Hello to all. I just joined your Birding site yesterday because I need someone's help. We have about 12 little birds at our feeder on the upper back balcony in downtown Toronto and they look like Warblers! I am not an ornithologist or a professional birder. We just love birds is all. We are very surprised to see these little creatures here in such bitter weather. I want these little ones to survive.
Years ago, we rescued a chestnut sided warbler from a cat. It had a broken leg so we took it to our Vet who fashioned a tiny, adhesive splint on the leg joint. (Leg was litteraly dangling!) We took the bird up to Quebec for the summer as the leg healed. We caught flies etc for it and fed it freeze dried turtle food and mynah food which I made into a kind of porridge. The birds seemed OK with this, flew around the lodge and always settled back in its cage at night. He would call for food early in the morning and then be out around the lodge all day. He also caught flies etc for himself. In the Fall, we returned to Toronto, took off the splint and the leg had healed. A bumpy prominence at the joint but birdie stood straight and flew well. We released him up in the country. I hope we did right.
Reason I tell you all this is so you understand that the birds I am seeing now look a lot like our warbler. I combed some sites on GOOGLE and the closest warbler to what I am seeing is the Black poll warbler. Are we a hallucinating or are these birds being seen by some of you in Toronto?
I found a blog called Warbling in Winter about a micro climate site and warblers in early winter. We may have created such a micro climate behind our property where the high efficiency furnace vents out the side of the building as a cloud of warm vapour. There are thick yews nearby as well.
Could some of you please tell me what these birds eat? We have suet, peanut butter, all sorts of seed etc but what are they eating? Can I find them something better? Thanks for any help. Heather