2019 Birding Blog: September 2019 - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I visit Point Roberts for gas most weekends, sometimes on both Saturday and Sunday as we have two vehicles. I always make a visit to Lighthouse Marine Park, a beautiful location on the southwest section of the Point.

Unlike the quiet shores around Boundary Bay in Delta, this park is on the open ocean and has a rocky shoreline with a steep drop-off. The difference between low and high tides is about 30 - 40 feet of shoreline. Quite often there are birds that like deep water quite close to shore.

September 8

Only a few photos for this Sunday visit. The first is a pair of common gulls, an adult and juvenile.

Glaucous-winged Gulls - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

There's some good open habitat around the park which attracts this predator looking for songbirds and small mammals.

American Kestrel - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

This shot is a bit fuzzy, but I like the colours.

September 14

I was back again the following Saturday. The shot below shows the pilings to the north of the parking area. It's a good roosting spot for Cormorants (Pelagic and Double-crested) and Gulls. I've also seen a Belted Kingfisher resting here occasionally.

It's not unusual to see a Steller Sea Lion lurking in the water offshore. They can submerge for a very long time, which makes it a guessing game for photography. I was somewhat lucky on this day.

Steller Sea Lion - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

The last highlight of the day was my first Caspian Tern of the year. Interestingly, my next stop for the day was the Iona Jetty in Richmond where I saw many more. That visit is described in a subsequent post.

Caspian Tern - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2019 Bird #171

September 22

There was good variety on this Sunday morning visit. The rocky beach here attracts certain kinds of small shorebirds such as Turnstones, Sanderlings and (occasionally) Surfbirds.

Today, Black Turnstones were on view.

Black Turnstone - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

When these birds are in flight, their appearance changes from the look above.

Farther out from shore I spotted a Pigeon Guillemot. It was transitioning from alternate (Breeding) plumage to basic plumage.

Pigeon Guillemot - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Out on the water, a young gull was wrestling with a Sculpin it had caught. The Sculpin seem to be numerous here.

Glaucous-winged Gull - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Fall and winter are good seasons to see Loons at this location. The most frequently seen are Common Loons (hence the name). At this time they have begun transitioning to basic plumage. I was happy to get a few shots of them in this state.

Common Loon - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

September 28

This was my last visit of the month. There was a good variety of birds on the day, including an unusual visitor.

I don't take too many Crow photos, but these two were interesting. Since I was using my 400 mm telephoto lens, the depth of field is very shallow.

Northwestern Crows - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Here's the unusual sighting. I don't recall seeing a Great Blue Heron here before. The rocky shoreline is not what the bird is adapted for. It was there again the following week and then not seen again. Hopefully it found more suitable habitat.

Great Blue Heron - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

My next sighting was a good one. The Pacific Loon is a beautiful bird. It was quite far from shore and I only got two shots. The picture quality is poor but good enough for positive ID.