SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

NONBREEDING SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

KILDEER, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

GREAT BLUE HERON IN FLIGHT, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

JUVENILE RED-EYED VIREO AFTER BANDING, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

   As part of the birding walk we visited the banding station at the park.  While we were there they captured in their mist nets and banded a juvenile Red-eyed Vireo.  The juvenile has brown eyes, not the red eyes of the adult.

MATING OF DAMSELFLIES, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

   These two different pairs of male and female damselflies are in the Pond Damselfly family.  In both pairs the damselfly towards the top of the photos is the male and the one towards the bottom is the female.

   In the first two photos you can see the courtship ritual of the damselfles.  Physical contact is made by the male clasping the female's thorax with its four terminal appendages at the end of the abdoman.

   In the third photo copulation is taking place.  The mating pair form a shape known as a "heart" or "wheel".  It is a continuation of the courtship of the pair from the second photo. The female whose thorax is being held by the male's terminal appendages, curls her abdomen to pick up sperm from the secondary genetalia at the base of the male's abdomen, forming the shape which looks like a heart.

   

NONBREEDING MALE NORTHERN SHOVELER, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON