Scroungers

We were sitting eating ice cream at the Oak Bay Marina when a boat pulled in right in front of us. Soon after, a harbor seal showed up and then a gull. Both of them seemed to be hoping for fish scraps from the boat. In the past people fed the seals at the marina, but that is no longer allowed.

It was nice to have the seal hang around so we could get a better look. Usually all you see is something like this (from a distance) and then it disappears.

Of course, the other ever present scroungers are the house sparrows. They tend to be in constant motion, making them tricky to photograph despite being so common. The other day one tried to grab a piece of my pastry out of my hand. Usually it's only the gulls that are bold enough to try that.

Print of the Week

This is Prairie Smoke or Three-flowered Avens near where we camped on the Blackfoot River in Montana. After pollination (by bumblebees that push their way in), the flowers turn upwards and open up. They then develop seeds with long fuzzy hairs which are the origin of the "prairie smoke" name.

We finally have our picture hanging system set up so I can get back to printing regularly. Viewing photos on the computer just isn't the same as a big print up on the wall.

Marmots

There are lots of Yellow-bellied marmots at Five Springs. Usually they would disappear as soon as they spotted you, but this one was a little more cooperative. Maybe it felt safe with an escape route right behind it.

Marmots are large ground squirrels. Yellow-bellied are one of the smaller ones. Wikipedia says they live in colonies, but I only saw individuals. They make a whistle sound as an alarm cry, leading to their nickname of "whistle pigs".

Photos of the Day

My photography tends to be feast or famine. I didn't take many in the winter, even though, unlike Saskatchewan, it's definitely warm enough. (If you dodge the rain.) But since spring I've been taking lots. In the first six months of this year I took almost as many as all of last year. This batch of photos was all taken on one day, first in an early walk before work, and then later in the day on another walk to do some errands.

I didn't even make it out of our townhouse complex before starting. This is a Flowering Dogwood, as opposed to the native Pacific Dogwood which has mostly white flowers. "Flowering" Dogwood seems like a silly name, since the other dogwoods also "flower".

Although it was early (7:30am), it was warm enough for the bumblebees to be starting. They can't fly if their muscles are too cold, but they can vibrate their wings to warm up.

There are lots of Canada Geese around these days. This year's juveniles are looking almost like the adults now. These ones were feeding on the abundance of seaweed (algae). Of course, I like the background reflections.

I was walking along the path when I heard a strange croaking squawk. Maybe a Great Blue Heron? But I couldn't see any by the water where they usually are. Finally I spotted it in the top of the tree above me. It was an awkward angle for photographs.

I'm accumulating quite a few photos of oystercatchers, but I can't resist their bright red beak and eyes. It's hard to see against the dark background but this one had a mussel in its beak. I wonder how it was going to open it?

Early on a sunny morning is a good time for reflections. Here's one of many. (Good detail if you look closely.)

I got stopped outside our townhouse by the Calla Lilies.

Later, walking by the nearby marina, I noticed a good size Red Rock Crab. I'm always amazed how many crabs there are, especially since the otters and birds seem to pull out a never ending supply.

I noticed another crab, but this one was a Northern Kelp Crab.

I see the crabs quite often, but then I saw what looked like a sea cucumber, which I haven't seen before in the harbor. Sure enough, when I looked at it on the computer, it was a Giant Californian Sea Cucumber. It's fun to see this sea life without even leaving the walkway.

After a coffee stop at Cafe Fantastico, I saw this mother mallard and her ducklings in the water feature by the next door condos.

And where there's water, there's reflections.

I liked the color contrast between these purple flowers (some kind of lavender?) and the red leafed bush behind.

And a final quiz - before you look at the caption, can you guess what this is? (less than 1/2" long)

See all 50 photos in this album.

Print of the Week

This is another one from Wyoming, a Two-tailed Swallowtail.

Shelley and I were hiking and this butterfly flew by us. I paused to see if it might land so I could photograph it. It finally landed about 50 feet away from us. I couldn't really see it, but I had a pretty good idea where it was, so I got my camera out and started moving closer. Shelley was skeptical whether it would sit still long enough, but amazingly it did. It didn't let me get that close and my longer telephoto lens would have been better but I managed some decent shots, including a lucky shot of it flying away.

It appeared to have picked this particular flower, which was the only one like it in the vicinity.