For decades, High Park’s Hawk Hill has been Toronto’s most sought after viewing spot for locals hoping to catch a glimpse of migratory raptors and big-winged birds of prey.
The small hill, located near The Grenadier Cafe, is notorious for all sorts of flyovers between August and November as eagles and other migratory birds travel south for the colder months.
But as regular observers explained to TorontoToday, sightings have become fewer and farther between for nearly every kind of species.
Retired high school teacher Marc Lichtenberg has been birdwatching at the site for 30 years. In fact, he purposely moved to the neighbourhood so he could enjoy all of High Park’s offerings — particularly birdwatching and monitoring.
He noted the decline in recordings became noticeable 20 years ago and has worsened since, citing climate change as a massive factor.
“Hawks typically won’t fly in the heat,” Lichtenberg said. “They need that push of cold air, and they need a tailwind coming from the north and northwest that they can float on. But they grind to a halt when you have wind in your face. It’s terrible.”
“What happened was a lot of those birds were blown over to the other side of Ontario, and they just dispersed across the province instead of being pinched into here,” he added.
TorontoToday stopped by Hawk Hill on an October morning when northwest winds were active. Lichtenberg noted this kind of favourable viewing condition only occurs once a week — or less — at this time of year.
“We’re against the lake up here, so when you get a northwest wind, the birds are being forced into a kind of a funnel,” he explained. “A lot of them don’t go over the lake, so it’s really advantageous for us to catch them here. It’s like a pinch point.”
Lichtenberg was hopeful the day would bring some bird spotting success, despite sightings of species like the broad-winged hawk, rough-legged hawk and sparrowhawk being down this year.
He recalled a special occurrence 24 years ago when a massive wave of 10,000 broad-winged hawks flew over Hawk Hill on the same day, an event that seems unimaginable in 2024.
“There’s always a fascination with the broad-winged flight,” he said. “But this year, there’s basically been none — just a handful. They were blown inland and just dispersed.”
Because of September’s high temperatures, the retired teacher and his fellow bird observers believe this year’s migratory season has been pushed back, meaning more raptors, like golden eagles, are expected to fly over in October and November.
While hawk sightings have dipped, bald eagles have been soaring over High Park in record numbers. Hawk Hill’s single-day record of 33 unique bald eagle sightings was broken this fall.
“They’re doing quite well, thankfully,” he said.
During his time as a teacher, Lichtenberg would often take his students to Hawk Hill for lessons. It’s been seven years since he’s been in the classroom, but his passion for viewing raptors and providing education to fellow observers hasn’t waned.
“There’s something exciting and inexplicable about migration; there’s an energy to it,” he said. “We’re in a big city, there’s millions of people, and these migratory patterns are still here. They don’t care what we’re doing down here.”
“There’s a fascination with flight too,” he added. “I think there’s a part of us that wants to be a bird and be up there with them.”
Lichtenberg shares this passion with raptor spotting enthusiast Raspberry Yow-Fairs, who has been volunteering her time by counting and logging avian species for the past three years.
Each evening, the count gets entered in a database called Hawk Migration Association of North America. Hawk Hill is one of 120 raptor watching sites across North and Central America.
“It’s a challenge,” she said. “The days have been pretty slow so far, but the excitement of finally finding something makes it worth it.”
Always eager to join in on the fun is married couple Glenn and Marian Pincombe, who have been coming to the site for 30 years while ticking off as many must-see birds from their list as they can.
They told TorontoToday the experience is made even more special when they get to witness Lichtenberg and Yow-Fairs in action — whether the counters are identifying raptors from incredible distances or recording the sightings in the log quickly when birds arrive in bunches.
“They are literally two of the best in Toronto,” Marian said. “She picks them up very quickly and identifies them almost immediately. We can add what they identify to our list with confidence — it’s like having a fact checker. It’s very impressive.”