Andreas Jonsson's Weblog

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Last May I did a daily bird walk in Trinity Bellwoods Park to find out to what extent migratory songbirds use the park as a resting spot during spring migration. The park’s breeding bird species are very few, including Red-eyed Vireo, American Robin, Yellow Warbler, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, and Chipping Sparrow. Yet, throughout the month I managed to find 61 species in the park, including 4 Flycatcher species, 5 Thrush species, 20 Wood Warbler species, and 4 Sparrow species. Quite impressive, considering that the park does not have a lot of natural protective habitat suitable for song birds. I posted a full summary on the Toronto and Southern Ontario Birding Forum.

This high number of migrants encouraged me to start my 2011 bird walks in the park already in April. My first walk this year was on 8 April, and I hope to continue most days of the week until early June. The first signs of spring migration appeared already in March; Some early spring migrants included American Robin (first appeared on 14 March), American Tree Sparrow (17 March), Cooper’s Hawk and Red-winged Blackbird (19 March). Moreover the Black-capped chickadees that had spent all winter around the feeders in the park disappeared by the end of the month.

Last year’s walks were reported on the Toronto and Southern Ontario Birding Forum. This year I will try something new; I will post the species totals from these walks on eBird, and highlights on Twitter, using hashtag #TBPBirdWalk. Please follow my user (sonofjon) or subscribe to the #TBPBirdWalk hashtag to get a daily update. Of course, if I find anything unusual, I will report on the regular channels as well.

Edit: A history of updates is available here.

The route of the walk (see image below) is a mile long and takes roughly 30-60 minutes to walk, depending on bird availability. It includes four hot spots where song birds tend to aggregate (red crosses).

The marked route starts and ends on Dundas Street West, and passes by four hot spot areas (red crosses) where song birds tend to aggregate.

If you are birding in the park, please consider reporting you sightings; Either to me directly, on the Toronto and Southern Ontario Birding Forum, or on Twitter (please tag your post #TBPBirdWalk).