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Tell Us What You Did – January 2026
I finished 2025 with a trip to see an unusual duck. I’m not the kind of bird lover who lives for rare sightings, but I’m susceptible to hype. When a king eider duck appeared in Toronto – a bird normally found on the Atlantic coast and in the Arctic – the local Facebook groups lit up. This duck hung around for days, and lots of people had luck seeing him. After a few days I decided to try too.
I’ve lived in Canada long enough that I know how to handle a winter outing. Layered clothes are vital. Wear your warmest thermals, as you’ll be outside for a while. Wear two pairs of socks, and two pairs of gloves. Bring a hot drink in a thermos. And this particular park is right by the lake, so you want a windproof outer layer. The park has another challenge: it’s pretty boring, apart from the animals. It’s basically a long straight paved road. So bring someone to talk to, or a podcast.
The day we went was icy, so there were some delays as we penguin-waddled our way over the slippery parts. I thought we were aiming for a site about 20 minutes from the entrance – “Pen B”, the birders said online. “That’s one of the ponds, the cells, the middle one,” I thought. No, it’s peninsula B. At least 40 minutes from the entrance. We were already at the cells when I figured that out.
But we met a steady stream of birders coming the other way along the path. The cold weather meant only the enthusiasts were in the park, and the binoculars & cameras are always a giveaway. “Seen anything good?” I’d ask, and everyone told me about the king eider. Their eyes lit up when they spoke of him.
Peninsula B was much more exposed to the wind, and it was bitterly cold. My fingers went numb even through two pairs of gloves. My two companions spotted the king quickly, but he was far out in a big group of other birds. He’d dive and get blown around. So it was hard to direct me to see him; I spent time scrutinising large groups of black-and-white ducks hoping to spot a flash of grey and orange. Eventually I did! And later I found I’d even fluked a photo of him.
We left the frigid shore and warmed up somewhat amongst the trees, just by being out of the wind. Now we were part of the return birders, telling others how to spot the king eider, our eyes the sparkling ones.
A few days later there was another unusual duck report. This duck was less unusual, but also less remote: a pair of harlequin ducks in our end of the city. Buoyed by our successful king eider trip we tried to see them too, but came up blank. Still, winter here is duck-spotting season, and I need the practice. I’m no good at water birds.
SUWYS is still missing images of the common north American water birds, but this seemed like a good time to add these rarities. As well as the two images above there are a few more:
Other January changes are improvements to the checkout flow, and automation of some backend admin functions. I’m nearly done with these changes, and I’m looking forward to spending time on the poster generation algorithm. But first I still have some more work to do on the website.
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