Hi ONTBirders: I spent an hour at Fletcher Wildlife Garden at around noon. A rather tame WHITE-THROATED SPARROW was present at the feeders in the Backyard Garden (behind Bldg. #138) along with a few of the usual suspects. At the ash lot feeder, a pair of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS were actively feeding on the cones in the trees surrounding the feeder. They began near the top and slowly worked their way down, eventually feasting on cones in the branches just above the ground...very accommodating to watch. Three MOURNING DOVES were resting in the trees, and a male NORTHERN CARDINAL also made an appearance. I noticed early on an adult RED-TAILED HAWK near the tops of one of the pine trees, overlooking the feeding station. On the next tree over, a large flock of HOUSE FINCHES was singing, apparently unphased by the raptor next door. The hawk was present throughout my time at the second feeder, and was still there when I left. Before leaving the Garden altogether, I returned to the Backyard Garden feeder to find the W-T sparrow still there, this time hunkering down in the cedars right next to Bldg. 138. Good birding! Pat DIRECTIONS: The Fletcher Wildlife Garden is on Prince of Wales Drive across from the Museum of Agriculture. _________________________________________________________________ Twice the fun—Share photos while you chat with Windows Live Messenger. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/messenger.aspx_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
