October 29 Part 1 - Sailboats and Sanderlings at Point Roberts

Maybe I should just change the title of my blog to Point Roberts birding. Lighthouse Marine Park is one of my favourite places, and it's hard to resist the cheap gas across the border.

On this Sunday, this first thing I saw on arrival were a bunch of sailboats quite close to shore. I think these were sailing classes but I could be mistaken.


Sailboats at Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

On the birding front, I got a nice shot of a cluster of female Red-breasted Mergansers. I think the bird in the background is a Grebe.


Red-breasted Merganser - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Suddenly a flock of Sanderlings flew past heading south east.


Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

There wasn't much else to see other than the sailboats and I was preparing to leave when the Sanderlings reappeared, now heading north-west.



They settled down quite close to where I was standing. I believe that the brownish birds are Dunlin, another bird that is usually with a flock.



It looked like the flock was here for a daytime nap.



However some of the birds remained alert in case trouble came their way.



Here's a short movie of them:

As I was returning to the parking lot, I spotted this loon accompanied by a pair of guillemots.


Common Loon and Pigeon Guillemots - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I returned to my car and headed over to Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta.