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.

The 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 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.

Northern Cardinals’ birdsong signals the beginning of spring. In May of 2020, not surprisingly, a new world record was set when 50,000 people from 175 countries submitted 120,000 checklists in one 24-hour period. Probably because we had more time on our hands and birds were coming closer to lockdown-quiet urban areas.

For the spring 2022 count, Global Big Day is Saturday, May, 14. You don’t need to be an experienced birder to participate. The app can help you identify whatever birds you see out your window that day.

But before and after May 14, there are three great spots in the GTA to practice your bird finding skills: Tommy Thompson Park, High Park and Colonel Samuel Smith Park.

Tommy Thompson Park is made from the concrete, dredged sand and dirt from port-related construction from the 1970s and ‘80s. It’s now considered one of the best birdwatching spots in the city, particularly for owls, waterfowl and shorebirds. This 250-hectare site on the Leslie Street Spit offers spectacular waterfront views and easy walks. There’s free parking at the entrance (no pets allowed).

Opened to the public almost 150 years ago, High Park is a yearround birdwatching paradise. Several species of hawks, some of which nest in the park, can be seen here in all seasons. The park once clocked an all time high of 260 different bird species. A favourite place for migrating birds, High Park has long been a Toronto birdwatcher favourite and spring is the most anticipated of the birdwatching seasons as Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and American Robins return.

Fifteen minutes south-west of High Park, Colonel Samuel Smith Park stretches along a wooded shoreline in the Kipling and Lakeshore area. Home to Toronto’s first outdoor skating trail, this almost-80-hectare waterfront park offers a lush, biodiverse environment for birds and wildlife. In the summer, free birdwatching walks are perfect for those new to the sport. Home to more than 100 species of birds, Colonel Samuel Smith Park is considered an eBird counting hotspot.

Whether or not you participate in Global Big Day this year, you can still cheer for the songbirds that migrate by the stars at night and the tiny hummingbirds that migrate on their own (even the young), and return to the same spot, even the same feeder, year after year.

On the first warm days of late February, listen for the Northern Cardinals as they begin to sing. Pack yourself a thermos of coffee and a protein bar and head out for your first urban birdwatching adventure. Yes, there’s an app. No, you don’t have to wear a Tilley hat. Binoculars a bonus.

“One of the rewards of birdwatching is the brief escape it affords from our ancient and compelling need to make Nature useful.” Graeme Gibson, The Bedside Book of Birds (Penguin Random House, 2021)