Toronto Wildlife in the News

It's been some time since our last post. While it would be fun to go out and look at wildlife every day forever and ever, sadly sometimes other aspects of life intrude.

But it's worth mentioning that yours truly was featured (sort of) in a good article at Inside Toronto, part of a whole series on wildlife in Toronto. The article leads with my chance coyote meeting a few years back, and so I thought I'd throw up a couple of new heretofore unseen images from that day. Not sure why I didn't put these two shots up the first time.

The article also reveals the secret location of Area 51, something I vowed I'd never reveal. I did reveal it though, to the first reporter who asked! Not because I'm that desperate for attention, but because in the last couple of years the city, in its infinite wisdom, has 'improved' this park area and made it more accessible with a much bigger path and a connecting route to other parklands. The result is more people and less wildlife. It's nowhere near the treasure trove it used to be so there's no longer any reason to keep its location a secret. In the past you would have had to waterboard me to get me to tell.

Click to enlarge. The first image especially will show up much better.

Winter is Coming

Okay, I only say that Winter is Coming because I'm a Game of Thrones fan, however Fall really is coming, and, depending on your definition, it's already here.

Fall means bird migration, and migration periods are the best times to see and find birds in Toronto. Of course, you should have no trouble recognizing a Mallard if you see one, they're the most common type of duck in North America. While they do migrate they can be found in these parts all year around. Like the coyote and other very adaptable species, Mallards do very well in areas of heavy human settlement.

This shot of a Mallard male provides another example of our adage that it's better to have a good image of something common than a bad shot of something rare. One of my favorite shots. Click to enlarge.

Merlin

Loyal Toronto Wildlife fans may remember this guy.

At the time, I identified this bird as a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, however it turns out...I'm wrong. Shocking I know. Even more shocking, it's not the first time I've made a raptor ID error. They can be very hard to tell apart.

This is, in fact, a Merlin. This is good news for two reasons, because a) Merlins are rarer than Sharp-Shins, and b) they're falcons, a Toronto Wildlife first.

Huge hat tip and thanks to reader Sean Hollis for pointing this out. And perhaps I don't say it enough, but I'm always happy to hear from anyone who feels I've misidentified something.

The Butterfly Effect

It's a term from chaos theory, and in Toronto 'the butterfly effect' means you will never ever see any butterflies in the areas the city has created to attract butterflies. Where can you see them? Well, really, they could show up in most any park or backyard. And with their big colourful wings, you can get some great images without any specialized equipment, which isn't true of other insects.

Of course, you could go to the Toronto Zoo or the Humber Nurseries Butterfly Conservatory to get some shots, but that would be cheating. Realize that any images taken at those spots do not count as wildlife photography.
 

 

Pictured here, in order:  a Wood Satyr, a Female Cabbage White, a Skipper, a shy Acadian Hairstreak, and a pretty lame image of a Monarch. I apologize for that, however Monarchs are kind of like Canada Geese in that they're so common they get taken for granted, so when you need a good shot of one you never have it.

And be sure to check here and here if you think butterflies are always more attractive than their moth cousins.

Click, as we say, to enlarge.

 

The Short French Tyrant Bird

What's the rarest creature ever featured at Toronto Wildlife? Hm...difficult to say. Probably none of the wildllife in our index is actually endangered, so the question is maybe, what specimen are you least likely to see?

Possibly - though it is open to debate - this is your winner.

This is the Bonaparte's Gull. They aren't really named after Napolean, but rather his nephew, ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. They only have a black head during breeding season, while the rest of the year they look like most any other seagull at a quick glance. They are reasonably plentiful around the city, however you just don't catch them in black head configuration too often. At least I don't, and I was only able to snap a couple of quick shots of this customer before he was gone.

Be aware that these birds can be mistaken for the Common Tern, and vice versa.

Taken at Cranberry Marsh. Click to enlarge.

Baltimore Orioles

Another longtime quest of Toronto Wildlife has been to get a shot of a Baltimore Oriole and a (Toronto) Blue Jay side by side. Sadly, they don't seem to hang out that much, if ever. Spring is a good time to find these birds, because they love blossoms, apple blossoms especially. And, if you're wondering, the baseball team is named after the birds, not the other way around. The birds got the Baltimore moniker because their colours match Lord Baltimore's coat-of-arms.

In most previous years, I would also have thrown in some kind of dis of the baseball Orioles, except as of today they're leading the AL East. Grrr.

Click to enlarge.

Hawkeye

As we've briefly touched on before, identifying hawks in this part of the world can be tricky. This is especially true when trying to distinguish a Cooper's Hawk from a Sharp-shinned Hawk. In this case, the highly-credentialed Toronto Wildlife bird identification brain trust believes this to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Click to get a better look for yourself. A Red-tailed Hawk would only have the dark bars farther down on its belly.

