A conure, a guest at Bird Sitting Toronto — 📷 A conure, at home with us

Bird boarding for Pickering bird owners

Pickering is the closest of the Durham towns to our Mississauga home: Liverpool Road to the 401, then about 50 km west, roughly 46 minutes without traffic. If you are flying out of Pearson, dropping your bird off first adds about 14 minutes.

Book a stay

Pickering to our door

Liverpool Road
Highway 401

46 min · 57.7 km

Bird vets nearest Pickering

From central Pickering, the nearest clinic on our list is about 15 km away: Amherst Veterinary Hospital on Eglinton Avenue East, open seven days a week. Its website is mostly about cats and dogs, so phone 416-261-3322 and ask for the vet who sees birds. Boardwalk Animal Hospital, near the Beaches, is about 26 km.

Only In Pickering

From The Bay To The Pickering Lands

Pickering runs north from Lake Ontario, and its wild birds change as you go. At the shore, Frenchman's Bay is good for dabbling and diving ducks until freeze-up, then becomes the best local spot for wintering gulls. Inland, Altona Forest shelters migratory songbirds and hawks. Further north lie the Pickering Lands, which Canada said on January 27, 2025 will not become an airport.

1843a canal cut through the sandbar opened Frenchman's Bay to the lake
53 haof Altona Forest, linked to the Rouge-Duffins Wildlife Corridor
247bird species in Rouge National Urban Park, set to grow onto the Pickering Lands

While your own bird is on holiday with us in Mississauga, Pickering's wild flock carries on.

Sources: Pickering Naturalists: Birding · Parks Canada: Pickering Lands · City of Pickering: Conservation Areas

Bird-Friendly Places Near Pickering

When A Bird Needs Help

City animal shelterPickering Animal Services
Pickering's own shelter and lost-and-found for stray and found pets.
1688 Highway 7, Brougham
SPCAOntario SPCA Durham Region Animal Centre
Adoption, surrender and a pet food bank for Pickering families.

Where To See Wild Birds

ForestAltona Forest
An environmentally significant forest the city lists for watching migratory songbirds.
Altona Road
Lakeside parkPetticoat Creek Conservation Park
Bluff views over the lake from the Waterfront Trail, and red-tailed hawks overhead.
1100 Whites Rd South
National urban parkRouge National Urban Park
Parks Canada's park spans Toronto, Markham, Pickering and Uxbridge.