Feeding Frenzy by the Guild Inn: October 16, 2020

Every fall, Red-breasted Mergansers return to or pass through the Toronto area in great numbers. In 1973, observers estimated about 4,000 out in Lake Ontario by Oshawa.

There was obviously a large school of small fish out in the lake this morning. It attracted many, many Red-breasted Mergansers, Cormorants, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls and a few Loons.

Impressive!!

Other birds:

Red-tailed Hawk
American Robin
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow

Bird species list: common loon, double-crested cormorant, red-breasted merganser, herring gull, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, red-winged blackbird, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow. (16 species)

Other sights:

Clouded Sulphur Butterfly
Cabbage White Butterfly
summertime Bank Swallow colony
insect trails under now fallen bark

Today’s group:

Some botany:

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus inserta)
Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
Dog-strangling Vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum)
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)
Heart-leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)
Heart-leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)
Corn Gromwell (Stoneseed) Buglossoides arvensis
Corn Gromwell (Stoneseed) Buglossoides arvensis
Highbush-cranberry (Viburnum opulus)
Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis)
Agrimony (Agrimonia gryosepela)
Flat-topped White Aster (Doellingeria umbellata)
Zigzag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)
Calico Aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum)
Red Maple (Acer rubra)
Red Raspberry (Rubus strigosus)

NATURE POETRY

Besides the Autumn poets sing,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the Haze.             – Emily Dickinson (1830–86) 

Miles Hearn

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