Today in my yard near Reach Street and Lakeridge Road in Sscugog Twp., I had 8 Pine Warblers catching insects in the grass on my lawn. They would sally down from a nearby pine and then catch something below the canopy of the grass and then fly back up and wait and then do it again. Six Eastern Bluebirds joined them, so dinner must have been pretty good.
My 5+ hummingbirds are still feeding daily at my two feeders, but two of them dominate and aggressively defend one feeder each. They ran into a glitch when a Hymenoptera species (maybe a Yellow Jacket) aggressively targeted each hummer and chased them off. The act was deliberate and frequent so it wasn't a chance thing. Eventually two of the hornets spied each other and then literally fought to the ground, each holding the other in its clutches. When they broke apart after three such sallies, one went back and started harassing the hummers again. This has gone on for several days now. Interesting watching! For those that may be interested, Bird Watcher's Digest recently published an article I wrote about ten ways to build a big yard list and with their permission it is reprinted on my website at the bottom of the Home Page www.avocetnatureservices.com. My new Scugug yard list stands at 70 after one month - here we go again! Geoff Carpentier www.avocetnatureservices.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
