Herons, Martins, an Egret and Raccoons: July 4 2022

It was a gorgeous morning for the first TDSB summer walk. High Park gave us a good look at some large wading birds:

Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Great Egret
Great Egret

Many years ago, the Toronto Field Naturalists erected a Purple Martin nesting house here.

Purple Martin house with resident Tree Swallow

The house is usually packed with House Sparrows or the occasional Tree Swallow but I hadn’t seen a Purple Martin here in years.

This year, martins have taken over a light pole right next to the TFN house:

Purple Martin nest
Purple Martins
Purple Martins
Purple Martin (female or juvenile)
Purple Martins
Purple Martin (female or juvenile)

The male Wood Duck is one of North America’s most beautiful creatures.

Wood Duck (male)


In summer, the males moult and begin to look like the females so it is not always easy to identify the sex of an individual. High Park is the best place in Toronto to see Wood Ducks.

Wood Duck
Wood Duck
Wood Duck
Wood Duck
Wood Duck (chick)
Wood Ducks
Wood Duck (chick)

Other birds:

Northern Flicker
Mallards
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Mallards
Common Grackles
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Mourning Dove
Red-winged Blackbird (male)

2 Raccoons:

Raccoon
Raccoon

Today’s group:

NATURE POETRY

Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light,
And she sits on a sapphire throne.   – Barry Cornwall (1787–1874)

Miles Hearn

1 thought on “Herons, Martins, an Egret and Raccoons: July 4 2022

  1. Gloria James

    Thanks for the photos. That female red winged blackbird looked like she was really sounding off! There is a beautiful blue heron living on some vacant land beside our cottage. We see him every summer. We assume he is a male because we never see any baby herons! He flies across the bay regularly.

    Reply

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