Spit Images

Milkweed, Leslie Street Spit, 24 September 2023

There are lots of mink living in Toronto, but I'd never seen one until I took a walk on the Leslie Street Spit (Tommy Tompson Park) last Sunday.

Bruce was laid up with a sore tooth, and I had a hankering, because Georgian Bay wasn't that long ago, to be in the presence of a large body of water.

Lake gull surfing the shore breeze, with surf.

I arrived there early, to avoid both the crowds and the heat of mid-day. It had been more than a year since I'd last been, but the spit doesn't change much. I wanted to take some pictures.

Honestly, I didn't even see the bee when I took this photo.
I was using a long lens and was many metres away.

Turtles sometimes sun themselves by the pool of stagnant water called the Goldfish Pond. I went there to see what was going on.

There was a rough path down to the water and as always I was worried about my footing. My steps were slow and careful. And that's when the mink, coming the other way on the path, popped into view. It couldn’t have been more than two feet away from me.

I stopped and stood still, my camera not at the ready. It was slung over my shoulder, keeping my hands free in case I stumbled on the trail. 

I couldn't take its picture, so I just looked at the mink: the chocolate brown coat, the dark beady eyes, the cute triangular head. It looked a little dirty and had a bald patch at the base of its tail, maybe an old wound or mange. 

I don’t know if it even saw me. With our height difference, it’s not like our eyes met. But it seemed to understand there was an obstacle on the path in front of it, so it chose to go another way. It headed off, not startled, not in a hurry, on the path that branched off to my right. I held still until it was gone.

And, Apropos of Last Week's Post

In 2012 and 2023, I took almost exactly the same shot of the Toronto skyline from the prospect of the southwest end of the spit.

2012

2023

That haze that you can see in the 2012 shot? That was what the air quality standards negotiations were about. The much clearer skies in 2023? That's what the standards accomplished. 

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Not the little guy I saw on
Sunday, but he bears a 
strong resemblance.