Herons of Toronto

Great blue, green, and black crowned night herons frequent most of Toronto's larger parks and often appear in unexpected places where minimal water features attract them for a possible meal of frogs, snakes and fish.

Great Blue Heron

 

Got a fish!

A social bird, the heron

Green Heron

Great Egret

Unsuccessful stab

Black-crowned night heron

Looks like a "treed penguin"

Northern Mockingbird (A winter visitor/resident)

This northern mockingbird appeared on New Year's Day and stayed in our yard for the months of January, February and March eating suet and several varieties of berries around the neighbourhood. Other than the occasional call (a sharp kissing noise) the bird was relatively quiet. Perching on fences, posts and clotheslines during daytime, it appeared to spend the nights in dense evergreens and shrubbery. Very people tolerant.

Mockingbird nestlings

A first for our backyard birdfeeders!

So often unseen.

Chickadees and Nuthatches

                                    Always willing to take offerings

                                    Almost comical and fearless

                                    Decisions__Decisions      

                                    Black oil sunflower seed is a favourite

                                
                                    Red-breasted nuthatch

                                    White-breasted nuthatch

                                    Raw hulled sunflower is a favourite too

                                    Peanuts will do occasionally

                                    Expecting a handout
                                  

Woodpeckers of Toronto

Woodpeckers rely upon home and land owners saving trees that have reached the end of their lives. Dead and dying trees and cut-off stumps hold a real smorgasbord for hungry woodpeckers who have daily stop-offs to fill up on grubs and other insects. Placing suet cakes in trees and shrubs in your yard will also attract them, allowing you to get closeup views of their secretive lives. Anyone who has heard the chilling calls of the pileated woodpecker when it is close by never forgets it .

                                                           Female Downie

                                                         male downie                      

                                                            Male Downie

female hairy

male hairy

                                                                   

                                                      Male Pileated

                                           Typical Pileated evidence

                

                                      A fleeting silouette

     Other times, very co-operative

                                                 Yellow-Shafted Flicker                  

     

yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

Red Bellied Woodpecker                   

               

A new home?

   Flicker Take-off

downie on suet