American Robin (Merle d'Amérique) and Staghorn Sumac (Sumac vinaigrier)

     Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) is a very common tree/shrub in southern Ontario, and American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is an equally common bird. How fitting that they should come together!

      Resident birds have been joined by recent migrants and there is a great demand for food. Springlike conditions have been interrupted by a few days of execrable weather, with snow, cold temperatures, freezing rain from time to time, ice pellets and sleet. Hardly suitable conditions for birds to find food.

Recent Happenings

     Summer is generally a bit of a slow time for birding as breeding activity is taking place for most species and the landscape is not permeated by song, but there is lots to keep a keen naturalist interested.
    For the fifth year in a row we have a Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina feeding a young Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater in our yard. This small sparrow is a frequent target of our most common obligate brood parasite. In previous years I have been able to photograph the Chipping Sparrow feeding the cowbird but I was only successful in getting separate images when I saw them the other day.

Fledgling Brown-headed Cowbird

Chipping Sparrow

     There has been a veritable explosion of Soldier Beetles (Cantharidae) recently and reproduction seems to be the only thing on their minds. I will not even attempt to identify this insect as to species, since there are over four hundred different ones and an expert entomologist is needed to resolve specific identification.

     They seemed to favour Queen Anne''s Lace Daucus carota as a host plant. 

     Not exclusively, however. They are shown below on Common Fleabane Erigeron philadelphicus.

     And on Canada Thistle Cirsium arvense.

     Perhaps a change of venue is good for an amorous insect!

     I came across a couple of patches of this flower, certainly in the Rudbeckia family, and I believe it to be Thin-leaved Coneflower Rudbeckia triloba, a beautiful plant indeed.

     In the same family is the familiar prairie flower, Black (or Brown)-eyed Susan Rubeckia hirta.

 
     My inadequate entomological skills were again put to the test when this wasp showed up in clusters at our hummingbird feeder. I believe it to be Blackjacket Wasp Vespula consobrina, a beautifully-marked species.

     A puddling Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice gave me no problem.

     Nor did the ubiquitous Cabbage White Pieris rapae.

     Staghorn Sumac Rhus typhina has a full crop of its distinctive red fruit, winter food for a wide variety of organisms, and one of my favourite trees (shrubs?).

     Who knows what my next post will bring?

Hairy Woodpecker (Pic chevelu) Feeding on Staghorn Sumac

15 October 2015

rare, Cambridge, ON

     Fall weather in southern Ontario this year has been especially agreeable, with warm sunny days and an abundance of dazzling foliage.

     This morning, while doing my regular Thursday morning monitoring at the rare Charitable Reserve in Cambridge, it was a distinct highlight to see two Hairy Woodpeckers Picoides villosus feeding on the fruit of Staghorn Sumac Rhus typhina. The drupes of this shrub are densely gathered into a conical formation and covered with hairs.

    The shrub actually has separate male and female plants and the fruit is produced on the female. The name Staghorn Sumac derives from the fact that the bark has a fine velvety texture, somewhat reminiscent of the velvet of the new antlers of stags.

     Sumac is impressive at any time of year, but it really assumes its prominence in the fall when the leaves and the fruit turn a vivid scarlet, breathtaking when struck by sunlight.

     White-throated Sparrows Zonotrichia albicollis was quite common, feeding on the ground, and flitting in and out of cover. It was not the easiest species to photograph today!

     For a couple of weeks now there has been a significant concentration of Rusty Blackbirds Euphagus carolinus, a species which has declined in abundance in recent years.

     Red-winged Blackbirds Agelaius phoeniceus were flocking with the Rusty Blackbirds; curiously the males were in full voice. I could have closed my eyes and easily imagined that I was listening to recently arrived males at a marsh in spring.

     Here is a hatch year male starting to acquire the badge of his gender.

     Both species of blackbird occupied the higher parts of snags, and trees already denuded of leaves, and the chorus was almost deafening.

     Mourning Doves Zenaida macroura were very willing to share the branches with the blackbirds.

     It was interesting, albeit a tad gruesome, to come across the corpse of a small Raccoon Procyon lotor, almost picked clean by whatever predator had been able to capture it.

     The colours of the trees are so glorious that it is hard to resist taking a few more photographs, so let me present, with no apologies for repetitiveness, autumn in southern Ontario at its best.

Nature at Thanksgiving

A Lovely Day's Birding

in Southern Ontario

12 October 2014

     This is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, and yesterday we had the children and grandchildren at our house for dinner. It was a fine affair, but as is always the case at a holiday feast, we ate too much, so we decided that today we would get out and walk off at least a little of yesterday's excess.

     It was a picture perfect autumn day with bright sunshine, little wind and by early afternoon the temperature had climbed to about 15 degrees. It was quite wonderful to be outside enjoying nature.

     The day started well with a family of Wild Turkeys Meleagris gallopavo before we even left Waterloo. They crossed the road in front of us but before they disappeared into the bush we were able to get a couple of pictures.

     We had decided that we would go into Toronto and bird along the shore of Lake Ontario where one might reasonably expect at least some movement of migratory species - and we were not disappointed. Among the highlights we saw at least three Swainson's Thrushes Catharus ustulatus,  one of which was very cooperative in terms of having a photograph taken.

     This is a close up of the berries upon which the thrushes were feeding.

     It was especially pleasant to be at the water's edge and this is one of the many coves and inlets we covered.

     People were picknicking, no doubt motivated by the pleasant weather, and the thought that the winter months will soon be upon us. Some were even swimming, taking their last plunge of the season perhaps, although as we watched them enter the water it was easy to see from their reaction that the water was frigid.

     A Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis had grabbed what appears to be a circular pretzel and it was comical watching the bird try to swallow it whole, to no avail of course. Finally it seemed to realize that it needed to be broken up and it started to drop the pretzel onto a rock. But the gull outsmarted itself apparently, because the prize slipped between two rocks, out of reach of the bird's bill and was lost completely.

     This lady beetle is, I believe, a Multicoloured Asian Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis, a species that has become one of our most common Coccinellidae since the mid 1990s.

     Regular readers will recall that I recently blogged about White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys and had a picture of a juvenile only. This species was very common today and there follows a picture of an adult bird and a second image showing adult and juvenile together.

     The colours of autumn for which this area is justifiably renowned are probably a little past their prime, but there are still many glorious hues to satisfy everyone's aesthetic. 

     Take a look at the deep scarlet of this Staghorn Sumac Rhus typhina.

    And this Eastern Black Oak Quercus velutina.

     It was a wonderful day's outing and we returned home happy and well satisfied, secure in the knowledge that we will do this again together many times over.