The World Through Our Lens
One gloriously sunny summer morning, I was taking my time in the garden with teacup in hand. That was soon replaced by my camera when I spotted some interesting insects on the false sunflowers. One such bug that I had never noticed before were these Virescent Green Metallic Bees (Agapostemon virescens) of the Halictid Family. Read more
On a drive into Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada, a few kilometres just inside the West Gate, Bob picked out a cow and calf in the ditch where they were nibbling on tender shoots and having a drink of water. Read more
How exciting to find that the pair of Trumpeter Swans at our local park in north Scarborough now have two recently-hatched offspring to care for. As Bob and I looked on, the cygnets kept very close to “mom” on the shore of the pond… Read more
Bob and I are never disappointed when we visit Rosetta McClain Gardens in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. Serving as an enticing spot for migrating birds to pause and rest after crossing Lake Ontario, the Gardens usually are home to a variety of warblers and other songbirds, if for only brief periods of time. On one of our trips to the Gardens one spring, we were lucky enough to catch up with a couple of Hermit Thrushes. Read more
Bob and I were pleasantly surprised to find a colony of bank swallows that inhabit a section of the Scarborough Bluffs, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. These bank swallows nest just below the rim of the high, steep banks of the escarpment that stretches along Lake Ontario’s shoreline in the vicinity of Rosetta McClain Gardens. Read more
The same day that Bob and I drove downtown in Toronto to watch the Cliff Swallows building their nests, we dropped in at Rosetta McClain Gardens to see what migrating birds were on site. Over 52 species had been observed there on one occasion recently, and with our cooler spring, we thought many might still be hanging around. In fact, we only caught up with a pair of Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) and numerous Bank Swallows. Read more
Earlier one spring, Bob and I found ourselves unable to keep up with the bird sightings even in our own backyard. Such was the case the day I spotted this Tennessee Warbler (Oreothlypis peregrina). I had been kept busy at the kitchen window that morning, taking photographs of a House Wren and Magnolia Warbler, when another flash of yellow drew my attention to the crabapple tree beside our deck. Read more
To our knowledge, Bob and I have never had a House Wren visit our Toronto backyard in Ontario, Canada, before, but one spring, many new species stopped in at our small suburban property for a rest en route to their breeding grounds. Among them was this House Wren. We were delighted that it decided to stay put and build a nest in one of our birdhouses. Read more
At the peak of bird migration one spring, Bob and I headed to Ashbridge’s Bay on the Lake Ontario waterfront in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Among the several bird species that we sighted was this Grey Catbird. Read more
But for a fellow birdwatcher posting a photo to Facebook of the Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) nesting at the Harris Water Treatment Plant in Toronto, neither Bob nor I would ever have known such a colony existed. It was the structural intricacy of their nests that had us making a beeline to treatment plant for a look. Read more