Praise Again for the Doris McCarthy Trail in Scarborough

Both my husband and I love the Doris McCarthy Trail and I think we both kind of herald it as our favourite haunt out here, since living in Scarborough as of Oct 2013.

I recall the first time we started down the gravel incline path between a forested valley and an incline that backs onto the properties above. A large black dog came bounding down the hill and I freaked and ran back up to leave. I did give in and brave the path a few months later, though I still sometimes have a hard time handling the dogs off leash there since I have a very hard to control fear of dogs, mainly larger dogs or very aggressive barking to warn type dogs. I do know a friend who was severely bit by her own dog which had a later discovered  brain tumour, and I was accosted by a large dog in a play park as a small kid in the 1970s though not bit, so maybe that is why, I don't know, I'm just terrified of most dogs. But, for the most part, it's ok, most people do walk them there on leash or the dogs off leash are very elderly.

We went in July around the 21st, quite early, the latest trek there. Lots of bird activity. But, what we really noticed is that the thistles appear to be quite abundant this Summer. The smaller Canadian thistle was bloomed in many spots but the larger Scottish thistles were still green, just starting.

There are often shore birds near the area west of where the trail comes down to, as you near the end of the path just before it meets an inlet of Lake Ontario. Sometimes too, we see the Great Blue Heron. Another bird we often see is the Red Tailed Hawk, usually being chased by black birds, flying around at the top of the bluffs. You can sometimes hear her sorrowful sounding call, then I'll look up and over, and there she is, gliding or circling cliff top or from tree to tree.

The Kingfisher was quite active this visit, there were 2, and we were trying to figure out if they had a nest, it kind of seemed they may. But, we weren't sure.

Monarchs were around, as well as Eastern Commas and a brown butterfly kind of like a Pinto horse, with white patches, of which I forget the name (edit: I now know it is the Silver Spotted Skipper), and Painted Lady butterflies.

The Doris McCarthy Trail is sort of like a small mini version of Tommy Thompson in that it does have a lot of clean fill, bricks, metal and cement and marble pieces that have been dumped there and litter the shoreline in a sort of cool industrial scattered way, melding with the natural growth and wildness. It also is very good exercise for the heart on the walk back up the moderate incline of the path when you head back to your car.

I know, I sound boring right? But, trust me, it's not boring down there. You have to just go, and allow yourself to just anticipate that you will not know what amazing gem of something you probably will see each visit, but that you can't ever know what that will be until you see it.

Ok soooo, EDIT! lol! I just found out, that the demolished "house" that we always see, and that I have photographed a few times, even used to make a funny postcard from, is apparently Canadian comedian Billy Van's old abandoned cottage that began falling over the edge of the eroding Bluffs lol! Keep scrolling through to near the end of the pics here, you'll see it.

Billy Van's demolished cottage

The Mighty Monarch Butterfly Mating

Every year, I recall the season when we are most likely to see a lot of butterflies. Generally it's end of Aug, very early Sept. For the Monarchs, it is the beginning of their migration time. If you ever get a chance to, it's very interesting to read about the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly, it's just amazing and interesting! These seemingly delicate creatures, the 4th generation being the one that makes the trip to Mexico.

Doris McCarthy Trail, in Scarborough (now the City of Toronto), is one of our favourite places to go. It has the combination of varying terrain of a light forest and treed area as well as the lake shore, some inclines for exercise, it's not super long, it has ideal conditions for birds and butterflies, there are the bluffs, it's never super crowded with people like Bluffers Park yet has the same landmarks and aspects. It's definitely worth checking out, especially in Spring and late Summer. Spring, it attracts a lot of migratory birds, it has humming birds pretty much the whole season into Fall, and it has raptors and cliff swallows, as well as Cedar Waxwings. The wild flowers are always abundant, especially in the meadow like area at the west end when you reach the end of the terrain and hit the breaker wall of rock and an inlet of Lake Ontario. Lots of butterflies fuel up there and can be seen in the hundreds in late Aug. Lots of Swallow Tails and Monarchs. We even got the pleasure of seeing a Cedar Waxwing in a nest, in mid July.


Yesterday, as soon as we came off the trail down, at the lake shore area, we spotted pairs of coupled Monarchs floating through the sky and landing on trees and plants. We must have timed our trek right, to hit the mating for the 4th generation of the life cycle, the one that is then born and makes the journey to Mexico.

The landscape is so gorgeous and wild, so full of living creatures and beautiful plant life, but death too sometimes. A couple weeks ago, we ran into the pretty much disintegrated carcass of a white tailed deer. Patches of hair everywhere, ribs and bones scattered around. This trip down, there was little sign of it left, just a patch or 2 of its course hair and a couple small bones.