This week has been full of wet days and we had another this morning with 10 degrees and constant drizzle.

I was hoping for my first oriole, grosbeak or vireo of the spring. No luck though I did hear a Spotted Sandpiper by the Humber River.

Species list: double-crested cormorant, Canada goose, mallard, spotted sandpiper, mourning dove, belted kingfisher, hairy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, northern flicker, tree swallow, rough-winged swallow, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, winter wren, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, house sparrow, red-winged blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, northern cardinal,  American goldfinch, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow.  (27 species)

Some of the birds looked drenched including this female Red-bellied Woodpecker:

Other birds that I was able to photograph:

Red Squirrel

Some park scenes:

The Wild Ginger is in flower here:

Wild-ginger was used by Native Americans as a seasoning. It has similar aromatic properties to true ginger but should not be used as a substitute because it contains an unknown concentration of carcinogen aristolochic acid which can create tumours in humans.

Other botany:

This morning’s group:

NATURE POETRY

IN the wondrous star-sown night,
In the first sweet warmth of spring,
I lie awake and listen
To hear the glad earth sing.
I hear the brook in the wood
Murmuring, as it goes,
The song of the happy journey
Only the wise heart knows.
I hear the trilling note
Of the tree-frog under the hill,
And the clear and watery treble
Of his brother, silvery shrill.
And then I wander away
Through the mighty forest of Sleep,
To follow the fairy music
To the shore of an endless deep. 
B

William Bliss Carman (1861 – 1929)

Miles Hearn