Birds in our backyard

Here are some of the birds we have seen:
hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) hummingbird: These tiny wonderful birds were in our apple trees at blossom time.
ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus) warbler. This little one crashed into our big picture window and died.
robin (Turdus migratorius) thrush
cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) cardinal: We have lots of these all year round, especially in the spruce tree out back.
red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis): This surprising bird alerted us through its distinctive cry. At first we thought it was squirrels fighting, but then saw it sitting on a railing. Its size is shocking!
chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina): This little bird surprised us by flying through our open sliding patio doors and attracting the attention of the beagle. This little one is quite tame and charming.
black-throated green warbler (Dendroica virens): This little bird was lying on the patio bricks and then suddenly my naughty little beagle sniffed at the bird and looked at me (Zoo) all confused (luckily he didn't eat it alive). The bird allowed me to pick him up and we brought it inside, identified it, and took care of it. The call is Zoo-Zee, Zoo-Zoo-Zee.
gray-cheeked thrush (Catharus minimus): The Beagle alerted Zoo to this little bird who was easily taken in hand. At first view, we thought it an Ovenbird, but clearly a thrush, although at first we thought it a Swainson's thrush, but the bird lacked the warm orangey-yellow plumage on the neck and upper chest. The eye ring was distinctive, but it must be less so than the Swainson's.


Links:
Checklist of the birds of Toronto
All about birds from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Books:
Birds of Toronto and Vicinity from Lone Publishing
Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds from Little Brown (taxonomy by colour)
Eastern Birds, Peterson Field Guides. This is the "Birder’s Bible" using the"Peterson System". It has been replaced by a newer volume which includes central North America.
Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds. This guide has photographs rather than sketches and comes with a formidable DVD featuring 5.5 hours of vocalizations in 587 MP3 files, each embedded with an image.Guide des Oiseaux de l’Amerique du Nord. Guide d’identification sur le terrain (Marcel Broquet, Quebec, 1983) [out of print]

Pic a bois (woodpecker)

We were in the forest when we heard "tap-tap-tap". This is the distinctive sound of a woodpecker. Quietly, we tried to locate the woodpecker. We expected it be on the trunk of a tree up higher than us. It didn’t take us long to find him perched on a fallen tree pecking at the bark. He was not aware of us. We took pictures from as many angles as possible. Zoo tried to crawl in off the path in the deep snow to get a closer shot, but the bird noticed and flew up to a nearby tree. When we came home, we uploaded our images to take a look. We took a bird book and we went to the woodpecker section. We decided that it was the Downy Woodpecker (Pic Mineur), but then we realized that it was the Hairy Woodpecker (Pic Chevelu) because it is a bigger bird with a longer beak, but otherwise is identical. The Hairy Woodpecker is bigger than a robin and smaller than a pigeon. The tummy and the middle of the back are white. The wings are black with a white stripe. The head has black and white bands and the male has a spot of red right on top of the head. With Photoshop, we were able to zoom into the image to examine the beak.

Resources: Eastern Birds, Peterson Field Guides. This is the "Birder’s Bible" using the"Peterson System". It has been replaced by a newer volume which includes central North America.
Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds. This guide has photographs rather than sketches and comes with a formidable DVD featuring 5.5 hours of vocalizations in 587 MP3 files, each embedded with an image.
Guide des Oiseaux de l’Amerique du Nord. Guide d’identification sur le terrain (Marcel Broquet, Quebec, 1983) [out of print]
Cornell Lab of Ornithology