Day 19.265: Black squirrel surprise

In addition to the birds I reported on yesterday, I saw a few gray squirrels, a chipmunk:

Eastern chipmunk

And this beautiful fellow:

Melanistic gray squirrel

Altogether not bad for a tiny pocket of nature in the suburbs of Toronto.

Day 19.264: Canada birding

It may not have been the life-bird bonanza that my trip to California turned out to be, but I did manage a small amount of birding during my first day in Canada. Here is some of what I saw:

Ruby-crowned kinglet that refused to pose for me

Actual Canadian Canada geese in Canada

American robin

The woods were full of common grackles. I caught this one taking a bath

Such pretty iridescence in this light

I think that tiny-looking duck is a wood duck

Mallard

Possibly a mallard or hybrid?

There were no gulls, then one, then two, then three,... Within minutes there were probably a hundred - likely ring-billed gulls I think.