On Saturday, February 9th at noon, members of the Richmond Hill Naturalists, will join fellow citizens in a march to David Dunlap Observatory. With signs and singing and a symbolic march to the Dome, the group will ask the University to cancel or postpone the sale of the Observatory lands so that the Town of Richmond Hill, York Region, and the Ontario and Federal governments can work together to preserve the Observatory and the property upon which it sits.

In November 2007, the University of Toronto put the 190-acre Dunlap property, including the observatory and administration buildings, up for sale through a bidding process. The University is accepting bids until February 15th, 2008. Due to the high price of land in Richmond Hill and the speed of the sale, there has not been enough time for the Town and other levels of government to work together to purchase the property for the public.

In addition to being an internationally respected research facility, the DDO is home to one of Canada’s longest-running public astronomy education programs. For over 70 years, thousands of students have been inspired by DDO lectures and views of planets and stars with the 74-inch telescope. More than 2000 people (mostly current and former Richmond Hill residents) have registered memories and comments on the DDO through an Online Petition.

The February 9th rally is an opportunity for all Richmond Hill residents to show their support for the continued operation and preservation of the David Dunlap Observatory and Park.

Date: Saturday February 9, 2008
Time: Noon
Meeting place: Hillsview Drive and Bayview Avenue

Please come and make your voice heard. Help save the Observatory and create a vibrant new park for Richmond Hill. If you would like to help with this rally, please join the Save David Dunlap Observatory Facebook group.

If you have time to distribute a some rally flyers, you can download a printable PDF rally flyer.

Directions to the David Dunlap Observatory

On Monday, January 28 (7:30 pm), the Town of Richmond Hill Council will hear a presentation from Joanne Leung, Manager of Planning Urban Design, and Andre Scheinman, Heritage Preservation Consultant, regarding the David Dunlap Observatory Properties (Agenda Item No. 8.0). Residents and supporters are urged to attend this meeting where additional deputations will be made calling for the Town to seek the preservation of the entire David property. See meeting agenda. Richmond Hill Town offices are located at 225 East Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill. See Map for directions.

By Rod Potter

In 1970, the Richmond Hill Naturalists counted 41 species of birds on the David Dunlap Observatory grounds. That report was compiled by Dr. Helen S. Hogg, one of the DDO’s pioneering astronomers and a founding member of the Richmond Hill Naturalists. In addition to the “usual suspects”, Helen’s list included: “red-breasted nuthatches, brown creepers, winter wrens, brown thrashers, golden- and ruby-crowned kinglets, palm warblers, myrtle warblers [a.k.a yellow-rumped warbler] and Lincoln sparrows”.

Thirty seven years later, Richmond Hill residents are still retracing the paths used by Helen Hogg and other astronomers at the DDO. These days, the forests are a little taller, a little more dense. The once-cultivated fields are now wild with sumac, overgrown orchards and thick bushes that provide excellent cover and food for birds and other wildlife. The habitat has changed and so has the bird population.

Since October 2007, the RH Naturalists have made an effort to keep track of all birds sighted within this 190-acre urban wilderness. As of October 2010, 74 bird species have been found at the DDO. We’ve had spectacular encounters with barred owls (see photo and video below) and Coopers hawks and have seen Red-tails soaring over the forests and meadows on virtually every walk. Last Thanksgiving, we found many late fall migrants passing through and we hope to find these and other species on their return trip this spring.

Although the woods quieted down over winter, large flocks of robins and cedar waxwings were found, along with downy and hairy woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, juncos and other winter residents. In mid-winter, a Northern Shrike and Bohemian Waxwings were reported.

A flock of 20 Pine Grosbeaks was also seen regularly from December 2007 through January 2008.  The presence of these birds on the DDO grounds is a pleasant, but not unexpected surprise. Ron Pittaway’s 2007-2008 Winter Finch Forecast called for an influx of northern finches as a result of last year’s seed crop failure (due to drought) in Ontario’s Boreal forest.

We are fortunate to have southern islands of green such as the David Dunlap Observatory and Park that provide a safe haven during migration and a handy food supply when birds are forced to stray out of their usual range.

Bird species found on David Dunlap Observatory grounds:

1. Blue Jay
2. American Crow
3. Northern Cardinal
4. European Starling
5. Common Grackle
6. Mourning Dove
7. Brown Creeper
8. Cooper’s hawk
9. Sharp-shinned hawk
10. Red-tailed hawk
11. Merlin
12. Barred owl
13. Great Horned Owl (seen in field west of the Director’s house)
14. Northern Shrike (OntBirds report)
15. Northern Flicker
16. Hairy woodpecker
17. Downy woodpecker
18. Eastern Towhee
19. American robin
20. Hermit thrush
21. Wood thrush
22. American Goldfinch
23. House finch
24. Purple finch
25. White-winged Crossbill (Reported on Dec 2008 Christmas Bird Count and Jan 1, 2009)
26. Black Capped Chickadee
27. Ruby-crowned kinglet
28. Golden-crowned kinglet
29. Red-breasted nuthatch
30. White-breasted nuthatch
31. House sparrow
32. Song sparrow
33. Tree sparrow
34. White-crowned sparrow
35. White-throated sparrow
36. Dark-eyed Junco
37. Yellow-rumped warbler
38. Cedar waxwing
39. Bohemian waxwing (reported in OntBirds)
40. Gray Catbird
41. Eastern Phoebe
42. Pine Grosbeak
43. Ring Billed Gull (flyover)
44. Turkey Vulture (flyover)
45. Canada Goose (flyover)
46. Mallard Duck (flyovers and landing in deep puddles)
47. Wood Duck (seen in German Mill Creek from the Observatory Lane bridge)
48. Great Blue Heron (flyover)
49. Northern Mockingbird
50. House Wren (Oct 3, 2010)
51. Blue-headed Vireo (Oct 3, 2010)

Spring 2008 (not including year-round residents [Robin, Bluejay, etc] already listed above)

1. Red-winged Blackbird (early spring)
2. American Redstart (May 14, 2008)
3. Baltimore Oriole (May 14, 2008)
4. Black and white warbler (May 4, 2008)
5. Blackburnian warbler (May 5, 2008)
6. Black-throated green warbler (May 4, 2008)
7. Chestnut-sided warbler (May 14, 2008)
8. Empidonax (flycatcher) (May 14, 2008)
9. Indigo Bunting (May 14, 2008)
10. Ovenbird (May 14, 2008)
11. Palm warbler (May 4, 2008)
12. Pine warbler (May 4, 2008)
13. Barn swallow (May 4, 2008)
14. Field sparrow (May 4, 2008)
15. Pileated woodpecker (Seen in Eastern woods on April 6, 2008)
16. Veery (May 14, 2008)
17. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (f) (May 17, 2008)
18. Great Crested Flycatcher (June 15, 2008)
19. Eastern Kingbird (June 15, 2008)
20. Tree Swallow (June 15, 2008)
21. Eastern Bluebird (June 15, 2008)
22. Chipping Sparrow (June 15, 2008)
23. Chimney Swift (August 10, 2008)

Good birding! Please report all DDO sightings to [email protected]

Birds of David Dunlap Observatory slideshow

As reported by the Liberal, The Richmond Hill Naturalists will be out in force on January 16th at noon in front of the Legislature Building at Queen’s Park. The Save the DDO Rally is being organized by friends of David Dunlap Observatory, area residents and their children, RHN members and representatives from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. The rally will be highlighted by the presentation of petitions to the government of Ontario and the University of Toronto. Please come and make your voice heard. Help save the Observatory and create a vibrant new park for Richmond Hill.

Map