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Citizens Concerned About the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront

Updated: Dec 5, 2023

October 2016 Bird Walk

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Group1

Hugh Currie lead our October 15th walk at Colonel Samuel Smith Park. It was a beautiful sunny day, unusually warm for the middle of October. That kind of weather is often terrible for finding birds, but we didn’t do too badly. While there weren’t big numbers, we found a nice variety of land birds and waterfowl. In the photo above, the group are watching a tree full of Yellow-rumped Warblers and both species of kinglet. A Horned Grebe swam close to some Red-necked Grebes for a nice comparison of the two species in non-breeding plumage. For many, the highlight was a pair of Eastern Screech Owls scouted and located by Bruce Wilkinson. Another “write in” for the CCFEW bird checklist! Here’s a full list of the species found on the walk:

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe

Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch

Most of the birds were too distant, furtive, or quick for good photos, but here are a few:

Killdeer
Grebe-Comparison
Grebe-Comparison-2
Phoebe

The Eastern Phoebes (left) never came close enough for good views, but some of us got closer, though brief views of White-crowned Sparrows (below) and white-throated Sparrows.

WC-Sparrow
Group2
Owls-2
Owls

And the weather was so lovely that the patio was full when some of us went to Birds & Beans for our usual post-walk refreshment!