again warblers were concentrated in their dozens, as well as more SCARLET TANAGERS, B. ORIOLES and ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. This afternoon I had four VEERIES, a WOOD THRUSH, a SWAINSON'S THRUSH and an OVENBIRD within a few inches of each other on the sparse leaf litter in the little row of trees! It is truly amazing what survives when it needs to in these difficult conditions. Our surveying will hopefully help make the inner city a more hospitable place to migrants and wildlife in general - we're looking at how these birds utilize native vs. non-native tree species down here. If anyone is interested in helping us out by being a pair of eyes (we always need it!) we meet at Lennox and Euclid Ave (North of College St.) at 6:00 AM on weekdays, or you could contact Eric Davies at [email protected] Good Birding! Lev Frid Toronto, ON _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
