Leslie Street Spit/Tommy Thompson Park

Leslie Street Spit/Tommy Thompson Park

Leslie Street Spit Tommy Thompson Park Important Bird Area Conservation Plan Written for the Leslie Street Spit IBA Stakeholders by William G. Wilson, Edward D. Cheskey, and the IBA Steering Committee July 2001 Table of Contents Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................................................................3 Citation..........................................................................................................................................................................3 1.0 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................4 2.0 The Important Bird Area Program...........................................................................................................................5 3.0 IBA Site Information...............................................................................................................................................6 3.1 Location and Description....................................................................................................................................6 4.0 IBA Species Information.......................................................................................................................................10 4.1 Why Leslie Street Spit Is an Important Bird Area ............................................................................................10 4.2 History of the Waterbird Colonies....................................................................................................................10 4.2.1 Factors determining species distribution and abundance.....................................................................11 4.2.1.1 New habitat through land creation..................................................................................................12 4.2.1.2 Erosion of land by wave action.......................................................................................................12 4.2.1.3 Competition between birds and plants for the newly created land..................................................12 4.2.1.4 Nest site competition between bird species ....................................................................................14 4.2.1.5 Disturbance by the ongoing construction activities ........................................................................14 4.2.1.6 Gull control operations by the TRCA .............................................................................................14 4.2.1.7 Tern conservation by the TRCA .....................................................................................................14 4.2.1.8 Depredations by avian and mammalian predators ..........................................................................14 4.2.1.9 Disturbance by people and their pets ..............................................................................................14 4.2.2 Common Tern......................................................................................................................................16 4.2.2.1 Reduction of human disturbance.......................................................................................................17 4.2.2.2 Creation of new nesting habitat.........................................................................................................17 4.2.3 Ring-billed Gull...................................................................................................................................17 4.2.4 Herring Gull.........................................................................................................................................19 4.2.5 Caspian Tern........................................................................................................................................19 4.2.6 Black-crowned Night-Heron.....................................................................................................................20 4.2.7 Great Black-backed Gull...........................................................................................................................21 4.2.8 Double-crested Cormorant........................................................................................................................21 4.3 IBA Species Information ..................................................................................................................................22 4.3.1 Black-crowned Night-Heron.....................................................................................................................22 4.3.1.1. Distribution, population trends, and abundance ...............................................................................22 4.3.1.2 Natural history...................................................................................................................................22 4.3.2 Ring-billed Gull ........................................................................................................................................23 4.3.2.1 Distribution, population trends and abundance .................................................................................23 4.3.2.2 Natural history...................................................................................................................................24 4.3.3 Double-crested Cormorant.......................................................................................................................25 4.3.3.1 Distribution, population trends and abundance .................................................................................25 4.3.3.2 Natural history..................................................................................................................................26 4.3.4 Common Tern......................................................................................................................................27 4.3.4.1 Significance of Common Tern as an IBA species.............................................................................27 4.3.4.2 Distribution, population trends, and abundance ...............................................................................27 4.3.4.3 Natural history..................................................................................................................................28 5.0 Other Elements of High Conservation Value ........................................................................................................29 6.0 Land Ownership and Use ......................................................................................................................................30 6.1 Land Ownership................................................................................................................................................30 6.2 Land Use...........................................................................................................................................................32 7.0 Conservation Management Achieved at the IBA Site ...........................................................................................33 7.1 Bird Management .............................................................................................................................................33 7.2 Habitat Management.........................................................................................................................................33 8.0 Stakeholder Activity ..........................................................................................................................................35 8.1 Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada ............................................................................................35 8.2 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.............................................................................................................35 8.3 City of Toronto .................................................................................................................................................35 8.4 Toronto and Region Conservation Authority....................................................................................................36 1 8.5 Toronto Port Authority .....................................................................................................................................36 8.6 Friends of the Spit.............................................................................................................................................36 8.7 Toronto Ornithological Club ............................................................................................................................36 8.8 Toronto Field Naturalists..................................................................................................................................36 8.9 Aquatic Park Sailing Club ................................................................................................................................36 9.0 Opportunities .........................................................................................................................................................37 10.0 Threats.................................................................................................................................................................38

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    57 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us