Harbor Seals

Towards the end of July we start to see the Harbor Seal mothers hauling out on the island near us. By the end of August they're mostly gone. Sometimes we see a mother on the shore and then soon after, a mother and a pup. Presumably she's just given birth. The pups can swim within hours of birth but they tend to hang around on shore a lot at first. Harbor Seals have a single pup that the mother cares for. The males don't help.

Here is one of the first pregnant ones this year.

And a mother and young pup.

Harbor Seals vary a lot in color, darkness, and pattern. They tend to look darker colored when wet, and lighter when dry. The younger pups have loose skin which they rapidly grow into feeding on their rich mother's milk.

I think this is another pregnant one

visited by a mother and pup. Harbor Seals are normally solitary but at this time the mothers and pups are often seen together.

By the end of August the pups are getting almost as big as the adults.

Note: It might look like I'm getting very close to the seals, but I'm not. These photos were all taken from the mainland which is about 200 feet from the island. I just have a big telephoto lens. If the pups are approached too closely the mother can abandon them. The worst offenders are kayakers and paddle boarders getting within a few feet to get cell phone photos. These seals are accustomed to humans but they are still wild animals. In a recent incident, one tourist kicked a seal pup off a dock and a second tourist jumped into the water to "rescue" it. Craziness. Just keep your distance and let them be.

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All the Diamonds

All the diamonds in this world
That mean anything to me
Are conjured up by wind and sunlight
Sparkling on the sea
- Bruce Cockburn

Great Blue Heron

Nice evening light.

Birds

It seems like there have been more birds around lately. Maybe fall migration is starting. Normally I only see Killdeer on the islands when I'm kayaking but this one was on the shore beside the walkway. Maybe because it was early morning before there were many people around.

Lots of ducks around, and a chance to photograph them with some reflections.

I usually don't bother taking any more heron photos since I've got so many. But this pose struck me as interesting.

In Saskatoon I used to see Red-breasted Nuthatches quite often, but they don't seem as common in Victoria. This one actually cooperated a bit with being photographed.

I don't seem Brown Creepers around much either.

This female House Finch was busy eating blackberries and pretty much ignored me.

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The Raptors

We recently visited The Raptors near Duncan. We signed up for the "Closest Encounter" and so we got to hold some of the birds and see them up close. The first bird we held was a Peregrine Falcon.

He had quite a penetrating stare.

Next we got to let a Harris's Hawk fly down from the trees and land on our glove. It was a little intimidating at first to have it flying straight at you. But it landed precisely and softly on the glove. (for a reward of a small piece of meat) Harris's Hawks are found in the southern US and in South America. They are one of the only raptors to hunt cooperatively in groups.

Last but not least we had a little Western Screech Owl fly to us. It seemed a little nervous and didn't spend long on your glove. A pretty little bird though.

Who needs eyes in the back of their head?

And a few more birds we saw there. I always like the cute little American Kestrels (North America's smallest falcon)

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Cooper's Hawks

I saw an adult Cooper's Hawk in the spring, but once the trees leafed out fully I didn't see it again. Then in mid-summer we had an adult visit our yard. I'm guessing the adults nested somewhere nearby since recently there have been three juveniles around. (I wouldn't know there were three if I hadn't seen all three together once. The juveniles have quite different coloring than the adults. I love the teardrop shaped markings on their breast feathers. I managed to photograph them several mornings. It helped that they were quite vocal (crying to be fed?) which made it easier to locate them. If they'd been silent it would have been much harder, if not impossible, to find them.

As juveniles, they're a bit "goofier" than the adults.

One of them was quite restless one day, shifting around and moving from perch to perch. It made it harder to follow but the photographs are a bit more interesting.

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Fawns

We don't mind when they come and trim our hedge, but some days they get a taste for the flowers. These are Black-tailed Deer which are a smaller west coast relative of Mule Deer. They are regarded as a pest in Victoria but they were here first.

Otters

I haven't seen too many otters lately since that big group around earlier in the spring so I was happy to see these two on my last kayak outing. They weren't sure if they were happy to see me, however!

Dragonflies

I'm falling behind on posting photos again, so for no particular reason, here are some recent dragonfly photos. Dragonflies are pretty cool aerial predators with great eyesight and advanced flying capabilities. One thing that helps with photographing them is that ones that hunt from a perch often return to the same perch if you're patient.

I saw these Eight-spotted Skimmers in Oregon although they are found around Victoria.

Taking photos of birds in flight is hard enough, dragonflies in flight are even tougher. This one was a fairly cooperative subject.

I think the last one was a Blue-eyed Darner, whereas the next one is a Blue Dasher.

And finally, a very brightly colored Cardinal Meadowhawk. I wonder why it evolved that coloring? Maybe to warn birds that it is bad tasting? You'd think it would evolve more camouflage for hunting, but it's probably so fast its prey doesn't see it coming.

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