Backyard Birding In Southern Ontario

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog and I apologize for the lack of activity, it’s been a tremendously busy summer so far. And while that hasn’t meant as much time to watch and photograph our feathered friends, there have been some enjoyable moments – usually snatched a few minutes at a time with a cup of coffee on the back patio.

We’ve been doing a lot of landscaping at our place, and the daily activity has not pleased the birds one bit. As a result, this summer there are no blackbirds nesting in our yard, no orioles to be seen, even the grackles have disappeared to escape the disturbance. This leaves only the most hard-core feeder freeloaders still coming in to snack, but they’ve been a real treat.

Nothing keeps the cardinals out of our yard. Not even the neighbour’s cat.

Starlings have been hanging in too.

We’ve seen a lot of house finches this summer. I don’t know if that’s because there actually are more of them, or just fewer of everyone else.

The downy woodpeckers couldn’t care less about the yard work, and continue to dive into the feeders, even flying in between the landscapers! There are babies to feed, after all …

As always we put out a bag of nesting floof for our guests to use. This is always a big hit with the goldfinches, in particular.

The other day I took photos of a few goldfinches hanging about, and it was only when I went through the images later that I noticed this one has been banded. Look closely at his right leg – how wonderful! We’ll have to keep an eye out for this guy and see if we can sneak a closer picture and make out at least part of the band inscription.

In the past week or so the landscapers have moved off to the front of the house, leaving the feeders less disturbed. We haven’t seen that many more birds, but the baby rabbit that lives under the dogwoods seems happier. So does this little guy … a baby chipmunk!

Part of the reason for the reduced bird activity may also have to do with the fact a pair of Cooper’s hawks appear to have moved into a big tree that overlooks our yard. I believe this one is the male, as it’s a wee bit smaller than the other. A “wee bit smaller” is a relative thing of course, it’s still a pretty big bird.

It was a breezy morning when I shot these pictures, and it didn’t seem to thrilled about having its feathers ruffled.

There have been Cooper’s hawks in the neighbourhood as long as we’ve lived here, they tend to leave the smaller birds alone and focus on bigger game, mourning doves being a particular favourite.

And with that, it’s back to the grind. Hopefully there will be more activity to report next month now that the landscaping work is wrapping up.