REFLECTIONS OF A GREAT BLUE HERON, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, ETOBICOKE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 10/7/2023

 

MALE & FEMALE MALLARDS, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, ETOBICOKE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 10/7/2023

 

IMMATURE YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (MYRTLE), COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, ETOBICOKE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 10/7/2023

 

 

NONBREEDING MALE HOUSE SPARROW, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, ETOBICOKE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 10/7/2023

 

JUVENILE & FORMATIVE MALE NORTHERN CARDINAL, COLONEL SAMUEL SMITH PARK, ETOBICOKE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 10/7/2023

   The first photo shows a juvenile Northern Cardinal.  The last two photos show a formative male Northern Cardinal picking up with its bill something to eat.  A formative male means it is molting from from juvenile plumage to male plumage.

 

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, REESOR POND, MARKHAM, ONTARIO, 10/5/2023 - NEW LIFE SPECIES

   We can identify this goose as a Greater White-fronted Goose (it is at or near the center, among Canada Geese and Mallards), which is a rare vagrant to the Greater Toronto Area, as follows:

• Brown head and neck with a bright white forehead
• Orange-Pink bill with cream tip
• Gray upperparts
• Orange legs
• Black tail with a white band at its tip
• White rump
• Light gray breast and chest
• Whitish belly with black splotches.  This gives it the nickname of "specklebelly".
• You can differentiate this Greater White-fronted Goose from a Lesser White-fronted Goose by the fact it doesn't have the yellow eyering of the Lesser.

   The Greater White-fronted Goose is a new species to our Photographic Life List. Our ebird Life List now stands at 1,081.

 

NONBREEDING PECTORAL SANDPIPER, REESOR POND, MARKHAM, ONTARIO, 10/5/2023