There was also a debate as to whether this shot should be published at all since it was taken at the Kortright Conservation Centre in Woodbridge. But, really, if we've already decided that Whitby is in Toronto, then Woodbridge qualifies. If you've never been there, the Kortright is a great place to visit, though you should be prepared for lots of walking and you do have to pay for parking.

FERAL!!!

Somehow the title of this post doesn't come off as scary as I thought it would, nevertheless there really are feral animals all over Toronto. That is, formerly domesticated animals which have become wild once again.

The feral kitty above is part of a large colony of feral cats in Scarborough Bluffs Park. Like this intent hunter, they often seem to believe they've got a shot at catching one of the nearby Canada Geese. I've never seen them succeed, but they're alive so they much catch something.

At various times and places around the city I've also seen wild budgies and parakeets (which probably will not last long), rabbits that are so friendly they are almost certainly released animals, and such rare critters as a Eurasian Widgeon. These sometimes stray into North America from wild populations in Europe, however I would guess it's more likely that such a bird escaped from a private collection or sanctuary.

And more than once I've seen the Muscovy Duck below. These ducks are a fully-domesticated breed so this guy must have escaped from a farm where, obviously, he received several years of classical dance training and maybe one of tap.

Click to enlarge.

To Kill a Killdeer

Or, Killing Me Softly With Its Song...the last few days I've been tormented by a killdeer that's constantly hanging out in the parking lot next door. If you've never heard one of these birds, they make a very insistent and annoying sound which vaguely sounds like 'killdeer.' It's not uncommon to hear them at night, however it's no fun when you've got the windows open on a warm evening and are forced to hear the 'killdeering' for hours on end. I haven't actually seen my tormentor yet, so I've posted this picture from a couple of years back of a killdeer watching the sunrise. (Click to enlarge.)

It's also worth noting that it's very early for killdeers to be in Toronto.

And you might want to read about my encounter with a more friendly killdeer.

If A Wood Duck Could Duck Wood

I always try to write something informative or mildly entertaining. I'll let this Wood Duck speak for himself.

Like our other recent postees, Wood Ducks do show up in the early spring, and I've heard tales of them hanging out at various spots in the city all year round. You can see another Wood Duck here.

Click to enlarge.

March of the Sandpipers

These are Sandpipers, but it's an open question as to what type of Sandpipers they are. They may be Least Sandpipers or Semipalmated Sandpipers, and just so you can be assured I'm not an idiot, the morning I saw these guys there was an Ontario government biologist on the scene and he didn't know which type they were either. So there.

Being arctic birds, these guys are also potential early arrivals in the spring. And, as you can see, if you spot one Sandpiper on the shores of Lake Ontario, you can be certain some others won't be far behind.

Click to enlarge.

Lesser Scaup

How often have Lesser Scaup come up in conversation while you've been shooting the breeze with fellow Torontonians? Probably never. So you might be shocked to find these are among the most common ducks in North America. There is a Greater Scaup too, which can mostly be distinguished by its more rounded head.

If you've been paying close attention to our recent mini-series (and I hope you have because there's going to be a test) the theme has been animals you can see in the pre-spring and early spring. Fitting in with this pattern your Lesser Scaup are early spring arrivers because they dwell in the arctic come summer. They can handle the chill in March and April.

This male in breeding plumage was shot at Humber Bay Park East which has ample parking and also provides close-in viewing of birds in the spring and fall. Like all birding areas around the city though, it can be hit and miss.

Click to enlarge.

MMA Mink

I shot this last summer and originally rejected it for inclusion on Toronto Wildlife. After looking at it again I decided that, blurry or no, it captures a moment. So here it is.

This was taken on the Leslie Street Spit where I was shooting something non-wildlife related along the shoreline. A mink came by and I barely paid attention because I didn't have the right equipment for wildlife, and mink are commonplace. I paid a little more attention when, moments later, another mink showed up. Almost instantly, there was a fight.

And I mean a fight.

By this point I was really paying attention. Think: fur ball, noise and lightning movement. Whether the fight was territorial or mating-related I don't know. But very quickly it went from being ten metres away from me to being right at my feet. I don't mean this as a euphemism for close, I mean they were right at my feet. With visions of rabies shots dancing in my head I began to retreat while simultaneously grabbing my tripod, removing a complex filter apparatus from my camera and resetting my focus from manual to auto. Because it all did happen so fast and because I really didn't have wildlife-appropriate gear, the above is the best shot I got.

Click to enlarge because I left this image extra big.

Uncommon Merganser

Okay, it's the Common Merganser, but the lame joke is hard to pass up since these guys aren't that easy to come by. When I do see them they are almost invariably flying by low and fast over the water, so I personally dub them Cruise Missile Ducks. Common Merganser's are among the first birds to return to the Toronto area in the spring and while - as I've said - they're not exactly plentiful, they aren't endangered. They are more common than their cousins, the Hooded Mergansers.

