The wildlife is used to being fed at Cherry Hill Gate in Hamilton’s Royal Botanical Gardens.
I suspect that these signs have just been posted:
As a result, several species have developed techniques to draw attention to themselves and, hopefully, receive a few grains of seed from passersby who have not noticed or choose to disregard the signs.
Blue Jays and Cardinals do it by sheer beauty. They land with a flourish somewhere nearby and assume flattering positions.
Downy Woodpeckers come so close that you could touch them and then stare at you:
Nuthatches try to capture your attention by assuming interesting positions:
Chickadees fly directly towards you every few minutes and veer out of the way at the last moment:
Red-winged Blackbirds fly to a perch just behind you and try to deafen you with high-pitched screams.
In the Toronto area, squirrels will sometimes beg for food:
Chipmunks, on the other hand, race away as soon as they see you. Not here however.
They have a system of walking directly in front of you so that you almost fall over trying to avoid stepping on them. It certainly assures that you will notice them.
Scenes from the nature trail:
Birds that I was able to photograph:
NATURE POETRY
May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams. – Sara Coleridge (1802–52)
Miles Hearn