Burlington ON. April 1 2020. Various levels of government have shuttered parks, woodland trails and other places of exercise. I think they mean to protect us from ourselves but it does frustrate me. Today I followed a rough old trail that few know about, I think it was a farm track at one time. As spring progresses, I’m optimistic that its route through scrubby second growth, pine plantations and mature deciduous forest will be quite good for birding – provided the authorities don’t find a way to close it off.
The lengthening and warming days have caught the attention of many birds and I watched Red-tailed Hawks circling over patches of woodland, in one case two of them kept within a short distance of each other so I took them to be a probable breeding pair. A little later another individual swept slowly and quite low overhead, my camera is rarely ready enough but I managed to get a couple of lucky shots.
Mundane though American Robins may be, they are still elegant birds. As I made my way along the path, a group of eight or ten male robins moved ahead of me, keeping a safe socially distant space between them and me. Still, I managed to photograph one of them with some success, here it is and I think he was My Bird of the Day because he’s handsome and anything but mundane.
Thanks peter
Always lovely to go walking with you wherever you go
A great little photo and yes he is quite handsome.
When I visited Toronto in 2012 I lived in a block of apartments next to a railway line and always loved the sound of this robin calling and echoing in a little park. Cheers
And all the best at this pandemic time.
Ya, closing parkland is ridiculous!!! To say the least!!! Ugh!!!
I’m glad you’re finding nice spaces to go unnoticed by ‘the man’. I am too – all in walking distance as you recall I’m car-free.
I found a glorious spot yest. I scared up a rabbit accidentally & got to view its beautiful backside, a Turkey Vulture rode the thermals slowly & incredibly close to the ground where I was walking & a few comma butterflies graced me with their presence. Also, many beautiful flowers were popping up in gardens and in natural / naturalized spaces. Oh, my topper of the day was hearing the pine cones popping open on every blessed conifer I passed! Yes, hearing due to the traffic being at a quiet minimum! Yay!