The World Through Our Lens
Milliken Park is located at the south-east corner of McCowan Road and Steeles Avenue in Toronto, Ontario.
On a wintry day, Bob and I headed to our local Toronto, Ontario, park for some fresh air and a bit of exercise. As we walked the asphalt trail through a wooded section of the park, I noticed movement off to the side of the walkway. A young Virginia Opossum had dared to be out of its den during daylight hours! Read more
On what seemed a very ordinary winter day, Bob and I took a leisurely walk over to one of our local parks to escape the routine of familiar household chores. Milliken Park in Toronto, Ontario, was almost deserted. Though we scanned bushes and trees, not a single bird was seen until I noticed a solitary Cooper’s Hawk perched on a sunlit branch. Seconds later, the hawk launched into the air and nabbed a Big Brown Bat that was flying by. Read more
Patience is a virtue, and often when Bob and I are birdwatching, time is of the essence so patience goes out the window. On one “quick” visit to Milliken Park in Toronto, to check the progress of the recently-hatched Trumpeter Swan cygnets, what actually stole my attention was this Great Blue Heron. Bob left me to my stakeout while he enjoyed the company of the 2-week old cygnets. Read more
For the second year in a row, the mated pair of Trumpeter Swans that have taken up residence at Milliken Park in Toronto gave birth to a new set of cygnets…7 in all this past spring! Within a couple of days, Ashton and Tango, as they are fondly known, lost one cygnet to unknown causes, but the other six are thriving. Read more
They’re back! It seems that trumpeter swans, H11, and her cygnet were just taking a short vacation away from their home pond. When Bob and I cycled to Milliken Park, in Toronto, Friday morning, October 17, the whole family was cruising the pond together. Read more
Earlier this past fall, visitors to Milliken Park in northeast Scarborough would have noticed that only two Trumpeter Swans were inhabiting the main pond where previously there had been a family of four. Tango, the female or pen, was diligently caring for her one remaining cygnet after the untimely death of her other baby in mid-September. Read more
Last week, Bob and I walked over to Milliken Park to check up on the Trumpeter Swan Cygnets and search for Monarch Butterflies. As we busied ourselves photographing a beautiful Monarch specimen on a milkweed flower, we became distracted by numerous Cedar Waxwings perching in the top of a dead tree. We were happy to see that a number of those birds were still at the park. When I glanced into the crown of a nearby maple tree, I was dumbfounded as to what I was seeing. It looked like a huge turban made out of cloth, but then I recognized it as a hornet”s nest. It was huge! Read more
Bob and I take regular walks to Milliken Park, in Toronto because we find that the variety of habitats found there encourages an assortment of birds and animals at any given time of the year. Based on a tip from my sister, we hit the pavement in hopes of seeing some Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum), and we were stunned by the numbers around the south pond. Read more
It had been two weeks since Bob and I first spotted the two Trumpeter Swan cygnets at Milliken Pond, and they seemed to be thriving. We dropped by the park one day to check on their well-being and were thrilled to see them paddling along with nary a care in the world. Read more