Monday, December 21st, 2020.

Coyote.

Bracket fungus.

Cardinal.

An interesting bird feeder.

Junco.

White-breasted nuthatch.

Turkey-tail fungus.

Woodpecker.

Woodpecker.

Winter wren. Still can't get a good crisp shot.

Sunday, December 20th, 2020.
Went for a walk through Wychwood. Not that many birds around.

Crow.

Robin.

Sparrow.

Sunday, December 13th, 2020.
Went to Evergreen Brickworks. A cold day, just below zero.

Alder seeds.

American Goldfinch, with conjunctivitis?

Freshly chewed beaver sticks.

Black-capped chickadee.

Cooper's Hawk.

Diamond willow fungus.

Purple finch.

Redpoll.

Downy woodpecker.

Hairy woodpecker.

Thursday, December 10th, 2020.


Sadly Lavender Creek has been abandoned by the city.

Monday, December 7th, 2020.

Sunday, December 6th, 2020.

Female cardinal.

Male cardinal.

Black-cap chickadee.

Gold finch. The gold finch is sitting on an alder tree, and eating cones. The cones from an alder tree have anti-bacterial properties, and some people add them to their aquarium for that purpose.

Jelly fungus.

Red-tailed hawk.

Red-tailed hawk.

Winter wren.

Downy woodpecker.

Hairy woodpecker.

Sunday, November 29th, 2020.

Buffleheads. 32 to 40 cm long, one of the smallest ducks.

Cardinal. Body length of 21–23 cm.

Gadwall. 46 to 56 cm long.

Kite Surfer.

Flock of long-tailed ducks. 44 to 60 cm.

Red-breasted merganser. 51 to 62 cm long.

Red-necked Grebe.40 to 50 cm long.

Red osier dogwood.

Liveaboard during winter.

Downy woodpecker. 14 to 18 cm long.

Saturday, November 28th, 2020.
Walked around Prospect today.

Chickadee.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Downy Woodpecker.

Dryad's Saddle Mushroom.

A nice flowering dogwood tree.

Red-breasted nuthatch.

White-breasted nuthatch.

Woodpecker holes in a red pine. Many are filled with little seeds, a cache for when it gets snowy.

Red-tailed hawk. Top speed is about 190km/h, in a dive.

Dawn Redwood tree.

Robin in a Ginkgo tree.

Friday, November 27, 2020.

Saw a Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) in the backyard. Canadensis means from Canada, in Latin.

Saturday, November 22, 2020.


Chickadee.



Birch Polypore. Otzi (the Neolitihic Iceman, from 5,000 years ago, and discovered in 1991) was found with both Birch Polypore and Tinder Polypore. These were used as fire starter. When pounded into felt, could be used to transport fire. (City of Toronto Biodiversity Series)

Tinder Polypore.

Turkey Tail.

Tamarak Tree. "A second, and this time a general, drawback was the difficulty of getting Canadian-built vessels rated A1 at Lloyd's. 'Lloyd's,' as every one knows, is the central controlling body for most of the marine insurance of the world, and its headquarters are in London. There were very few foreign 'Lloyd's' then, and no colonial; so it was a serious matter when the English Lloyd's looked askance at anything not built of oak. Canada tried her own oak; but it was outclassed by the more slowly growing and sounder English oak. Canada then fell back on tamarac, or 'hackmatac,' as builders called it. This was much more buoyant than oak, and consequently freighted to advantage. But it was a soft wood, and Lloyd's was slow to rate it at its proper worth. Tamarac hulls went sound for twenty years, and sometimes forty, especially when hardwood treenails were used--a treenail being a bolt that did the service of a nail in woodwork or a rivet in steel plating. At first Canadian vessels were only rated Al for seven years, as compared with twelve for those built of English oak. A year was added for hardwood treenails, and another for 'salting on the stocks.'" All Afloat- A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways by William Wood.

Friday, November 20th, 2020.


Red Bellied Woodpecker.

Nannyberry.

Mute Swan.

Mallard.

Mallard.

Dawn Redwood.

Acorns.

Sunday, November 15th, 2020.
Walk in Cedarvale Ravine, between the rainstorms.

Buckthorn.

Cardinal.

Cardinal.

Chickadee.

Downy Woodpecker.

Golden-crowned kinglet.

Hawthorns.

Junco.

Nuthatch.

Oak Ravine.

Robin.

Winter Wren.

Saturday, November 14th, 2020.
Went for a walk around Humber Bay East.

American goldfinch, the only finch to undergo a complete molt; vibrant yellow in the summer and olive in winter.

A sycamore tree can grow to massive proportions, typically reaching up to 30m high and 2m in diameter. Its wood has been used extensively for butcher's blocks.
Black capped chickadee, they commonly cache food.

Cardinal, the male behaves territorially, marking territory with song.

Cormorant,can dive 45 metres.

Mute Swan, 'mute' because it is less vocal than other swans.

Hermit thrush, make a nest on the forest floor or low in a tree.

Junco and white throated sparrow.

Hooded merganser.

Robin.

Wigeon and bufflehead,

Wood duck, they nest in trees.

Monday, November 9th, 2020.
With the unseasonable high temperature, almost 20^C, I went to take some pictures at Humber Bay Park.

American Wigeon with Buffleheads.

Black Cap Chickadee.

Chickadee eating spiders and flies.

Mallard.

Mallard.

Buffleheads.

Canada Goose.

Cardinal.

Chickadee.

Hairy Woodpecker. Taken with a Soligor 450mm f8 lens.

Long Tail. Taken with a Soligor 450mm f8 lens.

Mute Swan.

Red Breasted Merganser. Ordinary flight is around 40-55 mph for most ducks. 64km/h to 89km/h. "The red-breasted merganser is the fastest duck ever recorded, attaining a top speed of 100 mph (161km/h)while being pursued by an airplane." - Ducks Unlimited.

Sparrow.

Gadwall.

Sunday, November 8th, 2020.

Saw a hairy woodpecker hanging around the street.

Saturday, November 7th, 2020.











Went to Tommy Thompson Park, saw; evidence of a beaver, a black duck, blue heron, flowers in bloom, gadwall, hooded merganser, long tail arctic duck, mallard, mink, painted turtle, and a trumpeter swan.

Wednesday, November 4th, 2020.

Made a bird feeder out of a pumpkin.

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.

Saw a cardinal at the feeder.
Final visit to garden plot, picked carrots, harvested some kale, collards, dahlia tubers, bulbs. Planted 6 cloves of garlic.

Monday, November 2nd, 2020.

Woke up to snow.

Saturday, October 31, 2020.


Had the first frost of the year. The horse-chestnut tree started to rain down leaves.
Also had the first junco at the bird feeder.

Friday, October 30th, 2020.

Starlings eating ripe berries from ivy.

Thursday, October 29th, 2020.

Had a downy woodpecker stop by the suet feeder. I made the suet feeder with turkey fat from Thanksgiving. The turkey fat is too runny.

Thursday, October 29th, 2020.

Repaired the greenhouse. Will use it to plant some garlic, hopefully the plastic keeps the squirrels away till the ground freezes.

Thursday, October 29th, 2020.

Had about 50 starlings eating, the purple ivy seeds, on the house.