Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Dr. John on April 10, 2024, 01:23:08 PM

Title: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Dr. John on April 10, 2024, 01:23:08 PM

I was visiting a friend on Lytton Blvd., just west of Avenue Rd.  Coming out of the house to my car, there was a NSWO perched on a low branch at eye-level in a small tree on someone's front lawn.  It seemed completely unconcerned with me, pooped, then flitted over another branch and seemed to meditate over choices.  It then went down to the lawn, though it didn't seem to have caught anything.  It went back up to a tree branch and then some additional people came along the sidewalk.  It became more obviously alarmed and flew up into a dense and tall spruce tree and I lost it after that.

Title: Re: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Bird Brain on April 11, 2024, 02:28:31 AM

Quote from: Dr. John on April 10, 2024, 01:23:08 PM

there was a NSWO


 pooped

I have yet to see one of these owls anywhere and have never seen any owl pooping!💩

Title: Re: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Shortsighted on April 11, 2024, 09:26:36 AM

What luck! You didn't take a photo? I mean, a photo of the owl, ... not the poop. Which reminds me, I noticed that a bird pooped on my car yesterday and I wanted to wash it off, but then forgot about it. Fortunately it's raining today, so that should help the oversight. The newly-erected fence in the back now serves as a poop deck for a reckless raccoon that navigates through the neighbourhood. A NSWO is often quite tolerant of human presence and may even possess some facial recognition, but I bet the sidewalk pedestrians that launched the owl into the blue also had a dog in tow and that detail might have broken the camel's back. Maybe you should visit your friend more often because the owl might be a regular visitor, but that approach would also make you a regular visitor and who wants to see a doctor all that often? "Am I right?" he said, rhetorically.

Title: Re: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Dr. John on April 11, 2024, 12:57:28 PM

I took a couple of grainy shots with my phone as that is all I had with me.  Not really worth sharing.

Title: Re: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Charline on April 12, 2024, 10:06:52 AM

I have never seen a SW in the wild either. Was it near a park or forested area?

Title: Re: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Dr. John on April 12, 2024, 11:03:36 AM

Not really.  Lytton is a typical residential street in the North Toronto/Lawrence Park area.  The streets are fairly wide with a fair number of trees.  There is a very small ravine area a few blocks away, but larger forested ravines are quite some distance.

Title: Re: Northern Saw-Whet Owl in North Toronto
Post by: Charline on April 12, 2024, 12:37:56 PM

Thanks, good to know!