We had a cold, sunny day for our February 17th walk at Humber Bay Park West. A fresh dusting of snow helped concentrate songbirds around food sources, and the sunlight encouraged a few to sing. The story of the birds was almost as much about what we didn’t see as what we did see. The bay often hosts large flocks of waterfowl at this time of year, but it was almost deserted today. There are usually a few other species of duck mixed in with the Mallard flock, but not today. We didn’t even see a Mute Swan!
One of the unexpected sightings was some early-season mating of Common Goldeneyes. Uncharacteristically, the female was the instigator. It took her mate a long time to clue in to her invitation.
Despite all the misses, we still managed to find 22 species by the end of the walk. Here is the full list:
|