![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/NorthernParulaonNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis tiny Northern Parula’s colours rivalled the autumn leaves it hunted among for midges and other small winged insects.<\/p>\n
The Last Warblers of the Year<\/h2>\n
This Orange-crowned Warbler refused to flaunt any tiaras or crowns for me.<\/p>\n This Blackpoll Warbler did not have the dark head markings of a spring male making id more difficult.<\/p>\n A few Yellow-rumped Warblers usually survive the winter in the Toronto area. I’m not sure this one planned to stick around though.<\/p>\n Palm Warblers like to bob their tails while perching making them a little bit easier to id at a distance.<\/p>\n This American Tree Sparrow would land happily on the tops of the seeding Goldenrod. Every so often, though, a stem would be too week and it would bob down almost to ground level. (The yellow lower bill is a good field mark to look for to id these sparrows.)<\/p>\n The Black-capped Chickadees are so light the Goldenrod didn’t even seem to notice they were there.<\/p>\n White-throated Sparrows with their bright yellow nose marks often showed up in large flocks.<\/p>\n I seem to see far fewer of the White-crowned Sparrows. Birds that just hatched this summer like this one seem badly named as the white stripes on the head haven’t grown in yet.<\/p>\n These American Goldfinches will probably stay for the winter. They’ve already shifted into their subtle hues.<\/p>\n This Song Sparrow was hunting on the breakwater rocks. Many small insects were basking on the limestone and the sparrow was picking up some of them and some of the spiders with the same idea.<\/p>\n This young Black-crowned Night Heron was more interested in soaking up some sun than in hunting.<\/p>\n This Ruby-crowned Kinglet did not consider me worth a second look.<\/p>\n While this Northern Mockingbird was only to ready to call me names in a variety of bird languages.<\/p>\n This Greater Yellowlegs caught something that looks a bit like a clear crustacean in the mud around the edges of the duck pond. It must be a brave bird indeed to eat from that water.<\/p>\n And that’s all the news that’s fit to shovel, even by a Northern Shoveler.<\/p>\n I hope to get down to Col Sam again this autumn. It’s always full of surprises…<\/p>\n ….like this LeConte’s Sparrow, a quite uncommon visitor to the GTA.<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From American Tree Sparrows to Yellow-rumped Warblers, an almost entire alphabet of birds were on display in late October. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[801,25,105,106,800,122],"class_list":["post-7449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rambles","tag-autumn","tag-birds","tag-colonel-sam-smith-park","tag-etobicoke","tag-fall","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7449"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7457,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions\/7457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nGoldenrod Provides Feasts Fit for Finches … and Sparrows<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nRock Stars in Toronto<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nEveryone’s a Critic<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nMeanwhile Back in the Duck Pond<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\nHave you visited a park full of interesting creatures this fall? Please share your favourite sight with a comment.<\/p>\n