Nature & Discovery.
Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Street Spit is an Important Bird Area of global significance — IBA ON-02, declared globally significant in 2001. The 500-hectare spit was built from construction landfill since the 1950s and is now a TRCA-managed accidental wilderness with colonial Ring-billed Gulls, Black-crowned Night-Herons, and Common Terns nesting alongside spring and fall passerine migration; the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station bands migrants through both windows.
The brief.
Tommy Thompson Park is open only on weekends, holidays, and weekdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. — the site is an active TRCA construction lakefill outside those hours. Cycling, walking, and birding are permitted on the open access road and trails; off-trail access into the colonial bird nesting areas is closed during the breeding season.
Spring waterbird migration runs through April–May; fall raptor and passerine migration peaks September–October. High Park's roughly 23-hectare Black Oak Savannah and Grenadier Pond (designated a Provincially Significant Wetland Complex in 2022) form the city's other principal nature-interpretation anchor; access is free and year-round, with seasonal prescribed burns in early spring.
Rouge NUP supports more than 1,700 species across the southern Toronto/Scarborough portion of the park.
4. places.
- 01
Tommy Thompson Park / Leslie Street Spit
Globally significant IBA (ON-02, 2000); ~55,000 breeding pairs of Ring-billed Gulls (about 6% of world population), Black-crowned Night-Heron and Common Tern colonies, Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station; major spring/fall passerine migration stopover.
- 02
High Park
23-ha Black Oak Savannah; Grenadier Pond (Provincially Significant Wetland Complex).
- 03
Humber Marshes
Major Lake Ontario river-mouth marsh and migratory waterfowl stopover at the lower Humber.
- 04
Rouge National Urban Park
261 bird species, 65 fish species; one of the most biologically diverse green spaces in Canada.
Today's read.
Cool but comfortable for layered effort · light winds · clean air.
By the book.
- 01Tommy Thompson Park is open to the public only on weekends, holidays, and weekdays 4 pm–9 pm; off-trail access into colonial bird nesting areas closed during breeding season.Source ↗
- 02High Park: stay on designated paved paths in the natural areas; the Black Oak Savannah is subject to managed prescribed burns in early spring.Source ↗
- 03Rouge National Urban Park is free and open year-round; parking lots open 7:30 am–9 pm.Source ↗