![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/King-eider-duck-Tommy-Thompson-Park-Toronto-e1771689002550-1024x577.jpg\")
Toronto birding enthusiasts say they have spotted a king eider duck at Tommy Thompson Park this winter. HANDOUT \/ TRCA \/ John Nishikawa<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re in Toronto and looking to take in nature amid a more recent return to seasonal winter temperatures, birdwatching enthusiasts at Tommy Thompson Park say there\u2019s a rare chance to see a duck typically found in Canada\u2019s Arctic and along the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
Jack Alvo, an eight-year volunteer at Tommy Thompson Park who has been birdwatching for nearly four decades, was among those who photographed the king eider duck.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just one of the most beautiful ducks I\u2019ve ever, ever seen,\u201d he told CityNews.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most interesting reaction is when I\u2019ve shared it with people who are not birders and they just say, \u2018Wow, how can I see that bird?\u2019 And among birders \u2026 they\u2019ve been flocking down here to see this bird.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvo said he saw the king eider duck near peninsulas A and B, which he estimated to be around a four-kilometre walk from the park\u2019s northern entrance at the bottom of Leslie Street.<\/p>\n
He and others speculated this might be the duck\u2019s second winter in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an immature plumage, so it was cool. But when it showed up this year almost in adult plumage, we were just stunned,\u201d gorgeous,\u201d Alvo said.<\/p>\n
Toronto birding enthusiasts say they have spotted a king eider duck at Tommy Thompson Park this winter. HANDOUT \/ TRCA \/ John Nishikawa<\/p>\n
Shane Abernethy, the bander in charge of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)\u2019s Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station<\/a>, recently highlighted the discovery on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a very pretty, very showy duck that usually breeds up in the very, very high Arctic and they\u2019re unusual to spot here because they\u2019re an oceanic one,\u201d he told CityNews.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re officially a rarity. This is out of the expected range for them. But there\u2019s usually one or two out of tens of thousands of ducks that utilize the Great Lakes every single winter that show up somewhere on the Toronto lakefront.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly clear how the duck seen at Tommy Thompson Park ended up in Toronto, but Abernethy described how the city is in a prime location.<\/p>\n \u201cToronto is a bit of a slept-on birding destination because of the way the Great Lakes are set up, we\u2019re at the confluence of two of the four major migratory flyways in North America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little-known fact that tens of millions of migratory birds pass through and over Toronto every single year, most of which are completely unnoticed because they migrate nocturnally.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to the park itself, experts said it offers the right kind of respite for king eiders and other migrating birds thanks to ecological restoration and preservation efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cBirds don\u2019t like flying over open water, so they congregate on peninsulas and they rely very heavily on stopover habitat to build up the fat reserves they need to continue their journey. If, when birds are arriving here, they\u2019re very often running quite literally on fumes and have pushed themselves near physiological limits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s entirely possible that one or two, if they\u2019re running short on fumes \u2026 would see this very, very wide expanse of open water full of very easily forageable mussels.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic (compared to other birding locations) because it\u2019s on the lake and because it has a variety of habitats. Over the course of the years, more species of birds have been seen here than anywhere in Toronto,\u201d Alvo added.<\/p>\n While spring and fall migration periods are the peak times to see birds at Tommy Thompson, Abernethy encouraged anyone curious about the king eider duck to visit soon.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time a lot of this ice recedes, it\u2019ll probably already be preparing to, if not, have already started migrating back north to the Arctic. The breeding season starts a lot earlier than most expect, so spring migration is a mad dash where a lot of our departures are occurring in February and even March,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t