Hopefully today, at minus 10 degrees early in the morning, was the last very cold day of the season. I visited Humber Bay to see if the Red-winged Blackbirds had returned yet.
I had my first Redwing on March 4th last year. None today.
However I did find this Song Sparrow who was acting strangely.
It is likely that this bird suffered through the winter here and is not a returning migrant. Despite this, it has a beautiful new and colourful coat of feathers.
The problem is that the bird has a broken wing and, I suspect, is unable to fly. It has a tough road ahead.
Other birds:
MAILBAG
Weasel photographed riding on a woodpecker’s back – BBC News
NATURE POETRY
This forest looks the way
Nightingales sound.
Tall larches lilt and sway
Above the glittering ground:
The wild white cherry spray
Scatters radiance round. – Grace Hazard Conkling (1879-1958)
Miles Hearn
Saw (and heard) plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds in High Park on Wednesday, so hope that Spring really is nigh.
Poor song sparrow. I heard my first two red-winged blackbirds at High Park this week – one song sparrow as well. I hooe they survive the cold spell.
I saw a Red-Winged Blackbird three days ago at Col. Sam Smith Park. I go a good shot of it too.
I saw a Red-Winged Blackbird in my yard in Long Branch this morning.
The pictures are great. But I want to thank you, Miles, for the warning contained in your title! I was able to mutter “oh no” and prepare myself. Once again, I thank you for enabling this to happen (it didn’t take long–one sad, “oh no”, and I braced myself for what I knew I would see (you broke the news as gently as possible, in the way you said it, and I survived it, unlike this poor bird will).
Thank you, Miles!
And yes, this time, COVID precludes me from going there to find it, TRY to catch it, TRY to handle a frightened bird without it hurting itself further, not to mention driving it to a probably inaccessible Wildlife Centre for rehab–no car, don’t drive! (I “rescued” a dying raccoon there, for euthanasia, once. A box and a taxi.)
And I don’t expect anyone else to do it, either (in case you wondered)–anyone else besides the Wildlife people would put it down, anyway.
This is a case where nature will have to take its course. I wasn’t able to save a group of frantic ducklings, their mother nowhere in evidence, being swept away, years ago, in a raging Don River that must have swept away or injured/killed their mother, they were climbing on top of each other, trying to reach the bank–and I could do absolutely nothing to help them but leave before I had to see any more. It broke my heart, but there was nothing I could do. Sometimes one cannot.
Sorry, everyone–I didn’t mean to be so depressing, here! But I am an animal lover, and I always want to help an animal in distress, if possible–one time on one of Miles’ walks I even wanted to help a salmon (I don’t know how to put it in italics, here) going upstream, that was stuck–until Miles talked sense into me–it didn’t take long, but that was my initial impulse! Remember that one, Miles? It was Highland Creek. OK, we can all laugh, now. I certainly am!