Early this morning, I took The Partners out for some doggy social time at Jack Darling Park. After they tired themselves out goofing around with new friends, I dropped them off at home, picked up my camera and walked over to Sam Smith Park to see what there was to see.

It was a somewhat hazy morning with no wind and mild temperature.

There were quite a few birders out, including one guy dressed up in camo gear, hauling around some heavy duty glass and a monopod. With the warm temperatures there were also lots of people out with their dogs, and as usual, many of them were running around off-leash, which drives the birders crazy. I understand wanting a nice place to let the dogs run free, but Sam Smith is not a leash free park. The leash free area by the filtration plant is very sad indeed, but when I want let The Partners run around off-leash I go to the Etobicoke Creek leash-free area, where they can swim, or alternatively the wonderful Jack Darling dog park.

There were quite a few robins at Sam Smith today.

I saw a mockingbird and some kinglets again, but was unable to get a good photo of either today. The highlight for me was seeing lots of cedar waxwings around.

There is a cherry tree in the park which is still holding lots of fruit and the waxwings were having a good feed. However, I saw some of these birds in other areas of the park today as well.

One thing which disappointed me today was the amount of trash in the park.

Aside from the bits and pieces of unidentifiable plastic to be found on some of the beaches, the predominant litter is Tim Horton’s cups and beer cans.

This really makes me angry. It is so disrespectful to the environment and other park users to leave this trash around.

There is still some Witch Hazel blooming in the park, providing a welcome hit of colour on this grey day. 

I enjoy walking in the park this time of year. Gone is the lush beauty of summer, but there is still plenty to see. It seems each day is different.