Every fall, Red-breasted Mergansers return to or pass through the Toronto area in great numbers. In 1973, observers estimated about 4,000 out in Lake Ontario by Oshawa.

There was obviously a large school of small fish out in the lake this morning. It attracted many, many Red-breasted Mergansers, Cormorants, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls and a few Loons.

Impressive!!

Other birds:

Bird species list: common loon, double-crested cormorant, red-breasted merganser, herring gull, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, red-winged blackbird, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow. (16 species)

Other sights:

Today’s group:

Some botany:

NATURE POETRY

Besides the Autumn poets sing,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the Haze.             – Emily Dickinson (1830–86) 

Miles Hearn