Welcome to the Creek

The last couple years I've been exploring an area not too far from our home; and in the last year Angie has taken an interest along with me (blame it on working opposite shifts). It's a great, undiscovered spot and hopefully remains that way. Honestly I think it will because the surroundings to this location aren't very desirable. The thought of it being a good birding spot probably wouldn't cross the minds of many. The roads have heavy traffic all day long. There are warehouses, production facilities and trucking companies every where you look.

But where there is water, and green space, there is life. As you can see in these photos, there's a wide variety of life in this area.

A Great Blue Heron hides out along the shore of the creek.

Red-tailed Hawks watch the open fields for prey.

A DeKay's Brown Snake suns itself along the path.

A Black and Yellow Garden Spider waits for her lunch amidst the golden rod.

A juvenile Turkey Vulture has a time out in a barren tree one fall morning.

Being observed by Coyote atop the hills is not uncommon at all.

The deer are well aware of the canine predators. One day we watched this group high tail it away from a pair in the area.

I've seen mink on a number of occasions.

A tiny Toad enjoys the sun.

An American Dagger Moth Caterpillar strolling through the green.

Dragonflies can zip by your head at times.

Sometimes those aren't Dragonflies though and you have to get a better look. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird perched atop a tree.

Eastern Kingbirds can be seen all through the summer. Adult Kingbird feeding young.

Baltimore Orioles.

Even Spotted Sandpipers which was a surprise to me.

American Kestrels nest somewhere nearby. We were blessed to see a family of them on more than one occasion. Here is the adult male.

Bank Swallows also nest in the vicinity (along with so many other species).

This introduction to the area was a tad overkill but you get the idea, it's definitely a nice spot.

Angie and I spend many Sunday mornings there going for walks, when the trails aren't iced up. We've been keeping a species list and are at 67 bird species. That's awesome for an unassuming stretch of green space.

I've always thought it would be a great location for a few nest boxes. Then when we saw over 12 Eastern Bluebirds in the area last fall, that really got me thinking about putting a couple boxes in.

I purchased 4 boxes from one of the guys through the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society. I applied roof shingles, and metal predator guard rings to the entry holes.

I pounded a couple t-posts into the ground before everything froze up late last year. I decided to wait until we were pretty much done with winter before returning and installing 2 nest boxes.

We visited the area on March 31st. It certainly was not a nice Spring stroll.

I would like to get the other 2 boxes set up. I hope to "find" some t-posts soon.

Of course, like so many other areas I walk, the remnants of good ideas still stand, just forgotten. Two of three old nest boxes remain much further down the path. Personally I would not have set them up there, right along the bottom of a hillside with northern exposure. I plan on giving them a good look over, once the snow and ice is gone.

Much like how I set some boxes up in an area of Lambton last Spring, this new location will be an experimentation. It's comical to some how I am just throwing nest boxes up in public areas. This is now 4 areas I monitor in Toronto's west end. I assure you this is it for me. Only Area One has double digit numbers of boxes to look after, and thankfully I now have help. Every location has had Bluebirds, and 2 areas had nesting Bluebirds in the past, which is my "goal" nesting bird; but as you know I won't shun any Tree Swallows.

I'm glad that most respect what I am doing, along with the fact that I don't publicize where any of these nest boxes are exactly. It's not selfish. It's for the birds.

Will you follow me along with this new nest box trail? And the others of course. I'm hoping for my best year yet since I started monitoring.