Has anyone visited Humber Bay Park lately?

[Shortsighted]

I often walked through High Park from Bloor Street to the lakeshore and then westward along the waterfront to Humber Bay park but I have not been out in years due to care-giving duties but I recall a sort of butterfly garden along the gravel path approaching Humber Bay from the east. Has anyone been there recently? Is the butterfly garden still extant? If so, are there many butterflies present and what flavour are they? How many questions am I allowed to ask? Oh, I just wasted a question.
Rosetta McClain gardens was always a good place for butterflies out in Scarborough but there are fewer gardens around now. I've noted a fair number and variety recently just flying across the driveway so I imagine the hot spots must be really good this year. I imagine a lot of things.

[birdstitcher]

Hi Shortsighted,


The butterfly meadow is still present as is the manmade pond where the red necked grebes nest. Humber Bay East itself is closed off to the public from south of the parking lot. They are revamping the entire area with shoreline restoration, pond rehabilitation, and reconstruction of the buildings. Construction finish date is sometime in 2025. Humber Bay West is still open to the public. I have always preferred the east side. It is one of the places I loved to walk to see the birds, especially the winter ducks, the unobstructed views of the city and hunt for beach glass. I have not been in the area since late spring/early summer, after the fences went up, so do not know if there are many butterflies. The whole waterfront area from the Humber Bay Bridge to Park Lawn Rd has been under construction since before the pandemic to improve pedestrian pathways and beautification. Some of the wild charm has been removed in the process and it has now become a picnic area.


Kerri

[Shortsighted]

 Thank you for the thorough Humber Bay (east) report. I had no idea that the site was under renovation/ruin. I suppose that wasn’t really fair. Well intended change often receives a negative review until visitors become accustomed to those changes. Charm and character are quite often sacrificed in the name if efficiency, or perhaps merely adjusting toward a common denominator. The tyranny of masses and all. I wonder what the grand scheme is? How many times will construction work be delayed before completion? Will I still be alive by then?

 
I recall from my last visit there a few years ago that there was notable erosion at locations that previously offered me a good station for waterfowl photography. What comes to mind, now that the site is off-limits, is how I wasted opportunities at these sites because I was too lazy to get real, figuring that I could always come back another time and make the extra effort to get right down to water level, dam the torpedoes.

 
In some spots the erosion was so severe that traversing the previously narrow route was impossible without falling into the water. In late-summer and fall the vegetative overgrowth choked the path into non-existence, so spring was the only time to venture onto these narrow spits.

 
The man-made lagoon is indeed a good spot for waterfowl as they can be easily observed from the boardwalk and doing so seldom causes much anxiety for the birds. Unfortunately half of that lagoon lies against the sun from the boardwalk thus making photography a challenge. Moreover, getting a camera close to water level from the boardwalk is not practical. I often slipped between the bushes and stationed myself on the narrow pebble bank in order to get closer to water level and have the sun behind me. From that location I had to remain very still or use a camo cloth in order to keep the birds calm.

 
As I recall the butterfly garden was mostly overlooked by pedestrians and photographers. The former were either in gossip mode with a friend or glued to their cellphone and the latter were after birds, not butterflies.

[birdstitcher]

I have been working full time nights in the hospital since January. Have not had much time to wander and enjoy the summer. Anyhow, I did manage to get out for a walk on Friday afternoon and went to Humber Bay. It looks like all is done at Palace Pier as the fencing is gone. Humber Bay East is still all blocked off. It looks like progress has been made on the south east edge as there are many more giant boulders and less trees. You are right, that whole area was severely eroded after the high water levels of a couple of years ago. So the work did need to be done for safety. That path almost disappeared in places with the high water. The butterfly meadow did not have much action. I saw one monarch and one cabbage white. Did not get to the west side. It was just nice to get outside and enjoy the day.

[Shortsighted]

Go out ... stay sane ... or go nuts. You did the right thing that day.