On the Water Again

It was a holiday, and a day off from running, and not too windy, so I headed out in the kayak again.

I went back to the little inlet where I'd seen the fawn and otter last time. Neither was around, but I did see some movement on the beach that turned out to be a family of raccoons - two adults and two juveniles. I was lucky to have the wind behind me pushing me slowly closer so I could stop paddling and not scare them away. But at some point something made them decide to leave and they traipsed off down the beach and into the bushes.

This time I managed to spot a couple of sea stars out of the water (it was quite a low tide since it's almost full moon). One was a nice plump Ochre Sea Star.

At first I thought the other one was a sickly Ochre Sea Star, but it turned out to be a Leather Star. I see it's supposed to have a distinctive smell of garlic and sulfur, but I'm afraid I didn't notice it.

I spotted the juvenile oystercatchers again, but once more they scurried away before I could take any photographs. They looked a little bigger and their beaks a little redder. This Killdeer was a little more cooperative, although it didn't sit still long either.

The purple martins were still around the nesting boxes. They are quite vocal birds.

There were a number of Great Blue Herons around. They seem to come out for low tide. This one flew by, landed on the piling next to me, gave a squawk, and then proceeded to clean its bill on the piling.

It was a bright sunny morning with some good reflections.

All these photos (and the last batch from kayaking) were taken with my OM-1 (formerly Olympus) and the 100-400 mm lens (200-800 equivalent). I'm impressed with the versatility of this combination. It's small and light enough to hand hold, and the image stabilization works remarkably well. (Important on a rocking kayak!) It focuses quite close so it's also good for photographing insects without getting too close and scaring them away.

See all 15 photos in this batch

Kayaking

The wind was calm enough this morning to get out in the kayak. (I should get paid by Oru - every time I go out people stop to ask about it.) I took my camera this time, mostly because last time I didn't and I saw two bald eagles.

The first things I noticed were the oystercatcher chicks/juveniles. At least I'm pretty sure that's what they were. The looked liked smaller versions of the adults watching over them except their beaks weren't orange yet and they were fluffier. They ran away before I could get my camera out, but they looked something like this.

I spotted a couple of sea stars which was good because I hadn't seen any for a while. One was orange and one was purple (although they're called Ochre sea stars). They were too deep for photos.

Next I spotted this river otter. (Sea otters have been seen around Victoria but they're rare. The otters we commonly see are river otters, even though they are in the ocean.) This one was on the shore but by the time I got my camera ready it was in the water. It seemed curious about me.

In the same small bay, while I was photographing the otter, I noticed a fawn on the shore. There was no sign of its mother around but it seemed fine. Deer are regarded as "pests" in Victoria but I still enjoy seeing them. Even when they eat our flowers :-)

There was also a Great Blue Heron watching over the same beach. Birds and other animals are often less nervous when you approach by water.

Western Purple Martins are the largest swallow in Canada. In 1985 they were down to only 5 breeding pairs on Vancouver Island, due to loss of habitat and competition from non-native starlings and house sparrows. Thanks to nesting boxes installed on pilings, their numbers have risen. But they are now threatened by their reliance on human provided nesting sites which are declining.

On my way back a harbor seal was popping up around me. They're hard to photograph because they don't spend much time on the surface and they can swim a long way before surfacing again. I was lucky enough to catch this one as it was checking me out.

From a distance it can be hard to differentiate otters from seals. River otters tend to make shorter dives, spend more time on the surface, swim on the surface when moving from place to place, and you often see their tail when they dive. Harbor seals on the surface often have their back showing as well as their head, as in this photo. And they tend to just sink out of sight when they submerge.

Raccoons

Waiting for the Coho ferry in Port Angeles I saw movement on the beach below the pier and saw two raccoons. A few minutes later a third one joined them. The first one I saw was chewing on what looked like the remains of a large crab. I'm not sure if it caught the crab or scavenged it. They were searching around under rocks so they might have caught it but it seemed quite large for a shore crab.

Cicada

This Cicada flew into our van as we were getting ready to visit the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. It sat quite peacefully to have its picture taken. I've seen these cicada around Five Springs before but I wasn't expecting one at almost 3,000 m (10,000 ft) with snow all around. I assume these are annual cicadas, as opposed to periodic cicadas that synchronize their emergence every 13 or 17 years (note the prime numbers to make it less likely predators will synchronize). Annual cicadas still spend up to 9 years underground as nymphs, but they are not synchronized so some emerge each year. You may not have seen a cicada, but you've probably heard them.

And a photo of me and the cicada, courtesy of Shelley. (my new profile picture on iNaturalist)

Osprey

We saw various osprey along the way. This first one was at the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre (near Osoyoos) where they have some nice nature trails. We were taking photos of an osprey sitting on its nest when it suddenly launched into the air.

The next one was at the Sundance Recreation Area just outside Laurel, Montana on our way to Five Springs. We saw it fly by overhead and a few minutes later it returned with a fish that it took to a nest platform where it ate it. After finishing eating, it called loudly for quite a long time. I'm not sure what the calls were for.

Both shots were against bright skies which isn't ideal.

