Another Holy Sh** Moment in the East End Adventures of Kelly and Sara

Canada Day dawned clear and cold in Toronto - sunny but only 14 degrees. We had decided finally (after living here for almost 8 years) to take a birding walk in Taylor Creek Park; there is an entrance to it just across from our subway station, about a 15-minute walk from our house. We packed our Peterson, binoculars, camera and water and headed out at 8:30 a.m. I told Sara I was sorry we were kind of late leaving (back in the day, in WV, the bird bus would leave at about 7 a.m.), and she said, "Well, we're not going to see anything anyway."


We descended the stairs across from the subway station and were in a park. There was a paved path surrounded by trees and wetlands.


It was another Holy Sh** moment - kind of like when we finally walked down to the Beach after living in this neighbourhood half a year and were surprised to find that it actually was A Beach! That time we wondered why we had waited 6 months to check out the beach; this time we wondered why we had waited almost 8 years to check out Taylor Creek Park. Just a few feet from the steps down from the road, we heard all sorts of bird song and spotted red-winged blackbirds, a cardinal, a song sparrow, and some red-breasted nuthatches.

Song sparrow.

One of the greatest things about Toronto is that, although it's a big city, it has maintained a lot of green space. It's not just that the City has planted trees in front of people's houses (alas, our City-owned Norway maple has been condemned, but the City will plant a tulip tree for us in the fall), but there are lots of parks - High Park is the big one, but there are little "parkettes" all over the city, corner lots with trees, flowers and a couple of benches that add some green space in the middle of the city. The coolest parks are the ones that are somehow off the beaten path - they follow ravines and creeks through the middle of the city, and it's easy to miss their existence altogether. This ravine is full of plants to sustain birds.

Chokecherry (I think)


Dogwood


Sumac

From the road, you can't see Taylor Creek Park except for a sign that tells you it's down there. Local people know about it - there were lots of cyclists, dog-walkers, and just people going for a stroll, even before 9 a.m. on a holiday.


We saw the birds listed above, plus cedar waxwings, hairy woodpeckers, American goldfinches (here all in one tree):


... downy woodpeckers, chickadees, American crows, red-tailed hawk, brown-headed cowbirds, mallard ducks (and, of course, the ubiquitous robins, gulls, and pigeons) and some beautiful butterflies, dragonflies, and a fox.

Eastern Comma


Red Admiral

We had printed off a little map of the trail and I had noticed that Stan Wadlow Park was just off the trail. Stan Wadlow Park is where East York (before Toronto's amalgamation, "Canada's only borough," and where I have worked for 17 years) holds its annual Canada Day celebrations, and one of my library colleagues was working a booth there, so I thought we'd just pop in and say hello. We climbed the stairs out of the park ...


... and suddenly were in another world - there at the top of the stairs was a midway with rides, games, popcorn, etc.


Beyond that were the tents with the booths. We arrived just before the Canada Day parade did, and in the space of 15 minutes the place was crawling with people in red shirts, Canadian flags stuck in their hats. These folks had Canadian flag cat-in-the-hat hats, and seemed very fond of emergency personnel.



EMS had brought along an old ambulance, which had an amazing resemblance to a hearse.


Not to mention a gorgeous hood ornament. We added trumpeter swan to the day's list.


We said hello to Siu Vun and Ivanka at the library booth and then started in on the food. An order of fries, followed by sauasage (for Sara) and peameal (for Kelly) on a bun and a mega fresh-squeezed lemonade (the lemonator), topped off with custard cones.


Children had similar things on their minds. Nothing like gathering around a jury-rigged electrical unit for a picnic, is there? Good thing EMS was just a pogo (aka corndog) away.





Amazing day. A trail we were too stupid to explore before now (we'll certainly go back again soon, and we'll go further) and a fair that we weren't expecting.