SATURDAY'S BIRD CELEBRATION PROGRAMME - 5.30 A.M. TO 8.30 P.M.

Here is the link to participate in the bird celebration on Saturday ...

https://www.facebook.com/events/675977239637056/

5:45AM	Live Dawn Chorus at Sam Smith Park	Kelly-Sue O’Connor FOSS Committee
8:00AM	Welcome from FOSS (Friends of Sam Smith Park)	Brian Keaveney President of FOSS
8:30AM	Kid’s Activities and Craft Ideas	FOSS
9:00AM	Live Great Canandian Birdathon for Bird Canada – Toronto Ornithological Club	Justin Peter President of the Toronto Ornithological Club
10:00AM	A Coffee Primer for Birds & People	Birds & Beans
10:30 AM	Nests & Eggs	Emily Rondel Community Learning Coordinator for Toronto Regional Conservation Authority and Vice President of the Toronto Ornithological Club
11:00AM	Photography Slideshow	Nancy Barrett FOSS Committee
11:30AM	Recommended Bird Related Reading	FOSS
12:00PM	Lakeshore Grounds:  Indigenous history and the Carrying Place Trail Introduction to the Construction of the Park from Landfill Introduction to Colonel Sam Smith Park- The first settler owner of the land and for whom the park is named. Introduction to the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital on the grounds (including the power house and cricket pitch)	Nadine Finlay                                     Assistant Curator, Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre
12:30AM	FLAP- Fatal Light Awareness Program Hitting The Streets with FLAP	FLAP
1:00PM	Birds Canada Materials for Kids	Birds Canada
1:30PM	Tour of the Swallow Field	Terry Smith FOSS Committee
2:00PM	Shorebird Migration including Whimbrels	Mark Peck Technician Ornithology Department at the Royal Ontario Museum and Manager of the SHAD Gallery of Biodiversity
2:30PM	Photography Slideshow	Irene Cholewka FOSS Committee
3:00PM	Wild Ontario- Stronger, Faster, Stealthier- Ontario’s Remarkable Raptors	Kyle Horner Education Coordinator for Wild Ontario
3:30PM	All About Birds Postings-Learn about different birds in our park!	FOSS
4:00PM	Sketching Mallard Ducks Tutorial, How to Draw a Feather	Alan Li LUNA Toronto – The Leagues of Urban Nature Artists
5:00PM	Recommended Bird Related Movies and Documentaries	FOSS
5:30PM	FLAP- Fatal Light Awareness Program Canada Annual Migratory Bird Layout at The Royal Ontario Museum	FLAP
6:00PM	Toronto Bird Celebration Links	FOSS
8:15PM	Live Dusk Chorus	Kelly-Sue O’Connor FOSS Committee

SATURDAY, MAY 23RD - FRIENDS OF SAM SMITH PARK ALL DAY ONLINE AND LIVE BIRD CELEBRATION

SATURDAY, MAY 23RD AT 5:30 AM – 7 PM

Friends of Sam Smith Park All Day Bird Celebration online and live on our Facebook page!

Join us as we celebrate the birds in our park online! We will have special speakers, trivia, children’s activities to try at home, photo slideshows, a tour of our famous swallow field and more!

More info to come .....

SUMMARY: MINUTES FOSS STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING - APRIL 27TH, 2020

Summary: FOSS Steering Committee Meeting
April 27th, 2020
7:00, Via Zoom Video Conferencing

• NATURE’S SANCTUARY PHOTO EXHIBIT: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the exhibit is tentatively re-scheduled for 2021. A new date (when confirmed) will be posted on the FOSS blog and Facebook sites. Save your photos until then. 
• FACEBOOK POSTINGS OF COL. SAM PARK’S BIRD SIGHTINGS: Many FOSS Facebook followers have expressed concern about crowded conditions at Col. Sam. Many believe that posting bird sightings serves to encourage ever more visitors. Some visitors are apparently not practising “social distancing”. To alleviate such problems, FOSS encourages birders to post only their back yard counts.
• BEAVER-CUT TREES: Beavers have cut down several larger trees in Col. Sam. FOSS has learned that the city’s plans to place mesh around the trees have been tentatively delayed until fall 2020. FOSS plans to inquire if this task could be completed by volunteers before then.
• LONG BRANCH TREE FESTIVAL: Tentatively scheduled for Sunday, September 20. Check the blog for updates.
• NEW TORONTO HOLIDAY MARKET: FOSS has been asked to participate again in December 2020 (COVID-19 dependent). FOSS hopes to expand the activities on offer. Adults particularly enjoyed making Christmas “swags”. FOSS plans to make them available in 2020.
• ON-GOING CONCERNS:
• DRUG/GARBAGE/TREE PLATFORM PROBLEMS AT COL. SAM: Discarded drug paraphernalia and litter are on-going detriments in the park, particularly in the North Creek area. Visitors are asked to notify the police at 416 808-2200 for drug infractions and 311 for trash build-up. Any problems reported to 311 are greatly strengthened when accompanied with a photo.

TREE SWALLOW NEST BOX "EVICTIONS" OF HOUSE SPARROWS

You may have noticed the FOSS Tree Swallow crew tossing out nesting material from some boxes in the last week or so. As well as having kept the entrance holes covered until the swallows arrived this spring, we have also been evicting House Sparrows from boxes in order to deter them from taking over. Our efforts have produced some success ... there are more swallows than ever this year in the field.

 

House Sparrows are extremely determined and aggressive. They will kill adult swallows and nestlings in the boxes and even build their own nest on top of the dead birds!

Although the images posted here of dead swallows we have recently found are difficult to look at, they do illustrate how ruthless sparrows can be and why we need to continue with the "evictions".

House Sparrows are an "exotic", non-native, invasive species and as such are not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Nestbox monitors are allowed to remove their nests, particularly when they compete with protected birds like the Tree Swallow.