Petticoat Creek - Winter wren & friends

[Shortsighted]

 
 
 A few recent reports of Winter wren have appeared on eBird, as at Sam Smith and Ashbridges Bay but the situation around sighting this species remains precarious because of its secretive nature. Although I’ve heard a Winter wren sing, it is certainly not a given that I will hear one singing every season. So far, this spring, I’ve spotted one of these wrens in the woods next to Highland Creek, in Scarborough, and one in a wood pile at Petticoat Creek Park in Pickering. In fact, I associate this wren with woodpiles in general. I would not be adverse to renaming it a Woodpile wren, but I don’t possess that level of authority. The woods adjacent to the lower portion of Highland Creek is so rich in dead wood it might be confused with a political establishment. Some of this detritus is quite ripe and well-festooned in moss, which provides the nooks and grannies that a Winter wren prefers when searching for desirable real estate. A year ago, I even had a Winter wren appear in my backyard. One also popped out to inspect me when I was walking down the street next to the roadway, a spot where a dead tree had fallen with its branches heavily entangled into everything around it. Once again, creating that nook & cranny wonderland that the Winter wren inhabits. Whenever I spot my first Winter wren in the spring I’m reawakened to its diminutive body size, really not much beyond the profile of a brown golf ball with legs. There were also many Golden-crowned kinglets in the park and even more Brown creeper that I generally get to see. The most noticeable bird at the park was the Am. song sparrow. Almost everything that moved was a song sparrow, although I did see a couple of White-throated sparrow as well and heard them calling.











 


 

[Bird Brain]

Brown Creeper is one of my all-time favourite birds, very cute and super active!