Big thrill today, with the sighting of a raptor hunting in Humber Bay Park East. This lovely red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) wasn’t very skittish, and allowed me to get quite close, as you can see from the photo. While I did keep very still and quiet while I watched him, he seemed quite unconcerned as he […]
At last! Even though it sometimes seemed like it would never come, March has finally arrived. And in like a lamb, too. The sun was out, the sparrows were chirping, the swans were fighting and the ducks were doing their silly-looking mating rituals. I was even lucky enough to hear two cardinals calling to each […]
It’s a mystery to me. Why do gulls stand always facing in the same direction? Are they picking up subtle environmental cues? Is there one leader — a sort of alpha gull — that picks the direction in which to stand, and the rest all follow suit? Or do they all just like to feel […]
Some crazy weather we’re having here in the Big Smoke. Melting. Freezing. Ice breakup in the bay. Freezing again. Last night, snow. Then rain. Temperatures expected to moderate this week. Doesn’t seem to phase our local feathered friends, especially the mallards. They continue to stand around in the parking lot, barely moving when a car […]
Penny and Tycho, our beloved swan pair, returned to their home at Ashbridge’s Bay over the weekend. They had been gone for weeks, put off, no doubt, by the lack of access to their preferred food source, subaquatic vegetation. With the Coatsworth Cut completely frozen over, and the inner bay around the yacht club the […]
