It was great to spend some time at pine Point in Scarborough today with some people who know the area better. We parked at “the co-op” and spent time in the beach, the pier and the mudflats before a quick stop across the road to see a corner of the marsh we’d never explored.
Here’s some of what we saw:
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| Rock pigeons on the roof as we arrived |
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| The beach area had lots of cormorants and terns |
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| No luck this time |
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Common terns (young and adult) nicely lined up
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| The cormorants had taken charge of this other floating option |
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| We could see that the small fish they were interested in when they broke the surface from time to time |
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| Common tern taking a break |
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| From the pier I got a better view of the attraction |
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| This pair of rock pigeons was on the structure of the pier close to where we stood for a while |
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| European starlings |
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| Canada geese |
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| Osprey |
As far as shorebirds and waders, the ones we saw at first were mostly very distant, but gradually the viewings improved.
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| Black-bellied plover |
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| Dowitcher and semipalmated plover |
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| Dowitchers |
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| Peep sandpipers (likely semipalmated) |
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| Willet arriving nearby |
The willet was joined by two (later three) more, and then by another similar bird that could have been mistaken for another one but proved to be something more interesting.
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| Hudsonian godwit |
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| It was quite obliging |
Comparison shots with the willets (including in flight):
At the marsh we saw snowy and great egrets and a great blue heron.
A great outing. It was followed (and preceded) by some social time and a lovely brunch at the home of two of the group nearby. A great start to the weekend.
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