How We Dwell

Part of

Toronto Gone Wild

collection

These cells contain representations of different forms of dwelling, from nests and hives to multi-story apartments. What sort of dwelling do you live in? How does your home connect you to your community?

Belted kingfishers dig holes into sand banks to create upward-slanting tunnel nests up to two meters deep. The upward-sloping design protects them from predators and keeps rainwater from collecting inside.

Kingfisher

Housing development in suburban Markham.

Suburban Row Housing

A concept drawing for King Toronto, a new condo development near King Street West and Spadina Avenue.

King Toronto Condos

Groundhogs enthusiastically dig burrows—usually with multiple entrance tunnels—that sometimes pop up under sheds and garages.

Groundhog

A hibernaculum is an underground cavity where garter snakes congregate to overwinter.

Garter

Amphibians like this green frog hibernate in the muck at the bottom of ponds and swamps.

Frog

Eastern Yellowjacket Wasp's nest hanging from a moss-covered tree.

Eastern Yellowjacket Nest

Ovenbirds build dome-shaped nests from dead leaves, moss, and twigs that look a lot like old-fashioned bread ovens.

Ovenbird

Red-winged blackbirds shelter in nests like these. They’re fierce defenders of their territory. They will dive-bomb larger creatures– including humans– to drive them away from their nests, often attached to cattails in marshlands.

Red-Wing Blackbird Nest

An eastern meadow vole digging through moss and natural debris.

Vole

These are goldenrod galls. Gall flies lay eggs in goldenrod plants, which form galls– a bulging outgrowth– around the egg sac. Gall fly larva overwinter in these galls (which do not harm the goldenrod plants) before emerging in the spring.

Gall

Beavers live in lodges. Lodges are made of sticks and grasses and other plant life covered in mud. They use their tails to smack everything into place.

Beaver

Native bees and flies often overwinter inside the dead stalks of plants in our gardens.

Fly

Some birds, like white-breasted nuthatches, make second-hand homes by renovating tree cavities hollowed out and abandoned by woodpeckers.

Nuthatches

Red foxes, coyotes, and other fur-bearing animals hibernate and birth their young in dens, hollows or caverns underground or in the base of trees.

Fox

A robin's nest located in a Norfolk Island Pine.

Robin’s Nest

Toronto-area Haudenosaunee communities like Teaiaiagon (now Baby Point) lived in multi-family dwellings called longhouses in the 1660s or 1670s.

Teaiaiagon

Animals like rabbits live in underground networks of burrows called warrens.

Rabbit

A female Baltimore oriole watching over her hammock-like nest perched in an oak tree.

Baltimore Oriole Nest

Raccoons, squirrels, and other mammals find our attics and sheds cozy places to raise their families.

Raccoon

Hollows in tree trunks provide homes for many species of birds, while raccoons, mink, foxes and coyotes make use of hollow areas in logs or tree roots.

Hollow

Carpenter ants are large ants who excavate nests in damp and decaying wood.

Ant

Bank swallows nest in the sides of river banks and cliffs, like the Scarborough Bluffs.

Swallow

Squirrels construct temporary homes called dreys by assembling twigs and leaves in the branches of a tree.

Squirrel

A mud dauber building their nest out of mud, affixed to the side of a tree.

Mud Dauber

Mound-building termites live in structures like these, made out of dirt, termite saliva, and animal poop.

Termite

Cliff swallows build colonies of intricate mud nests on large brick buildings like the R.C. Harris Water treatment plant in Toronto’s east end.

Cliff Nest

The "Toronto special" is a distinctively mid-century modern purpose-built multi-unit rental dwelling, typically a triplex or sixplex.

TO Special

Image of a boat-shaped treehouse, which in 2016 faced scrutiny by the City of Toronto for not adhering to by-laws.

Treehouse

A roost is a perch—like a roof, tree, or power line—where birds or bats gather to sleep.

Roost

Colonies of bats overwinter in caves like this one on the Bruce Peninsula north of Toronto.

Bat

A Canadian Cicada perched on the side of a tree.

Cicada

Bumble bees build their nests in dry, dark cavities underground, in thick grass or compost heaps.

Bumblebee

Mason bees building their nests inside bored-out wood. Gardeners can construct their own nesting blocks for mason bees to find homes.

Mason Bee Nesting Block

Cecropia moth cocoon in winter. Moths and other insects mature in soft sacs called cocoons.

Moth

Cockroaches enter our homes through crevices, seeking warm, humid spaces close to food sources.

Cockroach

Monarchs and other butterflies mature in hard, smooth pods called chrysalis which they attach to the underside of leaves.

Butterfly

Eagles and other birds live in nests we call aeries. These are usually built on a treetop, or a cliff. In 2024, a pair of bald eagles built a nest in Toronto for the first time in decades.

Eagle

Domesticated pigeons live in shelters we call cotes.

Pigeon

Many Torontonians live in high rise apartment towers. Mid-century apartment complex called the Cawthra and Mulock Apartments.

Apartment

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