June 19th: Baby Redwinged Blackbirds and some Red-necked Grebes

June 19th: This is the time of year when baby birds get big enough to leave the nest, but aren't big enough to feed themselves. The bird hanging precariously here is a young redwing blackbird. They are born in nests in marshes, but this little fellow was big enough to hop up some reeds - and then get stuck. He held on awkwardly to two reeds for a bit before figuring out how to hang into just one. He then proceeded to plead for food for the next ten minutes. No parents came to feed him, but I assume they were eon the job somewhere nearby.

Red-necked grebes

I also came across a different kind of red bird - the rednecked grebe, a kind of duck. They are notable because they create floating nests. These ones were nesting on a platform built to keep them coming back year after year. You can see the baby next to the mother. Its siblings were out on the water, making a very loud racket as their father dove down to retrieve fish. (For a video of a father feeding his family, go to our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/naturediary).

Here's an image of an adult male.

I found these birds out a Colonel Samuel Smith park in Toronto, at the bottom of Kipling. It is a lovely place, great for birding, and for a nice stroll.

Baltimore Oriole Nest, June 18th

June 18th: I came across a female Baltimore Oriole in the bushes beside a busy bicycle path near the shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto. As I took out my camera, she flew up to the top of a tree next to the path. I could hear the cry of young birds, so I took a closer look. She had flown up to her nest.

Baltimore Oriole nests are quite distinctive. They are not made of sticks, but hang, like a macrame bag. The young ones live in this sling-like shape.

Over the next twenty minutes, I took pictures of the mother and the father coming by to feed the two young ones. One of the fledglings was standing on a branch above the nest. A second young one was inside the nest, and I could see its head as the parents came by with food. It was devilishly hard to get a good picture as the sun was directly behind the nest. It didn’t help that the parents flew in and usually hung upside down, so they could drop seeds and perhaps berries into  their children’s mouths.

This tree was in a busy spot, right next to a bicycle and pedestrian path near some condos. Nonetheless, it became clear that Orioles had made nests here before, as an older one was hanging lower down on the tree.


Adult Orioles are distinctive due to their orange colour. The male has a dark orange belly, and a black head. The mother is more of a flecked orange. The young ones don’t have much colour at all, being more of a dark gray colour.


Later that day, there was a ferocious storm. I hope the nest withstood the rain.