Ontario is for the Birds!Part of visiting any place is seeing the birds and animals that live there. They can add a touch of exotica to even the most ordinary spots. Ontario has a wealth of avian summer visitors, probably as many as there are human visitors.
Some you'd expect to see much further south, like Egrets,
The Great Egret is big, at 38" end-to-end it's almost as big as the Great Blue Heron. With it's bright white color, it stands out against the reeds like a beacon. They tend to be found around the southern edge of the province, along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie creeks and marshes, unlike Herons that are pretty well found throughout Ontario.
Great Blue Herons stay all year if the water doesn't freeze in the creeks around the Great Lakes.Herons eat fish, of course, but also frogs and baby turtles, which must make for a peculiarly crunchy meal.
This male is showing his best 'punk' hairdo in the annual spring mating season. It's often seemed to me that animals pack a lot of fun into their relatively short lives. Every year they go through the courting, mating, setting up home and bringing up the kids routine that we do only once or perhaps twice in a lifetime.
And, as we're in the mating mood, here's a wild Turkey, a 'Tom', displaying all his feathered finery. Compared to these guys, rappers are positively restrained in their bling.
This is the same fella (you don't see this kind of event THAT often) -- a full-frontal view this time. The colors and patterns on the face and feathers are startling. I'd expect it to put off any self-respecting female turkey (they're much more demure) but then what do I know.
Trumpeter swans have struggled to survive in Ontario, they're being 'out competed' by their Eurasian cousin, but they're still around in places.
Flickers stay in Ontario if the winter is mild enough to leave them some bugs to eat. Most years the
winter
doesn't and they head south.
This Osprey was heading out to pick up lunch from the Trent river for its hungry chick. If you're enjoying this page, you'll also enjoy our
Photos page
or, for birdwatching farther afield, but still in Canada,
Bird Watching in New Brunswick.
Ontario has a wealth of avian summer visitors, probably as many as there are human visitors. If you are tempted to "splash out" here's a Buyers Guide to Binoculars, to help you get the best possible sightings. Other colorful sights in Ontario's skies are
butterflies
and
dragonflies.
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brighten the shores of many Ontario lakes.
Then there are Cardinals that really do live all year round in Ontario.
