Warbler (Yellow-Rumped)

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America. Other warblers have dark-streaked, blue-grey upper parts and bright yellow rump. Head is black with yellow crown, white eye-rings, and faint eye stripes. Wings are dark with yellow shoulder patches and two white bars. Tail is dark with white corners. Juvenile resembles female but lacks yellow crown, shoulder patches, and tail markings.

This is the only warbler able to digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles. Its ability to use these fruits allows it to winter farther north than other warblers, sometimes as far north as Newfoundland.






Photographed in the wild, Naples, FL

Warbler (Blackburnian)

A bird of the coniferous forests of the Northeast parts of North America. The Blackburnian Warbler is breathtaking in its brilliant orange-and-black breeding plumage. No other North American warbler has an orange throat.


The Blackburnian Warbler is territorial on its breeding grounds and solitary in the winter. It forms flocks only during migration.

Although the Blackburnian Warbler does not associate with other birds while it is nesting, it will join foraging flocks of chickadees, kinglets, and nuthatches after the young fledge. The warbler will follow the mixed flock with its begging young. The begging of the warbler chicks can even attract chickadees.



Photographed in the wild, Gravenhurst, ON

Redpoll (Common)

The Common Redpoll is an irregular winter visitor as it migrates. Redpolls have red crowns; yellow bill; black feet; notched tails. Males have a crimson breast which gets darker during breeding.

The Redpoll is most commonly found from fall to early spring. They appear in large groups and become so focused on food that they become fearless of people in the winter. Redpolls have throat pouches for temporarily storing seeds and fill up with seeds quickly, then fly away to swallow the seeds in a more protected spot.

Redpolls can endure the cold better than any other songbird so keep the feeders full. They will eat seeds of any kind, but seem to like nyjer seeds.

Photographed in the wild, Gravenhurst, ON

Nuthatch (White Brested)

A common bird of deciduous forests and wooded suburbs, the White-breasted Nuthatch can be seen hopping headfirst down the trunks of trees in search of insect food. A nickname given to this Nuthatch some areas is the Ass-Up because of the way it moves around the tree

It frequents bird feeders and takes sunflower seeds off to the side of a tree, where it wedges them into a crevice and hammers them open.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is normally territorial throughout the year, with pairs staying together. The male is more vigilant when he forages alone than when he is with the female. The female, however, is in danger of having the more dominant male displace her from foraging sites, and she is more vigilant when he is around than when she is alone.

Photographed in the wild, Chicago, IL

Nuthatch (Red Brested)

The Red-breasted Nuthatch applies pine and spruce resin to the entrance of its nest hole. It may carry the resin in its bill or on pieces of bark that it uses as an applicator. The male puts the resin around the outside of the hole while the female puts it around the inside. The resin helps keep out predators or competitors. The nuthatch avoids the resin by diving directly through the hole.

During nest-building, the Nuthatch is aggressive towards other birds. It will chase away nesting competitors such as the White-breasted Nuthatch, and Downy Woodpecker. A feisty nuthatch will also go after Yellow-rumped Warblers and House Finches. The nuthatch's aggressive tendencies subside after the nest is finished, although it remains aggressive towards potential predators and competitors.

Photographed in the wild, Gravenhurst, ON

Merganser (Common)

Mergansers are fresh water fish eaters found around the deeper lakes of Muskoka. These duck have a hard time taking off on the water because their feet are placed far back on their body.

Males are mostly white with black on their body with a green head and long narrow orange bill. Females have a greyish body with a rusty coloured head.

Young Common Mergansers leave their nest hole within a day or so of hatching. The mother protects the chicks, but she does not feed them. They dive to catch all of their own food. They eat mostly aquatic insects at first, but switch over to fish when they are about 12 days old.

Photographed on Pine Lake, Gravenhurst, ON

Loon (Common)

The eerie yodel of the Common Loon is a symbol of the wild North. The territorial call of the male loon can be heard from lakes across Canada to the very northern United States.

Loons are water birds, only going ashore to mate and incubate eggs. Their legs are placed far back on their bodies, allowing efficient swimming but only awkward movement on land.

The Common Loon is flightless for a few weeks after moulting all of its wing feathers at the same time in midwinter.

photographed on Lake Muskoka, Gravenhurst, ON

Kinglet (Golden crowned)

A tiny, continuously active bird, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is most frequently found in coniferous woods. Despite being barely larger than a hummingbird, the kinglet winters northward to Canada and Alaska.

Formerly breeding almost exclusively in the remote, boreal spruce-fir forests of Canada, the Kinglet has expanded southward into spruce plantings in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

The Golden-crowned Kinglet usually raises two large broods of young, despite the short nesting season of the northern boreal forest. The female Golden-crowned Kinglet feeds her large brood only on the first day after they leave the nest. She then starts laying the second set of eggs while the male takes care of the first brood. Despite having eight or nine young to feed, the male manages to feed them, himself, and occasionally the incubating female too.

Each of the Golden-crowned Kinglet's nostrils are covered by a single, tiny feather.

photographed in Gravenhurst, ON

Hummingbird (Ruby-throated)

Hummingbirds are the tiniest birds on the planet. They're the only birds that can fly backward as well as forward. When hovering, hummers can beat their wings from 22 to 72 times per second.

A female is pictured in the photo, and lacks the deep ruby-throat of the male which gives the species its name.

Primarily feeds on nectar from flowers and sugar water feeders. Also they will consume a variety of small insects and spiders. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird does not show a strong preference for any particular color of feeder. Instead, it prefers specific feeder locations.

Photographed in the wild in Gravenhurst, ON

Goose (Canadian)

The Canada Goose is the most familiar and common of geese in Canada.

The size decreases northward with the smallest living in the high Arctic coastal tundra. A brownish body with a black head, long black neck and white chin strap characterize the colouring of this goose.

The Canada goose is well known for its V-shaped migrating flocks and characteristic honk. They are chiefly grazers, feeding on stubble fields and marsh vegetation.

how do you walk like that?

There are 11 geographical races; some with populations well over a million, some barely over one thousand.

Photographed in the wild, Toronto, ON

Goldfinch (American)

The male Goldfinch easily recognized in the summer by its yellow body and black wings but they lose much of the brilliance during the fall and winter seasons. They turn light brown and look like the female Goldfinches.

The American Goldfinch is one of the latest nesting birds. It usually does not start until late June or early July, when most other songbirds are finishing with breeding. The late timing may be related to the availability of suitable nesting materials and seeds for feeding young.

They fly in an undulating (wavy, up and down) manner. Goldfinches can be found throughout the year, but during the winter they're common to bird feeders.

Goldfinches like thistle seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, and oil-type sunflower seeds and Niger seeds.

photographed in the wild in Gravenhurst, ON