Follow the Leader
Originally misidentified as common terns, I think these flocking birds are a plover of some kind. They spin and wheel through the sky in a delightful fashion, here above the tern’s nesting platform in the trout pond. Can anyone help with a proper identification?
Sungleam
Up close and personal with another expectant mother, here sitting on a prime (but busy) nesting site in the Hanlan’s Point straight.
Shoulder Check
A mute swan gazes over her shoulder at the lens as she sits on her nest on Unknown Island. Light would hit this nesting site for only about 45 minutes in the late afternoon, making photography require a specific appointment.
Amphibian Information
A red-eared slider turtle basks on a log in Snug Harbour. Sliders are a non-native species, usually introduced to an area by people releasing unwanted pets.
Wet Meadow Action (audio)
[audio:wet_meadow_action.mp3] The ponds behind Ward’s Beach have enough water to actually kayak through the beaver channels. If you haven’t heard our local toadsong recently, it can be a wonderfully alien sound (2.3MB MP3). Note: if the audio player doesn’t appear, click the title (Wet Meadow Action) to view the actual post.
Black-crowned Regality
A black-crowned night heron perches like royalty on a branch near Centre Island early in 2008.
Sitting Pretty
A Canada goose mother sits expectantly on her nest by the IYC, patiently waiting for the vegation to fill in around her.
Fortress of Solitude
A mute swan sits on her nest in the Spring of 2008, paitiently waiting for the vegetation to fill in around her.
Yellow Menace
A cormorant, once a stranger to the Island’s lagoons, perches on a log next to Yael’s houseboat.
Redbreast Return
Always a delight to see after a long winter, this was one of the first robins to return in the Spring of 2008.
Marked
One of the first black-crowned night herons to return to the Toronto Islands in 2008 was the first – and so far still the only – night heron that I’ve seen banded, someone’s program somewhere is tracking this guy. If anyone has any information as to the program, please contact me.
Red Return
One of the first black-crowned night herons to return in 2008 near Doughnut Island, looking very well fed after its long migration.
Lazy Reflections
The first painted turtle of 2008 basks on a log in the strengthening sunlight of late March. There’s still ice on the water at this point, and I’m always amazed that they can come out of hibernation at a time when full winter paddling gear is still required. Gloves, pogies, paddling jackets and PFDs are […]
Neck Plumage
A newly-returned great blue heron displays its wonderful breeding plumage near Centre Island, early in the spring of 2008.
Proof of Concept
Hot on the heels of their newfound popularity from the front-page Toronto Star article, a curious Toronto Island mink checks out the experimental IceCam, underwater and under the ice near Snug Harbour. A terrible photograph by any stretch of the imagination, there isn’t much light down there, but an interesting portrait of our furry little […]
Nightmare on Mink St.
The carnivorous teeth of a mink skull discovered in the Sans Souci area of Georgian Bay.
Poise on Black
A snow-white great egret stands in full sunlight, against a perfectly black background of deep shade. This panorama is available as a special 8×18″ panoramic print, see Boutique Pricing for details.