Robin bathing...

Photo by Barry the Birder

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Largest hummingbird and the most southerly...

 

The Southern Giant Hummingbird

(Patagona gigas) 

The giant hummingbird is widely  distributed throughout the length of the Andes on both  the east and west sides, right down to Patagonia.   The Southern Giant  Hummingbird is one of two species in the genus Patagona and the second largest hummingbird species, after is close relative the Northern Giant Hummingbird.    Both birds are 21 to 22 centimetres (8.3 -8.6 in.) in length.   The giant hummingbird is estimated at about 10,000 adults.

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BarrytheBirder 

Some of my favourite Black-capped Chickdee photos

                                                                                             All photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Some favourite blackbird photos...

                                                                                                        All photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Some of my favourite Northern Cardinal photos...

                                                                                           All photos by Barry the Birder

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BarrytheBirder

Favourite Baltimore Oriole photos...

                                                                                                   All Photos by BarrytheBirder

Female Baltimore Oriole (above and below)

Male Balimore Oriole (above and below)

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BarrytheBirder

Baltimore Orioles visit hummingbird feeders...

                                                                               Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have not arrived at their feeders yet but Goldfinches and now Baltimore Orioles have.   A pair of Baltimore Orioles both tried to feed at the two  hummingbird feeders on my friend Pat's apartment balcony in Aurora this week.   With goldfinches also already using these feeders, the hummers are going to be surprised when they do show up.

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BarrytheBirder

Common Loon passes overhead...

                                    Photo by Christian Hagenlocher - Macauley Labratory/Cornell University

My partner Pat and I were sitting on her 3rd floor balcony yesterday at Delmanor Retirement Residence in Aurora, just north of Toronto, Ontario, when we were alerted by her cell phone that one of the birds being recorded on her cell phone was a Common Loon (Gavia immer).   This was after several songbirds had already been identified.   I was surprised by this revelation.   I, like many people, am used to the unmistakable and haunting yodelling cry of loons on south-central Ontario lakes.   I had no idea they made a sound anywhere else.   I can't wait to hear the Common Loon's evocative cry on a lake somewhere and sometime later this summer.

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BarrytheBirder

Some of my favourite Osprey photos...

All photos by BarrytheBirder

OSPREY (Pandion haliaetus)

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BarrytheBirder

Finding a perfect spot for a nest...

 

                                                                           Photo by Pat Cromie

A 'Mr. Lube' sign has become a perfect spot

 for a House Sparrow to build its nest.

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BarrytheBirder

Moody Blue Robin...

  Photo by Andy Nesbitt

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BarrytheBirder

Will Trumpeter Swans nest at Arboretum pond again?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swans

The Trumpeter Swans pictured above and below  have nested on the Arboretum Pond in Aurora for the past two years.   Will 2025 see them return?

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BarrytheBirder

American Pipit (Anthus rubescens)

                                  (Photo by Mason Maron - Cornell Lab/Macauley Library)

Question: Can bird call recordings that identify bird                              species be added to life lists?

Answer:    Officially, YES.

I was recently sitting on the 3rd floor balcony of my partner Pat Cromie while she was identifying birds passing by on her cell phone.   She mentioned a few birds such a American Robin, Goldfinch, etc, etc, and then said American Pipit.   I was very surprised.   I have never seen, or identified an American Pipit in my many years of birding.

I immediately wondered if this kind of identification would allow me to add American Pipit to my 'life list'.    I have gone online and have discovered the answer is YES.

I recently sold my car and being 82 years old, I don't get around as much as I used to.   I convinced myself recently that my life list was pretty much complete.   Then along came this Pipit identification.

I have a cellphone which I don't use anymore and it doesn't record and identify birds bird species by their calls.   But now I'm wondering if I shouldn't

get a new cellphone that does record and identify bird species calls.

My current life list now sits at 428 species,  including the American Pipit.

We shall see what we shall see...or make that 'what we hear'.

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BarrytheBirder

Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived in southern Ontario...

                                                                     Photo by BarrytheBirder

Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoenicues) are one of the first birds to migrate north into southern Ontario in the spring.   As seen in one of my file photos above, taken just north of Toronto, above Lake Ontario, they will use winter/spring bird feeders to fill themselves up.   They will also forage in surrounding moist fields, orchards and parks.   Its song is a liquid, gurgling 'konk-la-reee' ending in a trill...not particularly melodious, but distinctive.

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BarrytheBirder 

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to arrive soon...

                                   

The first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the 2025 season should arrive soon here in Aurora, Ontario.   It will arrive at one of the two feeders (photo below) on the 3rd floor balcony of my close friend Pat Cromie, at the Delmanor Retirement Residence. 

The 'Ruby-throated' is the only 'hummer' that breeds east of the Mississippi River.   To reach their eastern nesting grounds each spring, many individual birds take a direct but hazardous route across the Gulf of Mexico, flying non-stop over more than 500 miles of open water.

Pictured above is Pat taking down last year's hummingbird feeders in September, in Aurora, Ontario.   During last year, at the height  of the season, 'hummers' showed up 60 to 70 times a day, staying anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes per visit.   The season last year was about 112 days.  We can hardly wait for this years arrivals.

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BarrytheBirder

Easter tradition underway...

 

                                                                Photo by BarrytheBirder

This photo is a bit of departure for me in this space, but it is about birds, albeit chickens.   This little chick was in an incubator in the  Delmanor Retirement Residence where I live in Aurora, Ontario.   Residents watched for several days leading up to easter, as the 7 eggs hatched and the chicks appeared - much to the delight of all observers.   So much joy from such a simple source.

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BarrytheBirder

Baltimore Orioles will arrive in Southern Ontario soon...

                                                                         Photos by BarrytheBirder

 Females (above and below)

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BarrytheBirder

One of my favourite Northern Harrier photos...

                                                                                            Photo by BarrytheBirder

Above is a photo of a male Northern Harrier I took many years ago.   The Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) is also known as the American Harrier, Hen Harrier and Marsh Hawk.

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BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp photos...onboard ship to Aruba!

 

                                                            MASKED BOOBY 

BROWN BOOBY

 Vancouver Island photographer Dave Kemp appears to have taken these photos while on a cruise to Aruba.

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BarrytheBirder

Local spots in King Township to find spring warblers...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Canada Warbler

East Humber River spots to see Warblers

1. Along the  north side of the East Humber River in the park on the east side of Keele Street, in King City, north of the Presbyterian Church.   Follow the trail beside  the river as far as Kingcross Drive to the north, and Norman Drive to the south.

2. In the hamlet of Laskay where the East Humber River crosses Weston Road.   A short street called Laskay Lane runs east on the north side of the river. Search each side of Laskay Lane for a shorth distance.

3. In the hamlet of King Creek on Mill Road between the 7th and 8th Concessions of King, where the East Humber River flows under the Mill Road Bridge.   Take the trail here westward into the adjoining park.

4. Another good spot is on the King/Vaughan Townline where it crosses over the East Humber River, west of Hwy. 27, south of Nobleton.

Good birding and have fun.

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BarrytheBirder