After the first brief shower this morning a flicker decided that the conditions were ripe for foraging and so it did so fervently and seemed unconcerned by my presence.

Early Shortie catches the birds! 

I don't think that there has ever been a spring, that mattered, when I didn't see at least one Hermit thrush, but I concur that seeing one in the autumn is more likely.  Moreover, seeing one late in the year tends to be a more proximal sighting, when a thrush is more preoccupied with feeding than establishing territory and those nagging breeding issues that rule the brain.  In other words, a fall thrush is more tolerant of photographers than a wary spring migrant.  This one seems to have a rather prominent eye-ring, like a Swainson's thrush but whiter, and it doesn't have the buffy lore, and the ruddy tail is an absolute giveaway.  I would like to return today for a stakeout but there is rain expected sometime this morning even though, right now, there is lots of fragmented cloud and blue sky moving in from the west that would suggest otherwise.


Someone reported and photographed a Tufted titmouse in High Park.  Imagine that!  If I suddenly encounter a TT, out of the blue, I'd have a stroke.

While sitting on a rotting log and thinking about entropy I saw a bird fly into a bush about 7 meters away from me.  I couldn't tell what it was because there were so many twigs that the bird was well-concealed.  It then flew into a tree more than twice as far away and that's when I realized that it was a thrush, not a robin, but a Hermit thrush.  I took a handheld shot of it at a high ISO (for my camera), lens wide open, and it seemed sharp enough in my viewfinder but upon cropping I discovered that it was a little soft, like my head.  Fair enough.  Still, it was a FOY bird and that makes it a treat. 



Hermit thrush FOY


A much closer Golden-crowned kinglet

Over the past couple of years, we have had a visitor along with our usual squirrels and raccoons.