I work at the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) in the Downsview head office complex in Toronto (Keele Street just north of 401, at Wilson Avenue).
For a small grassy field in a busy urban area, the area around the buildings has its fair share of bird life. A pair of kildeer have nested next to the drainage ditch in the southeast quadrant for years. There are now three families of Canada geese raising their goslings on the grassy field; the goose flock grows a little each year. There are also a number of American goldfinches and red-winged blackbirds who make it their home. And since last year, the clown prince has presided over all, Mr. Mockingbird, gleefully perched atop the light on the highest hydro pole near the Keele Street entrance. Each morning he playfully greets ministry employees with his repertoire, everything from robin to blue jay to kildeer to goldfinch to meadowlark to starling to pewee, to a whole bunch of calls I can't identify, a travelogue in song to his winter migration down south. If you aren't at the right angle, he is too high for you to see him, but if you peer at the top of the hydro pole, the grey and white jokester leaps ten feet straight up into the air, almost like a jack-in-the-box, singing the whole time, and then, flapping with his white elbow wing patches, he parachutes himself down to his pole-top perch again, as if to say, "Ha ha! It's me! Fooled you again!" I know of other birds who can do imitations (like his cousin the Catbird, who is a lot more common in Southern Ontario), but I know of no other bird who gives such a display of athletic flying prowess and enjoys showing off as much as the mockingbird. This mockingbird enjoys proudly patrolling his territory with wide swoops to all the far four corners of the property, singing exuberantly the whole way. The Mockingbird of MTO never fails to put a smile on my face in the morning. I hope he comes back every spring. Pandora MacMillan From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Jun 27 21:40:22 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep7.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ADC1863ACF for <[email protected]>; Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:40:22 -0400 (EDT) Received: from mycomputer (d150-112-172.home.cgocable.net [24.150.112.172]) by fep7.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 7ADFDC13 for <[email protected]>; Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:42:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Barry Cherriere" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ONTBIRDS" <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:43:13 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Subject: [Ontbirds]Two Cattle Egrets near Rock Point Prov. Park X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 01:40:23 -0000 Today, June 27th, there is now two Cattle Egrets in the field with the cows near Rock Point Provincial Park. Directions as follows: >From Dunnville, go southeast on County Rd. 3, through Stromness. >>Continue on County Rd. 3 until it turns east (left). > Look in the field, on your left (north) where the cattle are feeding. > It was walking amongst the cattle right near > the fence. Barry Cherriere Hamilton Ontario
