Good evening folks. Today I met up with Margarete Liubavicius and together we birded the Leslie Street Spit. Just before we got to The Spit we spotted a Short-eared Owl hunting behind the allotment gardens at the foot of Leslie Street (just outside the gate at the start of The Spit). A good start to a nice day out there.
On and beside The Spit we found 3 Northern Harriers, a Northern Flicker, 7 Lesser Scaup, all 3 Mergansers and on the lake beside the East Side of the Baselands we came up with 2 Horned Grebes and a Common Loon. Also seen by others was a Northern Shrike and an Iceland Gull. We also spotted 10 Eastern Cottontails and there are plenty of tracks of same as well as tracks of Mice/Voles. Not a large number of birds out there but a pleasant outing. A note not about The Spit.- yesterday, Friday, Feb.16th as I was travelling north through Thornhill on my bus I spotted approx. 50 American Crows on the Thornhill Golf Course lose to Yonge St. I also have been seeing twos and threes of Crows in Richmond Hill in the last 3 days. A sign ?? Directions:- LESLIE STREET SPIT (TOMMY THOMPSON PARK) IN TORONTO To get to "The Spit" from Queen & Yonge Sts. Take the Queen Street Car #501 east to Leslie St. and walk south (about 2 km) or as far as you can go on Leslie St. at Unwin Ave. and you will see the gate and signage. You may also catch the Jones Bus #83 at the Donlands Subway Station or transfer to it at Queen St. and Jones Ave. and take it to Leslie St. And Commissioner St. (on Saturday only). By automobile you may drive to Lakeshore Blvd and Leslie St. then south to The Spit. You can park either on Leslie St. or Unwin Ave. You may also park in the parking lot inside the main gate after 9 am. Be sure to observe the parking lot closing time as if you are not out by then your auto will be locked in until the following day. — THE PARKING LOT AND ALL GATES WILL BE LOCKED AT 4:30PM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:- The official hours for The Spit are 9 am to 4:30 pm (weekends and holidays only of course) but the unofficial hours are sunup to sundown. To date no one has questioned any birder, jogger, cyclist, etc. about the use of The Spit from sunup to sundown. The spit is only open on the weekends and on holidays, at other times you will not be able to access the area. This area is extensive, 7 km to the tip, but be prepared to walk more than that. The Spit is only open on the weekends and holidays because they are still building it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net
