Frenchman's Bay a Couple Weekends Ago

Not often do we venture to Swan's Marina or Frenchman's Bay as it tends to be a little more busy with people traffic, consumerism, etc. However, we do love the restaurant there, especially in Summer, and as well, Massey's is awesome.

We decided to take a trek out there again and have since been a couple different times in the last 2 weeks as we had heard a Snowy had been seen around there off and on recently. When we first began walking to the pier in Whitby, after having been living in that vicinity for 6 months or so, we spotted a snowy owl one morning out on the rock spit. I did not own a good enough lens that would fit my digital SLR during that time period and managed to grab a couple far away shots with a manual 105mm lens I used mainly for shooting awesome portrait painting reference images on my old film Nikon. However, I had trouble focusing as my eyesight isn't so perfect any more  not that it ever was lol! We miss seeing that gorgeous creature on our walks as it is not there this winter, so we wanted so much to see another again if possible. This time maybe I'd get a better memory keepsake shot since I now have a slightly better chance with a newer 300mm lens.

On one occasion  the snow began falling and it was quite windy. Both times we saw ice fishing out on the bay. We didn't see the Snowy at all, but it was cool to see the Trumpeter swans, especially seeing them fly. We also spotted a mink run across our path 2 times but I was so stunned I just stood there and did not get any photos lol! We also ran into 2 people who let us know that there were 2 minks hanging around under the walkway that goes over the water. We sadly did not get to spot them. Hopefully one day. I was so surprised to learn just recently that we actually have minks in Canada lol! A Merganser sat out in the bay on one visit, preening itself for quite some time, then swam off.

There are tons of ducks there. We especially love seeing the Buffys.

One thign we did see is a beheaded Long Tailed duck on the cement outcrops, the head in one spot, part of the body and feet in another. Perhaps a gruesome endorsement to the Snowy Owl's presence after all. I did take a photo but probably it is a good idea not to include it on here :-)

Earlier this year, we were lucky enough to see a Black Swan in Frenchman's but it seems to have moved on or been rescued, one or the other, and is hopefully ok somewhere.