ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY

TORONTO

LEAFLET No. 1
WINTER BIRDS*

When fall days have come and gone and the straggling rear-
guard of greened, greyed, and buffed bird migrants has left our
woods and fields for the winter, it may appear that the bird
student's year has ended. The out-of-doors will be bleak and

cold and, compared with spring, the
trail will seem utterly abandoned by
wild life. Nowhere will one hear a
constant flood of song, such as is so
evident in spring when the mating
impulse brings birds into full chorus.
The few birds that are still with us have their activities re-
duced to a minimum. The pulse of nature is slowed to a
sleeping tempo.

However, the bird student need not wait for spring and its
host of colourful migrants. There are plenty of things to see
in winter. In and about Toronto from fifteen to twenty species
of birds may be seen on a winter day
during a two-or three-hour hike. In
fact, if a notebook is kept, as should
be done, one may find that forty
different kinds of birds have been
seen during a single winter. Con-
siderably more than that number

appear on the records of winter birds tree sparrow

in the files of the Museum but, of course, these cover a period
of more than forty winters.

For the beginner the winter may be the best season for the
reason that there are fewer species to learn to recognize. Also,
the bare condition of trees and thickets with the resultant increase
of visibility is ideal for viewing the characteristic markings of
birds and acquiring the deftness necessary in keeping such
spirited objects as birds within the field of the binoculars.

In the study of ornithology the first requirement is to be
capable of recognizing the various species of birds and to de-

*Reprinted from Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology Bulletin 2, pub-
lished by Extension Department, University of Toronto.

HORNED LARK

signate them by a generally accepted name. This knowledge

is best obtained in the field and
from books, although these sources
may be supplemented by visits to
the Museum. Additional information
about birds — where and how they
live — will come through increased
familiarity with them in the field,
one's powers of observation and de-
duction increasing through experience.

The segregation of the various kinds of birds by habitat
boundaries will be noted early in the beginner's experience. The
winter birds of Toronto may be divided into four groups based
on the type of habitat in which they are found.
Birds of the City Streets. The House or English Sparrow, is the
only species which appears regularly and in numbers about the
city streets in winter. It is a foreign bird which was introduced
into North America in 1851, subsequently
spreading to nearly every inhabited part of the
doritinent. The Starling, another importation
which was brought to the new world in 1890, is
spreading rapidly and may be seen about certain
sections of Toronto in winter and is almost cer-
tain to be a common bird of the city streets in
the near future. It is larger than the sparrow
and its yellow bill is longer and pointed. More-
over, its plumage is glossy black, flecked with
whitish and buff.

Birds of the Roadside and Scrubby Fields. Surrounding the city
are many open plots and unpaved roads where weeds, bushes,
and stunted trees afford protection and food to some kinds of

winter birds. The Slate-coloured Junco
may be seen there in flocks, feeding
upon the ground and rising like wind-
blown leaves to give their flash-signal —
an instantaneous spreading of the tail
exposing the pure white outer tail
feathers. Here, too, may be found a
flock of Tree Sparrows feeding among
the bushes. The indistinct but ever-
present dark dot on the centre of the
grey breast is a convenient" mark of
downy woodpecker identity. The Northern Shrike and the

BROWN CREEPER

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2012 with funding from

Royal Ontario Museum

http://archive.org/details/leafletr01roya

Horned Lark are other species which frequent such situations.
The former appears as a black-and-white bird as it flies from one
shrub to another. It is of especial interest since it kills and eats
mice, although related structurally to the song birds. The
Horned Lark, although a migrant, returns to our fields and
waste lands before winter is over, and in February may be seen
running over bare spots in the road or fields. Perhaps you may
be favoured with its tinkling, musical song if the day is sunny
and it feels so inclined.

BLUE JAY

Birds of the Woods. In the many wooded parks and ravines

in and about Toronto one is certain of seeing or hearing several

kinds of winter birds. The diminutive Brown Creeper may be

found probing with its sharp, curved

bill into the bark-crevices of tree,

from base to bough, for insect eggs

or "sleeping" pupae. Two species

of woodpeckers, marked with black

and white, may be found searching

dead and infected trees and branches

for grubs. The smaller, the Downy

Woodpecker, is almost an exact replica of the larger, the Hairy

Woodpecker; even their notes are similar except in volume.

If you note a patch of red feathers on the back of the head of

any individual it is the male of the species, the female having this

colourful note omitted from her plumage. You may hear the

boisterous cry of the Blue Jay, a bird
which needs no description other than its
name, except to add that the feathers of
its head form a crest. Another species
which may be met with is the White-
breasted Nuthatch. Its position, as it
makes its jerky, zig-zag course, head
foremost, down a tree trunk, may hide

its white breast, but you will note the blue-gray back and the
black top of its head. The Black-capped Chickadee may himself
announce his name, "Chickadee-dee-dee" but, if you would solicit
his intimacy, imitate his high-pitched whistle, "Peeweedee", and
he will leave his business of food-hunting and come down to
see you.

OLD SQUAW

Birds of the Water Front. At Ashbridge's Bay, Toronto Bay,
Exhibition Park, and at Sunnyside, open water is usually to

be found in winter. Gulls and ducks find these places suitable

winter resorts and consequently the

bird student may add to his list by

visiting the water-front. Herring

Gulls, which are usually the most

numerous birds in such places, are

i •. .,, .. ,. , - , , GOLDEN-EYE

white with light, blue-grey backs

and black outer wing feathers. Immature birds are dark
greyish brown. Flocks of Old Squaw ducks, a long-tailed species
which summers in the Arctic, may be seen swimming and diving
in the icy water. The males are conspicuous with their white
heads and necks marked with a dusky spot on each side. The
females are less strikingly marked, but are usually associated
with the males. Two other species of ducks may be noted
quite commonly, the Merganser and the Golden-eye. The general
coloration of the males of these two species may appear very
similar at a distance, both being patterned with black and

white, but the Merganser's dark
head is unmarked and his bill is
narrow, while the Golden-eye has a
^■^ rounded white spot at the base of

his typical broad duck bill on both

MERGANSER J r

sides of his proportionately large
head. The females of these species, although both coloured
with grey and brown, are not likely to be confused if you see

the bill. L. L. S.

COLOURED BIRD PICTURES

Excellent coloured reproductions of bird paintings by the
Canadian artist, Allan Brooks, are sold by the Royal Ontario
Museum of Zoology. These pictures, which are 9 by 11 inches
in size, are beautifully reproduced and are suitable for framing
for home or school. They are sold in sets of twelve at $1.00
per set.

First series includes Baltimore oriole, ruby-throated humming-
bird, goldfinch, blue jay, loon, ruffed grouse, screech owl, flicker,
chickadee and white-breasted nuthatch, belted kingfisher, scarlet
tanager, bluebird.

Second series includes horned grebe, herring gull and common
tern, great blue heron, mourning dove, osprey, downy wood-
pecker, nighthawk, kingbird, purple finch, barn swallow and cliff
swallow, redstart, house wren and winter wren.