Hirsute Paradise Spider

Here's an interesting Hirsute (i.e. hairy) Paradise Jumping Spider from the Osoyoos Desert Centre. (Worth a visit if you like nature walks.) Notice the big pair of forward looking binocular eyes for hunting. It was quite small, less than a centimeter (1/2 inch). As usual, I only noticed it when it moved (on the walkway).

Mountain Bluebird

Shelley and I are on a road trip. I've been taking lots of photos (as in thousands) but we're mostly camping so I haven't been posting. Here's one of a cooperative Mountain Bluebird. This was on top of Medicine Mountain near Five Springs in Wyoming. Snow made a nice white background.

And here's the female, less flashy than the male, as usual in birds.

Walkabout

Here's the last selection of photos from my recent walk around the neighborhood.

The hummingbirds are common but often it's hard to spot them. This one landed where I could see it, but only very briefly. Luckily I already had the telephoto lens on the camera.

This time of year the Silver-spotted Tiger Moth caterpillars are common. They feed on Douglas firs but they crawl around on the ground a lot for some reason. They're actually native for a change.

It's a wonderful treasure to have tide pools virtually right outside my door. I should spend more time exploring the abundance of life in them. The Victoria harbor isn't the cleanest, but we're towards the mouth of the harbor, and the tide going in and out keeps the pollution diluted.

The sea anemones are the most common and obvious. I think they're Aggregating Anemones. The white threads you can see at the bottom right below were also alive. They came out of holes in the sand, and were waving around, presumably catching some kind of food. I think they might be the tentacles of Spaghetti worms.

I'm not sure why this one was closing up. I like the green/yellow bubbly texture when they close up like this.

The barnacles were also feeding. I tried to catch them with their tentacles out, but you had to be quick. The one in the center has it's tentacles out. They sweep out to capture food. I realized afterwards I should have just shot some video. Barnacles are crustaceans, related to crabs and lobsters.

This crab was hiding between the barnacles. I actually didn't spot it until I was looking at the photos on the computer.

And there's lots of smaller stuff. I only spotted this tiny amphipod because it was moving.

Of course, where there's water there are ripples and reflections.

I like it when there's a lot of fine detail in the reflections like this - a result of the background and the shape of the ripples.

See all 45 photos in this batch

More Flowers

An assortment of flower photos from the neighborhood. 

These rhododendrons are right at the corner of our house where I can see them from my desk. They're wet from the sprinklers. These ones start out with a lot of color, but it gradually fades as the flowers open up.

Chestnut trees in blossom are an amazing display. Most are white like this, but there are some pink ones too.

There are so many flowers growing "wild" around here. Most of them probably aren't native. I use the PlantNet app to try to identify them, but it often struggles. It thinks this is Valerian.

This is common along the walkways, maybe Periwinkle?

I don't see these tiny (1/2 inch) flowers as often. Maybe Common Stork's Bill?

I think these are Bluebells, which are common here in the spring.

And the wild roses are blooming. There are multiple kinds here, this might be Nootka Rose.

Spiders

With the beautiful weather I couldn't resist a walk around the neighborhood with my camera. I didn't even make it out of our parking area before finding my first subjects - small spiders on the stucco wall of the garage. I spotted this small (~ 1/4 inch) Zebra Jumping Spider and took a few shots before realizing it was stalking a small moth. It slowly approached the moth and then when within range, jumped the final distance to capture the moth.

Notice the big forward looking pair of eyes, good for binocular vision for hunting.

I also spotted several of what I think are Running Crab Spiders (Philodromus), possibly Eurasian. The first black one is a male, and the other is a female.

Last but not least, I spotted this Cross Orbweaver on its web in the sunshine.

Curiously, all of these are introduced species. Why would they be more common than the native spiders? It's not surprising that they get carried between continents. But why are foreign ones common here? Why aren't Canadian spiders common in Europe, for example?

Photos of the Day

I looked up from my desk and saw a small hawk glide by and land on the light post. I watched him for a few seconds and debated whether I had time to get the binoculars. But it seemed to be settled so I thought I'd see if I could get my camera out and change lenses quick enough to catch him. Amazingly, it stayed put, even while I came out in the yard below it. The light was fading, but cameras and software can do a lot these days.

The iNaturalist Seek app only identified it as an Accipiter, either a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Usually with a reasonably clear photo it's not hard to identify birds. But these two species are very similar, at least to a non-expert. I posted it on iNaturalist and it was soon id'ed as a Cooper's Hawk.

The last few mornings, when I looked out the kitchen window I could see a spider and web highlighted by the morning sun against the shaded bushes. I decided I'd better get a photo. Looking through the macro lens, all I could see was a blur. I'd triggered their defense mechanism of vibrating rapidly on their web, making it hard for a predator to see them. It soon settled down. I had to go and get my little led panel to even up the lighting between the bright sun on one side of it, and the dark shadow on the other side.

It looks like the large Cross Orbweavers we see in the fall, except this one was small, less than 1/4 inch. I posted it on iNaturalist as well, but there aren't as many spider experts as there are bird experts and so far no one has suggested an id.