Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Leslie on April 06, 2010, 09:30:15 AM

Title: High Park, west side, yet again mid-day
Post by: Leslie on April 06, 2010, 09:30:15 AM
Approx 2:30pm Easter Monday (April 5)
Strong west wind
Grenadier Pond: the usual, mallards, Canada geese, swans (2).  Also: buffleheads (shouldn't they have moved on?), pair smaller ducks, northern shovellers, I think.
Verges: full of red-winged blackbirds.  2 swallows flying together and chittering, 1 with white rump (cliff?), 1 without (?)
Robins in the grass, red-tailed hawk flying low over the trees.
The Sharp-Eyed Offspring saw something skulking in the undergrowth like a thrush, only its tail went up.  He thought maybe a house or winter wren.
A pair of chickadees were excavating a hole in a cherry tree.  They took it in turns, one flying in from the neighbouring evergreens (where it had been foraging?) & chittering to its mate when it arrived.  Usually the mate then flew off.  The new arrival peered about (checking for predators?) & chittered before starting its own excavation work.  This teamwork worked really well until once one of the birds was having such a good time digging away that it ignored its mate when the mate came to claim a turn.  The mate had to return three times before the excavator finally got the message!  Ah, married life.