High Park hawks, Wood Duck and butterflies

[feathered]

I watched the Red-tails at High Park spruce up their nest this afternoon with some bark they were peeling off branches. Lots of squirrels around and in the open but the hawks weren't paying them any attention. I also saw a pair of low-flying Cooper's Hawks but they were too quick for me.





The Wood Ducks were also out and about and this female was surprisingly tame.



Butterflies, too! It's almost time for the sakura trees, assuming they bloom this year.

[KPaw]

Great photos!  What part of the park did you see the hawk and those butterflies?

[feathered]

Thank you. The hawks were on the ridge north of the first duck pond and the zoo road. The Mourning Cloak was along one of the west ravine trails and the Tortoiseshell was near Colborne Lodge.

[JW Mills]

All nice shots.
Being a big fan of butterflies, I would've liked to see those pics a lot larger!

[Bluffs Birder]

Excellent shots feathered.  Your butterfly sightings are the first ones to be reported for this spring in the GTA.  I've posted them to the Ontario Butterflies website, hope you don't mind...it keeps everyone in the loop.  

Walter

[Bluffs Birder]

Hey Zed,

Click on 'em, they're much bigger on flickr.  

Walter

[Moira]

Some nice shots.  I thought it was too early for butterflies - I'm also a big fan. I really like the Wood Duck pic.

[feathered]

Thanks for the comments, everyone! Yep, just click the shots to see the larger ones.

And thanks Walter, I had no idea there was a site for that. Nice to know.

[Howieh]

Great to see the butterflies since this is the first time in years that I didn't see any mourning cloaks, comptons or eastern commas in March - looking forward to the weekend when I should see all three species in the woods across the street (weather permitting of course).

[steven rose]

Butterflies all ready Yippee great find and pictures.
Steve R

[feathered]

Thank you.