WARBLING VIREO IN NEST, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, TORONTO, ON, 5/26/18

MALE DOWNY WOODPECKER, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

FEMALE YELLOW WARBLER, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

GREY CATBIRD, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

BREEDING MALE HOUSE SPARROW ON BIRD HOUSE, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

TREE SWALLOW ON BIRD HOUSE, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

COMMON LOON IN FLIGHT, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

LEAST BITTERN IN HIDING, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

1ST SUMMER RING-BILLED GULL, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERING TREE AT COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

CEDAR WAXWING, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

SONG SPARROW, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

BREEDING RED-NECKED GREBES AT NEST, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO, ON, 5/26/18

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

GREAT BLUE HERON IN FLIGHT, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

 DC

EASTERN KINGBIRD, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

BREEDING COMMON TERNS ON ORANGE BUOY, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

BLUE JAY, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO,ON, 5/26/18

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS EATING SEEDS ON ROCK, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK,TORONTO, ON, 5/26/18

   The first two photos show a female Red-winged Blackbird and the last two a male.

MALE NORTHERN CARDINAL, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, TORONTO, ON, 5/26/18

WILLOW FLYCATCHER, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, TORONTO, ON, 5/26/18

   Although the Empidonax flycatchers (particularly the Willow Flycatcher vs the Alder Flycatcher) are hard to ID from each other, we were able to ID this flycatcher as as Willow Flycatcher as follows:

      - The best way to differentiate the Empidonax flycatchers is by their songs and calls.  This flycatcher luckily was singing alot and we heard the song of the Willow Flycatcher: it sounds like "fitz-brew".
      - This flycatcher has an indistinct, almost invisible whitish eyering.  This is typical of a Willow Flycatcher.  The other Empidonax flycatchers, including the Alder Flycatchers, have more prominent eyerings.
      - Whitish throat.
      - Yellowish wash on belly.

      - Dark head, upperparts (what we can see) and tail.  They are probably brown-olive, but in the light they just looked dark.
     - Broad, short bill.  The lower mandible is orangish.  You can just make some orange out in the third photo.

   The Willow Flycatcher is a small insect-eating, neotropical migrant bird.  There are four subspecies, all of which breed in North America ( three of the subspecies breed in California).

   TheWillow Flycatcher is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 784.
      

JUVENILE BALTIMORE ORIOLE, PRINCE EDWARD POINT NATIONAL WILDLIFE AREA,MILFORD, ON, 5/20/18

MALE LONG-TAILED DUCK, PRINCE EDWARD POINT NATIONAL WILDLIFE AREA,MILFORD, ON, 5/20/18