Ontario rare bird hotline

[vaneramos]

Mallards on Grenadier Pond, High Park


Our walk on Saturday afternoon intersected with the Lake Ontario shoreline at Sunnyside Beach. From there we walked east along the boardwalk. But glancing west, I saw the condominiums and regenerated parkland around Humber Bay.

“Humber Bay is a good place for birds in the winter,” I said. “I used to subscribe to the Ontario rare bird hotline and drive around following the sightings. But I haven’t had a car the past few years, so there was no point in subscribing.”

The last time I recorded any rare bird sightings was the winter of 1999 when I drove out to see a Heermann’s gull, a West Coast species that lived for more than a year on Leslie Spit, and a Ross’s goose that stopped on Humber Bay. Toronto Harbour is productive of birds displaced to the Great Lakes during storms or migration. I live within driving distance of many additional interesting sites. Considering only gulls and waterfowl for starters, Hamilton Harbour and the Niagara River are excellent.

I have a car for now. There’s nothing stopping me, except perhaps the cost of gas, from resuming those excursions. So today I looked up the ontbirds mailing list, and renewed my subscription.