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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Raccoons

There are raccoons living around here but long periods go by when I don't see them. Recently Shelley spotted one in our parking area and we grabbed our cameras to check it out. It ambled across the parking lot, climbed the fence quite adeptly, turned to look at us, and then disappeared. Looking at the photos afterwards, one of its eyes looks damaged.

A week or so later, out kayaking, I spotted a mother raccoon and three kits. The mother looked at me suspiciously, but didn't seem too worried.

After a while the four of them wandered off, Mum leading the way.

A few days later I was walking on the waterfront path and noticed some movement on the beach. It turned out to be another family of raccoons. I happened to have my camera with me and through the telephoto I could see the mother had a damaged eye - presumably the same individual that we'd seen in our parking lot. She must have had her kits stashed somewhere that time.

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Kayaking

Out in the kayak recently, I stopped to photograph a Great Blue Heron. As I was watching, an otter climbed out on the same rock. Looking through the telephoto lens I saw another large bird swooping into the frame. I thought it was another heron since sometimes they chase each other away. But it was a juvenile Bald Eagle, and close behind an adult eagle. The adult didn't land and flew away but the juvenile landed on the rock. Needless to say, the heron and the otter left immediately. I think the juvenile eagle was this year's. It looked like it still had the yellow gape on the sides of its mouth that triggers the parents to feed it.

I was only about 20 feet away but I was sitting still in the kayak and none of these creatures paid any attention to me. The juvenile eagle looked like it made a halfhearted attempt to catch a fish but didn't have any luck.

It didn't take long before the gulls started harassing it, swooping low and squawking. When the gulls or crows make a fuss, it's a good bet that there's a hawk or eagle around. The bald eagle flew away and landed on shore. I was going to paddle over, but the gulls went after it again. This time it flew up into a tree where the gulls couldn't easily get to it. It's a tree where I've seen eagles before

The tide was low and I spotted a few sea stars. This was a new one for me, I think it's a Pacific Blood Star. I noticed the bright color from quite a distance away and went to see what it was.

Not quite as impressive as eagles or herons, but I still like Killdeer and this one was relative cooperative.

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