Reflections

Time for another dose of light and color reflected in water.

And so it's not all abstract, here's a harbor seal amidst the reflections.

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River Otters

I don't take much video but when I saw these otters out in the water I knew still photographs wouldn't look like much. So here's some video for a change. It gives an idea of how frenetic they are. If you're reading this by email or feed reader and there's no video below, you can watch it directly on YouTube.

I saw this group of seven when I was kayaking. They were on one of the navy no trespassing islands, probably a good safe spot for them.

These four were just near our place at one of their usual spots.

Sunrise Heron

I've taken photos of a heron on this rock a few times but I think this is my favorite so far. I like the cool blue in the bottom half contrasting with the warm pink of sunrise reflected in the top half.

Anna's Hummingbird

It's always nice when one of the local hummingbirds cooperates with having its photo taken. Even a plain background. I usually hear them more than I see them.

Painted Lady

I came across this Painted Lady butterfly at the Gardens at HCP. It was late in the season but there were still flowers to feed on. Painted Ladies are the most widespread butterflies in the world, found on every continent except Antarctica and South America. They make long range migrations like monarchs. In most years, Painted Ladies move north out of the deserts of northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. to temporarily colonize the United States and Canada.

For a change it didn't take off immediately, perhaps more sluggish with the cooler weather. Or perhaps wanting to take advantage of the feeding site. It also helped I was using a telephoto lens so I didn't need to get too close.

These photos are all of the same individual, the only one I saw.

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Sunset

Taken with my phone on an after supper walk. Victoria doesn't get a lot of colorful sunsets like this. In the summer it tends to be clear skies and in the winter thick cloud.

Cormorant

I like the turquoise eye. This Double-crested Cormorant was sitting on a piling drying its wings. To help them dive, they have less oil on their wings, but that means they get wet and need drying. Another result of being specialized for diving is that they are a little more awkward taking flight.

Photo of the Day

From one of my pre-work morning walks. I like the contrast of the gray and white gull against the reflected fall colors.

Strathcona Provincial Park

Strathcona Provincial Park takes up a big chunk of the middle of Vancouver Island. I've wanted to visit for a long time, but never got around to it. Finally we took a few days and headed up there. It's not the easiest park to access. We stayed at Campbell River for two nights and visited the north east end, and then we spent one night in Courtenay and visited the east side. It's a huge park and we barely scratched the surface but at least we can say we've been there.

On the way there we stopped at Kye Bay (near Courtenay/Comox) to eat our lunch on the beach. When we got to Campbell River we visited the Discovery Passage Aquarium. It's small but we always enjoying seeing more of the local sealife. The octopus was even out roaming about rather than hiding.

We found a nice vegetarian restaurant for supper - Meraki.

The first morning we hiked in Elk Falls Provincial Park, along the Campbell River. When you drive into Campbell River there's a big sign saying "Salmon Capital of the World". But then you find out the river is well and truly dammed (or is it damned). They need a hatchery to produce fish and they have to bring in gravel by helicopter to promote spawning. I was expecting to see Bald Eagles and Osprey, but the closest thing we saw were Turkey Vultures.

I also spotted a Kingfisher but it was across the river and hiding in the bushes.

The morning reflections were nice.

Next we drove to the end of Upper Campbell Lake to get to the corner of the park where we ate our lunch on the shore near Buttle Lake Campground. There were lots of dragonflies but none of them sat still long enough to be photographed.

On our way back we stopped to see the actual Elk Falls. I had a telephoto in hopes of birds so I could only take a closeup of part of the falls.

Pacific Wrens never sit still for long, but I managed to catch this one.

Back in town Shelley thought this sculpture reminded her of someone :-)

The next day we did a longer hike (10 km, 3.5 hrs) at Paradise Meadows from the Mt. Washington ski area. There were lots of Bog Blueberries to snack on along the way. The birds were also enjoying the berries.

There were lots of mushrooms everywhere. I think these are Fly Agaric, one of the few that I have a chance of recognizing.

The clouds were hovering and occasionally descended on us.

There were quite a few birds around, mostly Dark-eyed Juncos, Canada Jays, and Stellar Jays.

It was past the flower season, but there was still some Fireweed remaining.

Our final morning we made a brief stop at Millard Nature Park just near Courtenay (next to the big box stores!). According to the sign it was logged when we weren't as "efficient" at clearing the land, so the habitat regenerated quite quickly. Good to know we're more "efficient" now. Heaven forbid we should leave remnants of nature still alive after our pillaging.

Vancouver Island isn't known for its fall colors, but there are occasional splashes of color.

The weather had turned to rain, but the slugs didn't mind. Slugs can be tricky to identify but I think these are a Pacific Banana Slug and a Meadow Slug, both native for a change.

And of course, more mushrooms and other fungus.

See also Shelley's posts - Part 1 and Part 2

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