Public Walk – Morning Birdlife at Hanlan’s Point

Date: May 30, 2025 at 8:30
Meeting Location: Jack Layton Ferry Terminal by 8:15 am

Join us on Friday, May 30th at 8:30 AM for a 4 hr, 6 km circular birds, insects, and plants walk on mostly unpaved but even surfaces, fairly flat. No stairs.

Leader: Ellen Schwartzel and David Creelman

Walk Location: Hanlan’s Point, Toronto Island

Meeting Point: Meet at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal by 8:15 am in time to catch the 8:30 am ferry to Hanlan’s Point. Best to purchase your ferry ticket online beforehand. Click here to see ferry schedules.

Scroll down to the “Summer schedule” for Hanlan’s Point. (If you are late, the next ferry to Hanlan’s is not until 9:15 am)

Getting There: Take the subway to Union Station. From there, take the streetcar to the Ferry Docks or walk south on Bay street (~12 minute walk)

Walk Details: A 4 hr, 6 km circular birds, insects, and plants walk on mostly unpaved but even surfaces, fairly flat. No stairs.

Accessibility: Muddy or sandy sections possible

Washrooms: Along the way.

Walk description: Come see how many migratory birds depend on Toronto Islands as a rest and refueling stop, and how many species also breed there. A few years ago, a lucky group of TFNers saw as many as 40 bird species on a May 10th outing to Hanlan’s point – two bobolinks were special stars.

This will be a roughly 4-hour circular walk covering about 6 km, over mostly unpaved, even and fairly flat surfaces. Our route will likely include a trail around the perimeter of the Island airport. There are options to drop out early and return by Hanlan’s Point ferry at 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm.

Our guides (knowledgeable birders among them) will share advice on how to identify birds, and will describe behaviours and adaptations of certain species. We will also touch on the remarkable plant diversity of the Island. Help us grow public awareness and support for the regionally rare habitats of Hanlan’s Point as the Toronto Island Master Plan shifts into the implementation phase.

Washrooms available at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and on the Island at Hanlan’s Point.

What to Bring: binoculars, lunch, water, sturdy footwear; dress in layers; insect repellent, sun hat; a bird guide if you have one

Other information: Wildlife of the Toronto Islands iNaturalist project

Natural Heritage Background Report: Toronto Island Park Master Plan: Feb. 5, 2021, prepared for City of Toronto

This walk is only one of more than 140 that TFN will host this year alone! TFN members enjoy a complete listing of walks in our newsletter. Not a member? Learn more about the benefits of membership now!

Please tag any photos you take on this walk with #TFNWalk so that we can all live vicariously through your lens.

Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.