// TORONTO LIVING //
How to Make Yourself Happy as a Lark BY LESLEY KENNY
Global Big Day is May 14, 2022. Three Toronto parks make excellent birdwatching spots and if you can count, you can help.
You don’ t need to be an experienced birder to participate in Global Big Day. Or any birdwatching day.
T
he birds need our help. Birds are considered an “indicator species.”
Tracking the health and number of birds is used to assess environmental conditions. Since the 1970s, across Canada and the US, the bird population is down almost three billion or about two-thirds of all adult breeding birds. Scientists consider this a staggering number. Of the four main bird migration paths in the Americas, Toronto sits at the convergence of two: the Atlantic and the Mississippi. While migrating birds get all the attention come spring, a surprising number of birds stay here for the winter, growing extra fat and feathers to help withstand the cold. The little chickadee even grows more brain mass to help it remember where to get and store its
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food. Year-round residents also include the Northern Cardinal with its cheery insistent call, the American Robin, the Blue Jay and some species of woodpeckers. One of the most common birds seen here in winter is the House Sparrow. Although sparrows are one of the more plentiful species of birds, the Henslow’s Sparrow is a rare sight now and considered endangered. So is the red-headed woodpecker, not reported in the GTA since the 1990s. Here’s where you come in. Global Big Day is an international bird count day. Using eBird, a free app to help identify birds and submit checklists, participants join groups or head out on their own to scour neighbourhoods and local parks for feathered friends. The checklists provide scientists with data to monitor and assess bird species across the world.
WWW.CHESTNUTPARK .COM // C H E S T N U T PA R K R E A L E S TAT E L I M I T ED, B R O K ER AG E // WWW.INVESTINST YLE .CA
