Monday, November 17, 2025
Saturday, November 15, 2025
DOMESTIC MALLARD, SERENA GUNDY PARK, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 11/14/2025
This duck is probably a Domestic Mallard. It was seen and photographed among a group of wild Mallards. Domestic Mallards in the wild are feral domesticated ducks that have returned to the wild. The Mallard was first domesticated over 2,000 years ago in China. They have been domesticated in Europe since about the 12th century. Mallards are native to North America, but the genetic makeup of some populations has been significantly influenced by escapees from the human introduction of domestic stock.
Domestic Mallards found in the wild are primarily recent escapees or abandoned pets or the offspring of them. These Domestc Mallards can interbreed with wild Mallards.
FOX SPARROW (RED), SERENA GUNDY PARK, TORONTO, ONTARIO, 5/14/2025 - NEW LIFE SPECIES
We can ID this sparrow as a Fox Sparrow of the Red subspecies (the only subspecies found in eastern U.S. and Canada, but that breeds in Alaska and boreal forests of Canada) as follows:
- The underparts are white with dark streaks on its flanks and small dark chevrons across the belly.
- The upperparts are mostly rufous with some gray and two whitish wing bars.
- Long, rufous tail.
- Orange-yellow lower mandible of bill with dark tip and dark upper mandible.
- Auriculars are mostltly rufous with some brown set against gray face.
- Crown is rufous with a gray center streak.
- Dark eye with white eyering and dark eyeline.
This Fox Sparrow is probably migrating from the boreal forests of Northern Canada to southern U.S. or Northern Mexico. They generally migrate south in late fall, typically in November. The Fox Sparrow generally migrates at night.
The Fox Sparrow is a new species to our ebird Photographic Life List, which now stands at 1,189.
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