by Sean Fraser
Toronto’s 101st Christmas Bird Count took place on Sunday, December 14, 2025. Braving the cold and windy weather, 22 participants covered about 24km of paths and trails around High Park, Sunnyside Beach, and surrounding area. In all, we counted 3,102 birds of 53 species (and one hybrid). The total number of birds was typical of the recent trend, but 53 species is just one shy of the record set in 2014.
Two new species were added to the list started by Bob Yukich in 1990, both of which were flyovers at Hawk Hill. Since there was a north wind, I decided to spend some time hawk watching and saw an immature Golden Eagle – new for the sector (along with 21 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, and 1 Bald Eagle over the course of 2.5 hours)! The other new species was Horned Lark – a flock of 18 flew overhead while calling.
This year’s count produced high counts for five species since 1990:
- Rock Pigeon: 364 – 5 less than last years’ high
- Mourning Dove: 42 – higher than recent average, not as high since 45 in 2010
- Trumpeter Swan: 17 – previous high was 5 in 2014
- Red-tailed Hawk: 27 – previous high of 14 in 2021, but 21 were migrants at hawk watch
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 2 – previous high of 1, however there were lots around the city this year.
With the sustained below-freezing temperatures we’ve had, all of the ponds were frozen over (aside from the “duck party” at the very north end of Grenadier Pond). Due to this, we had low counts for most waterfowl, including Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, and Red-breasted Merganser. There were also fewer Long-tailed Ducks than expected (these are unaffected by the amount of ice since they are typically found in Lake Ontario). Gulls were also in much lower numbers (for our sector and across Toronto as well).
Three notable species were missed: no Great Black-backed Gulls or Song Sparrows, and no one was able to locate the Rusty Blackbirds that had been seen at the north end of Grenadier Pond for the preceding few weeks.
For more details see High Park Christmas Bird Count 2025 and previous years’ results (Google sheet).
The High Park count area includes High Park and vicinity. The boundaries are Parkside Drive-Keele St. on the east, Eglinton Ave. on the north, South Kingsway-Jane St. on the west, and Lake Ontario on the south. The count is coordinated through the Toronto Ornithological Club and Birds Canada.
Find a Christmas Count group near you:
- In Ontario, on Ontario Nature.
- In Canada, on Birds Canada
