If you have ever bicycled along the Waterfront Trail, west of Etobicoke Creek, you may have noticed a number of strange wooden structures.

This area is known as The Arsenal Lands. This was the sight of a WWII small arms factory and rifle testing range. The wooden structures are sound baffles which absorbed some of the gunfire noise. I understand there were originally 30 of these baffles, of which 16 remain. Some of them are overgrown with vines and shrubs.

There is also a large concrete structure which I did not photograph today. It’s the back end of the firing range.

As I walked the trail which meanders among the baffles this morning, I watched and heard many male red-winged blackbirds which were flitting among the brush.