Intrigued? Well here goes - migrants are drifting through - a few warblers (Yellow and Redstart), vireos (Red-eyed and Warbling), Baltimore Orioles in northcentral Ajax and and several Purple Martins along the waterfront today.
Yesterday, I watched a Cedar Waxwing pair feeding on some small moths in a Manitoba Maple near my house. They were foraging by gleaning and by flycatching. What was most interesting was that one of them actually flew backwards for about a metre as it lined up to pursue a fleeing moth. This wasn't a glide or free fall, not a side slip and not a wind driven reaction, but actual and deliberate level flight backwards. Interesting to watch as I've never seen a waxwing do this before. And near Hastings (yesterday) I watched an Osprey presumably cleaning its talons. It would fly about 15 metres above the water and then glide down, with both sets of talons clenched like a fist, and drag them in the water for about 10 metres. It would then flap and gain altitude and do it again. It repeated this over 10 times in succession and then gave its entire body a shake and flew away. The reason for the behaviour was unclear, but it could have been to soothe sore feet (???) or to clean them of fish debris. It was not carrying any visible prey so it was not trying to clean a fish or drown something. It was not bathing itself as only the talons were immersed, never the belly or breast. Any thoughts? email me privately please. Geoff Carpentier www.avocetnatureservices.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
