The Sam Smith 2013 Bird Fest

Sunday May 26, 2013

Back in 2010 I wrote about the first Spring Bird Festival being held in Toronto's Colonel Sam Smith Park. The tradition has continued since then, and yesterday morning Steve and I headed over to once again check out the displays.

Unfortunately we were a little rushed as I had another commitment to get to, but we were still there long enough to see...

The Sciensational Sssnakes!! Display

Snapping turtle

Eastern fox snake

Steve's new friend.

The Wild Ontario Display

(These guys are from the University of Guelph; the program used to be called the Wildlife Education & Environmental Program, or WEEP.)

Artemis, the female American kestrel

Whistler, the Broad-winged hawk

Einstein, the Great horned owl (we've met before)

Information on Local Organizations

There were lots of displays from some great organizations, such as Toronto and Region Conservation, the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests (LEAF), and the Toronto Beekeepers Co-operative.

Beekeeper's glove

Guests of Honour

Then there were all these guys, who weren't sure what the fuss was about:

Mourning dove

Cormorant fly-over.

Killdeer, looking for parking.

Baby pigeons

Annoyed pigeon father? He sure didn't seem impressed with me.

Parrot. Also a puppet.

Okay, so that last photo wasn't from the bird festival. That was from the later part of my day, when I co-taught my first puppetry workshop. It was on behalf of The Concerned Kids, as part of the TELUS We Give Where We Live day of service.

But that's a story for another blog post.