iesI've been busy lately, what with Aunt Margaret having another "spell," so this belated post might produce some groans out there, but on 30 Aug 06 I was directed to a section of Woodbine Park by the City Gardeners there(who seem to know their stuff) to a scrubby area west of the pond with the huge fountain, where indeed there was a Loggerhead Shrike in plain view ...
After an exhaustive search a few summers ago on the the Carden Alvar, which apparently has attracted great interest from those who would mine it for limestone gravel, I managed to view a smallish, stout bird being harassed by a rather excitable American Robin -- this was in silhouette -- which was surely Lanius ludovicianus. My Aunt was with me, and began her usual screeching: "Mockingbird! Mockingbird!! Mockingbird!!!," and I found myself speculating as to whether Northern Mockingbirds, with their large white wing patches and rectricies, might be Mullerian mimics of the feared shrikes. Few birds mess with these species ... and I'm sorry, D. Sibley, but the "flashing white patches to scare up arthropods" doesn't really hold water, as many species of mockers without wing patches exhibit the same behaviour when scouring short-grass and open areas for edible critters. Perhaps it's the "startle effect," but their drabber cousins get by fairly well if the literature is reliable.
But I digress. Oh, no ; she's waking up. Woodbine Park is a huge, heavily naturalized park in Toront's East End. Lakeshore to Woodbine -- there's a large restaurant on the south side of Lakeshore, and a huge parking lot. Otherwise, drive into the new condo slum on the east side of the park and try your luck.
Anecdotal information, I'm told, indicates up to four mockingbird nests this summer, and I expect some of these pugnacious avians to hold winter territories there.
I really have to go before she hits the liquor cabinet again. You have no idea.
Cheers,
NB
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by norman »
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