A Winter Wander Through the Rattray Marsh

One warm and immensely muddy February afternoon I wandered through the Rattray in Mississauga to see what was exposed with the disguising canopies of leaves, walls of reeds and rushes, and shields of vines down for the winter. The marsh was frozen though so there weren’t as many ducks as I had  hoped.

Photo of Ice Marsh on NaturalCrooksDotCom

The Mallards have paired up already. This male kept a close eye on me and led his partner briskly downstream away from intrusive cameras.

Photo of Mallards on NaturalCrooksDotCom
Can you see her? She’s there too, or at least part of her is visible.

What Do the Does See?

This pair of deer strolled blithely across the Bexhill road entrance path only a few metres ahead of me. Once through, they  browsed on the shrubs for a few minutes. Then they stopped near the back yard fences. They were alert for several minutes, listening and watching without moving. I did not see any dog walkers passing by nor was their attention down on the board walk. Instead, they seemed alert to something in one of the back yards.

Photo of White Tailed Deer on NaturalCrooksDotCom

Curious to see if something would happen, I lingered on the board walk watching them. A passerby told me that she had seen a limping deer in one of the back yards further along. It’s possible these two deer were waiting for it.

I never did see what they were interested in: Eventually one started chewing its cud and the other relaxed too. The nice thing was several people stopped to ask me what I was looking at and I showed them the deer. Even large animals can be surprisingly well camouflaged and most people had been walking right past the does, even though they were quite close.

Do Juvenile Red-tailed Hawks Have Many Tail Stripes?

Earlier this winter I had watched a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk on the ground eating. Its tail had a few dark and lighter bars. According to my bird id theories, that meant it was not a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk which should have many dark and light tail bars.

Photo of Red Tailed Hawk Juv on NaturalCrooksDotCom

Today, I got a tail view of a Red-tailed hawk, perched on a tree along Sheridan Creek. When it turned its head I saw the yellow eye of a juvenile. And as you can see, it does  have a lot of tail bars. It’s not the clear closeup photo I am hoping to get but it’s a start!

What’s That Little Brown Job Darting Through the Shrubs?

There is almost always a large flock of House Sparrows at one spot along the path. I watched them for a while without spotting any other types of sparrows.

Photo of American Tree Sparrow Bush on NaturalCrooksDotCom

Further on up the trail, a pair of sparrows flew across the board walk and dove into the Dogwoods and Buckthorn. I tried to get a line of sight to them. Eventually I got one photo but it is missing the face. The red line coming back from the eye through the grey cheek looked familiar but I couldn’t remember why.

I tried posting the photo up to iNaturalist. It immediately suggested an American Tree Sparrow: and I agree. I have seen them down here several times this winter. The bits and pieces of colouring all match well.

Photo of American Goldfinch on NaturalCrooksDotCom

Unlike the sparrow, this American Goldfinch was easy to recognize even from an odd angle well below the Birch branch it was perched on.

PHoto of Black Capped Chickadee on NaturalCrooksDotCom

A pair of Black-capped Chickadees joined me on the board walk briefly.

Buzzed By a Helicopter at the Rattray Marsh in Mississauga

At one point in my ramble, a helicopter flew past at a very low altitude. It eventually moved off but then re-traced its route a few minutes later. I watched in a bit of surprise hoping it wasn’t having difficulties. Unlike the Coast Guard and Orange Ambulance helicopters it was small and non-descript. It was the first time I had seen it over Mississauga.

Photo of Helicopter on NaturalCrooksDotCom

I managed to get a bit of a look at the number. Then when I was at home I tried to look up who owns it. If I looked it up correctly, it is owned by Enbridge. Maybe they were checking on the pipeline that runs through the Rattray.

Photo of Red Squirrel on NaturalCrooksDotCom
This Red Squirrel shows his opinion of me: he chattered at me then darted away up a tree.

Even without the leaves, rushes, reeds and vines blocking my view, I did not discover too many new creatures on my walk. The ones I did see, though, made my wintery afternoon happier so I hope I see some of them again on my next walk.

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