Small Things

An assortment of seeds and other small miracles and wonders*

OM-1, 60mm macro lens, Lume Cube mini, hand held, focus bracketed and stacked.

* "These are the days of miracle and wonder" is from the Paul Simon song The Boy in the Bubble

Packaged Meals

Who says packaged meals can't be healthy :-)

A Cross Orbweaver wrapping a fly for later consumption.

Combining nature photographer and wine tasting at Symphony Vineyard

Belted Kingfisher

I came around a corner in my kayak and there was a Belted Kingfisher on a branch right in front of me. My camera was still in the dry bag so I backed up in hopes it would stay where it was while I got my camera out. Of course, it didn't, but it didn't move too far. I gradually worked my way closer, taking photos along the way.

Suddenly it was gone from the view finder. It had flown away and I hadn't seen where it went this time. I started to leave, but then I figured it probably would have just moved to another perch further along in the same direction. Sure enough, I spotted it on a signpost.

Belted Kingfishers are one of the few birds where the female is more colorful than the male - with a chestnut stripe across her chest. That would make this one a male.

They are often noisy birds with a loud chattering call. Because of this, a group is call a "rattle" or a "kerfuffle". For a change, this one was completely silent. There don't seem to be many around, so maybe this is the same one I heard and glimpsed last week.

Belted Kingfishers are the only kingfishers we get in Canada. In Saskatchewan they would have migrated south during the winter, but here on the west coast they stay year round.

[Update 2023-07-30] I was photographing seals (from the shore) when I noticed this kingfisher on a piling. Judging by the chestnut stripe this would be a female. She stayed on her perch for as long as I was there. I wonder if she had been preening, given the down in her beak.

Olympus 100-400 plus 1.4x teleconverter (1120mm equivalent, handheld)

Will you walk into my parlour?

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly;
" 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things to shew when you are there."
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."
- Mary Howitt, 1829

The photo below is more like what I saw initially - a dead looking fly or bee on a flower. It was only after looking closer, suspecting what I might see, that I spotted the Goldenrod Crab Spider.

I find I've written quite a few blog posts about crab spiders.

Harbor Seals

Out kayaking again, I came across these two harbor seals hauled out on a small island. I've seen seals hauled out in this area before, but it's a little farther than I usually go. The water was quite calm and the wind was pushing me slowly towards them - good conditions for photography. I got so preoccupied with taking photos that I drifted a little too close to them. I slowly started paddling backwards, but the smaller one (female?) gave me a look, slid into the water, and disappeared. (The larger one completely ignored me.)

I didn't see the fawns this time, but some of the other usual suspects were around.

I've seen two bald eagles around this spot (maybe a pair?) but this time there was only one.

I also heard and caught a glimpse of a kingfisher, but no photos. I haven't noticed any lately so it was good to know at least one was still around.

See all 14 photos in this batch

River Otter Family

We see river otters around the Victoria harbor quite often but this was the first time I'd seen a family with a young one. We first spotted them swimming, but then they got out on the shore and rolled around. When they were swimming the juvenile didn't stay under the water as long as the adults.

If you look closely at these last two you can see the second adult underwater.

The young one had much darker fur than the adults.

Mountain Cottontail

This time at Five Springs (Wyoming) we saw fewer marmots than usual. (Hopefully that was just coincidence and not decline.) We saw more rabbits instead. It was fun to watch them come out on the grass and chase each other around. This one came out after the rain, a bit damp looking.

Orcas

We were watching TV when I noticed our neighbor had come out on the lawn and was looking at something on the water. We went out on our deck to see what was happening. It turned out to be a group of orcas in the mouth of the harbor. I rushed to get my camera, long lens, and tele-extender. By the time I got organized they were already starting to move further away. They were about half a kilometer away when I took these photos.

The kayakers and the people on the point must have got a great view of them.

It was hard to tell how many there were since they were popping up one or two at a time. I would guess there were 4 or 5.

Shelley ran and got my tripod, but I didn't have the right mount handy so all these were shot handheld, at 1100 mm equivalent. Once more I'm impressed with the image stabilization.

It was pretty cool to see them, even if it was from a long distance. Last summer some came into the harbor but I missed them, so I was glad to catch them this time.

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.