Toronto Harbour, ON

My Watermark is the Toronto Harbour of Lake Ontario.

We are delighted that winters in Toronto Harbour, on Lake Ontario are marked by the arrival of small long-tailed ducks from the arctic. Unlike the mallards, which are also in the harbour in winter (and summer) and approach any humans they see on the shore for handouts, the long-tailed ducks are shy, little, round, harlequin-patterned creatures. They are seen bobbing in the distance. They flee approaching humans and are champion divers.

This year, when the long-tailed ducks arrived, we were charmed to see some of them bobbing in the harbour nearby. They were near the end of the Toronto Island airport runway. They may have been a bit disoriented, because they didn't pay much attention to us, but we could see that they were very busy. Every few minutes a noisy Porter Airlines' plane took off or landed. At the roar, the little long-tailed ducks dived instantly and appeared some time later a bit farther away in the harbour from the runway.