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Toronto Wildlife
- Thread starter Northern Light
- Start date
TwinHuey
Active Member
Backyard ravine
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f5.6 1/3200 ISO 4000
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f5.6 1/3200 ISO 4000
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TwinHuey
Active Member
Backyard
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f2.8 1/800 ISO 1000
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f2.8 1/800 ISO 1000
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SubHuman
Active Member
Big Bird eats Alvin
Instead of in the water catching fish, it's chipmunk season for Great Blue Herons in High Park and you might see them on the grass slowly stalking the little rodents. I had to watch for half an hour but finally saw this thing nab one.
It took it to a nearby small pond and spent a minute or two repeatedly dunking the doomed but still very much alive and frantically squirming chipmunk until it ran out of energy, then swallowed it whole.
( Not mine, but here's a link to a YouTube video of a similar occurrence, and another one -- the chipmunk in this one may be biting at the heron's bill. )
Also various smaller and more difficult to photograph birds like kinglets, thrushes, warblers, nuthatches, 'new world' sparrows/juncos, and woodpeckers.
Not wildlife, but annual "Hawk Watch".
Instead of in the water catching fish, it's chipmunk season for Great Blue Herons in High Park and you might see them on the grass slowly stalking the little rodents. I had to watch for half an hour but finally saw this thing nab one.
It took it to a nearby small pond and spent a minute or two repeatedly dunking the doomed but still very much alive and frantically squirming chipmunk until it ran out of energy, then swallowed it whole.
( Not mine, but here's a link to a YouTube video of a similar occurrence, and another one -- the chipmunk in this one may be biting at the heron's bill. )
Also various smaller and more difficult to photograph birds like kinglets, thrushes, warblers, nuthatches, 'new world' sparrows/juncos, and woodpeckers.
Not wildlife, but annual "Hawk Watch".
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lenaitch
Senior Member
I did not know that. I guess food is food.
A year or so ago I saw a Bald Eagle hassling a couple of crows over a dead raccoon. I always assumed Eagles were fishers but learned that they will also eat carrion. It was very late winter so I guess there wasn't a lot of open water yet.
TwinHuey
Active Member
More from my backyard. Wild Kingdom 
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f3.5 1/1600 ISO 2000
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f3.5 1/1600 ISO 2000
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TwinHuey
Active Member
Using a leaf blower in my backyard where it overlooks a natural ravine, something caught my eye.
I was surprised that it didn't shy away as I approached and actually walked towards me.
It passed by very close (my phone has a 28mm wide angle lens, so it is closer than it appears in the video). Wow!
I was surprised that it didn't shy away as I approached and actually walked towards me.
It passed by very close (my phone has a 28mm wide angle lens, so it is closer than it appears in the video). Wow!
TwinHuey
Active Member
For those who may be curious
Nikon D600 - Nikkor 70-200 f2.8
200mm f8 1/400 ISO 2500
TwinHuey
Active Member
Apparently my backyard is a good place to relax after a busy morning hunting chipmunks. 
Back to work
Back to work
SubHuman
Active Member
Instead of getting rid of the House Sparrows in the old Purple Martin house, it looks like a new one has been put on the east side of Grenadier Pond, presumably with the entrances to be unblocked in the spring.
Northern Light
Superstar
Some good news is now public; Toronto has its first nesting pair of Bald Eagles in decades.
Image Source: https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_leg..._(2).png?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=1130px:*
Story link:
While the info will probably get out, eventually, if you happen to know where the nest is, please don't post that info here.
We want to let the would-be parents settle in; and not get too harassed by interested gawkers.
Image Source: https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_leg..._(2).png?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=1130px:*
Story link:
While the info will probably get out, eventually, if you happen to know where the nest is, please don't post that info here.
We want to let the would-be parents settle in; and not get too harassed by interested gawkers.
lenaitch
Senior Member
Good news. Since they have been returning to province I'm actually a little surprised it took this long. There is a nesting family not far from us, near an active town dock and they don't seemed to be all fazed by human activity.
SubHuman
Active Member
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Bald-Eagle
That's good. Any time I can see a bird nest, my immediate thought is that it won't last very long. If I can tell it's there, so can all the potential predators like raccoons, squirrels, cats, blue jays, crows, etc. (or house sparrows and house wrens that peck other birds' eggs just because they're aggressively territorial, technically not predators).
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SubHuman
Active Member
If the fake owls at Keele and Dundas are intended to scare away pigeons, it's not working.
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lenaitch
Senior Member
Ha. At various times we had a fake owl and a hawk in the loft of our barn; neither had absolutely any effect.