First Breeding Record of Canvasback for Toronto

On 18 July 1999, a female Canvasback (Aythya valisneria) with three downy young was found on Toronto's Leslie Street Spit.This observation establishes the first breeding record for Toronto and constitutes one of only a handful of records of confirmed breeding in Ontario (Coady 2000).It was not until 1983 that the Canvasback was officially added to the list of Ontario breeding species, when a brood was photographed at Luther Marsh by Liz Yerex (James 1984).Prior to that time, there had been reports of breeding at Lake St. Clair going back to 1897, but no material evidence (Peck and James 1987).There had also been a number of instances of summering at Luther Marsh, and brood sightings there in 1965 and 1981 (Coady 2000)).During the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas period (1981 to 1985), breeding was also confirmed at Berens Lake, north of Red Lake in northwestern Ontario, in 1984 (Cadman et al. 1987).Since the Canvasback is primarily a prairie species, one would not expect there to be breeding records east of Ontario, but the Quebec Atlas mentions two possible occurrences (Tardif and Gagnon 1996).The first was at Lake Chicobi, Abitibi, in 1973, and the second from Lac du Milieu in Ashuapmushuan Wildlife Reserve in late summer of 1980.Both involved sightings of females with broods but lack substantiating documentation, hence breeding has not been officially confirmed for Quebec.In the Toronto area, the Canvasback historically has been very rare in summer, while in winter only very small numbers (typically <10) are present along the Toronto waterfront.A century ago, it was described as a "rare winter resident" (Fleming 1906).Summering records are few and far between in the Greater Toronto Area, and during the period 1984 to 1996, there were only five such instances recorded in the Toronto Ornithological Club's database.These involved: a single male at Canington Sewage Lagoons (S.L.), Durham, on 3 June 1990 (Brian Henshaw); a male at the Holland River mouth, Cook's Bay, York, on 21 June 1991 (Alvaro Jaramillo); a male at Cranberry Marsh, Durham, from 1 to 11 July 1992 (many observers); a male at Nonquon S.L., Durham, from 9 June to 8 September 1996 (many observers); and a report of three (two females, one male) at Beaverton S.L.,

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