Speaking of an early spring, it's been a very mild winter which may mean the birdies will be back early this year. Over the next few days and weeks we'll be easing out of our standard winter hiatus to get you primed for the new season.

And if you haven't noticed, Blogger has updated things so that now if you click on an image you get a nice display interface to view things at a larger size. Try it out.

Gobble, Gobble!

I took these a few years back and intended to post them on Canadian Thanksgiving a couple of times. The only trouble was I couldn't find them! (Don't ask about my filing system.) But I've found them now and I figure that American Thanksgiving is just as good since they invented the holiday anyway.

In the past I've often seen a family of wild turkeys lurking around Cranberry Marsh in Whitby. That's where this turkey was, hanging out and feeding under a canopy of trees. I can't say for sure if this little group is still in the area. I can confirm however that turkeys do fly, even if only for short distances. Don't have a shot of that though.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our US readers!

Big Brother is Watching (Sort of)

Raptors - that is, hawks, eagles and vultures - are well into their fall migration now. And, as is the case every fall, someone is watching them: the Greater Toronto Hawk Watch. These are experienced bird-watching types who monitor and count the various species as they make their way to parts south. Check out their site to understand their mission and to find the areas where the count takes place. You can even watch the count in progress most days throughout the fall.

Of course telling you about the hawk watch was just a cheap excuse to show this Red-tailed hawk. Let's face it, you can never put up too many pictures of hawks. (Click to enlarge.)

What Katy Did...And Why

Prepare to be confused. This is a Katydid. In the UK Katydids are known as bush-crickets, and in North America they are also known as long-horned grasshoppers, but in point of fact they are neither crickets nor grasshoppers. They're Katydids. The very long antennae give them away.

And why did this Katy do? She (or he) killed another bug. You can see bits of the evidence if you click on these images to enlarge them.

Shot in gigantic Rouge Park, which is great for finding bugs, but almost too good, because there are usually a lot of mosquitoes and blackflies there too.

Department of Oversight

Okay, here's a stupid riddle: What common type of local wildlife has never been covered by Toronto Wildlife yet appears on every single page of Toronto Wildlife?

Give up?

Look up. Way up. It's the Canada Goose!


And that's right, calling them Canadian Geese is wrong. If I'm out with my camera I run into them so often I rarely take a picture and when I do I usually delete it. But since they are on our banner and since we've covered squirrels, pigeons and seagulls it's really pretty silly that we've ignored them so long. In our limited defense I'll point out we have previously shown an image of a cute little baby Canada Goose so that probably makes it all okay.
There are actually seven subspecies. Interestingly, the Canada Goose can be found in Northern Europe and as far away as Siberia, China and Japan. They didn't arrive in those places in the bilge of a ship either, those regions are all part of their natural habitat so I guess in a way we're lucky they're named after us. Or maybe no one else wanted to be associated with a bird that produces so much poop.


If you go out to the Cranberry Marsh area in Whitby during the fall you can see massive waves of Canada Geese taking off each morning around sunrise. This is at the very farthest cusp of Toronto Wildlife territory but it's really quite a sight so it's well worth the trip.


One final note: as common as they are, Canada Geese are tricky to photograph because of the combination of black and white feathers. Your best bet is to shoot them out of direct sunlight. In the harsh light of day it's almost impossible to expose these guys successfully.

Bug-A-Day Mini-Marathon Day Eight!

In Spanish "Ocho Dias" means a week, so yes it was a week ago today that the Bug-A-Day Mini-Marathon began. This will probably be it for now. Or will it...?

Either way, here are some Japanese Beetles. They really are from Japan, and in fact the first Japanese Beetle did not make an appearance in Canada until 1939. They're all over the place now, another insect that I usually see everywhere I look (when I'm looking for bugs that is). They seem quite immune from any insecticides.

One odd note: they aren't easy to get in focus, at least for me. I'm not quite sure why this should be so. My only guess is that it's because they're reflective but really I just don't know.

Click on these two guys to get a better view.


The rest of the Mini-Marathon to date:

Day One...

Day Two...

Day Three...

Day Four...

Day Five...

Day Six...

Day Seven....

Bug-A-Day Seven

As we enter Day Seven of our Mini-Marathon, I was going to say something like, 'Hey, you never knew there were this many bugs in Toronto,' but realistically you probably did, so never mind.

Here we have two Four-Lined Plant Bugs, and one more Four-Lined Plant Bug for good measure. Not really a clever name, but at least sensible.


The rest of the Mini-Marathon:

Day One...

Day Two...

Day Three...

Day Four...

Day Five...

Day Six....