Wood Duck Mother and Chick and My Favourite Field: July 2021

It was a cute scene at High Park today with a Wood Duck and chick at first seated together:

Wood Duck and chick
Wood Duck and chick

Then both decided to swim separately:

Wood Duck chick
Wood Duck
Wood Duck chick

Next the parent returned:

Wood Duck

Followed by the chick:

Wood Duck and chick
Wood Duck and chick

MYSTERY BIRD

I will identify it at the end of the post.

My favourite field is the one in the Black Oak Savannah at the northern edge of High Park.

I say my favourite though, in actual fact, my favourite field is usually the one that I am exploring at any given moment.

The High Park field today included flowering New Jersey Tea, Butterfly Weed, two species of Tick-trefoil, Bush-honeysuckle and Day-lily.

New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americana)
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americana)
Beetles on New Jersey Tea
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Pointed-leaved Tick-trefoil (Desmodium glutinosum)
Pointed-leaved Tick-trefoil (Desmodium glutinosum)
Pointed-leaved Tick-trefoil (Desmodium glutinosum)
Showy Tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense)
Showy Tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense)
Bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
Bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
Orange Day-lily (Hemerocallis fulva)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)
St. John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum)
Dog-strangling Vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum)
Yellow Avens (Geum aleppicum)
Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii)
Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)
Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)
Dogbane Beetle on Dogbane
Wild-bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Wild-bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
Foxglove – Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

Sadly, this year there are very few leaves on the oak trees here.

I noticed the same thing on the Vista Trail in Rouge Park.

Here is a Toronto Star article on the subject:

Hemingway feared for High Park’s great trees | The Star

MYSTERY BIRD

This is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.

juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

NATURE POETRY

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream. – Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894)

Miles Hearn

2 thoughts on “Wood Duck Mother and Chick and My Favourite Field: July 2021

  1. Lisa Volkov

    I got the mystery bird! Not that it was a juvenile, but that it was a Cooper’s Hawk!
    I am shocked and saddened by the state of the Oak trees in High Park. Amazing that Hemingway wrote about the situation so long ago. Very informative–and profoundly discouraging.
    On the brighter side, the pictures of Wood Ducks and botany (and beetle) are stunning! The detail of colour and markings on mother and chick were a revelation. Their behaviour together (and apart) was precious!
    But to lose the Oaks–what a perfectly terrible situation.
    Thanks, Miles!

    Reply
  2. Rosemary Jeanes Antze

    Thanks, Miles! Lovely photos as usual. Gypsy moth infestation… they love oaks and other deciduous trees. We also saw similar sights on highway 7 towards Ottawa. Let’s hope the trees will recover. Word from my daughter has it that they will.

    Reply

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