Wild Carrots

Wild carrot is another invasive species that is very common around here. I thought of it as Queen Ann's Lace but I'm not sure where I picked up that name. It's also known as bishop's lace, or birds nest. I never paid much attention to it, but after taking some photos of insects on it, I looked it up, and I was interested to see that the carrots we eat are domesticated subspecies. When I think of carrots I think of the leafy greens. Most of these wild ones don't have many leaves, but the few they have are a little similar. I don't recall seeing domestic carrots flowering in vegetable gardens, but maybe we pull them out before they get a chance?

Most of the flowers are white, but some have a light pink or purple color in the early stages. Some of the flowers around the edges are larger.

Zooming in on the underside, you can see the seeds developing at the base of the flowers.

Curiously, some of them have a single tiny red flower in the center. Apparently the purpose has been debated since Charles Darwin. It may serve to attract pollinators. This time of the year, these are one of the most abundant flowers and they're frequently visited by bees, wasps, and flies.

At first I thought the curled up versions were in the process of opening. But it's the opposite, they're going to seed. The flat flower heads gradually curl up and then fall off and become tumbleweeds to spread the spiky seeds. So far I haven't noticed any on the ground. Maybe that happens later in the fall.

Insects & Spiders

I avoided it up till now, but Covid finally got me. I had a few days of feeling awful, and a few more with no energy, but after that I recovered fairly quickly. Although I'm still testing positive, despite no symptoms for days. On a couple of the recovery days I went out for walks with my camera along the railway tracks. It's not exactly the wilderness, but it's overgrown and there are a variety of plants and insects.

Before I even made it out of the yard I spotted this spider beside the garage. I thought it was something different, but it turned out to be the usual Cross Orbweaver. It just looked different because I was looking at the underside. In any case it was quite cooperative with being photographed. Even shining light on it.

Another one in our yard. At the time I thought this was just a house fly, but I think it's one of the Tiger Flies

Continuing the fly theme, this shiny one is a Common European Greenbottle. (Is there anything that's not invasive around here?)

Some of the flies look a lot like the honey bees. I'm not sure if that's deliberate mimicry so predators will leave them alone? I think this is a Common Drone Fly. The following one is a honey bee.

This cute little one is a Yellow-haired Sun Fly

There is one spot where there are lot of Asian Lady Beetles.

And earlier there were (not surprisingly) lots of lady beetle nymphs. These aren't the nymphs themselves, they're shed skins.

Most of the wasps were European Paper Wasps. We have native paper wasps, but the European ones are more adaptable and are taking over. I also saw a white faced hornet but didn't get a good photo.

My "best" find were these Stilt Bugs. (true "bugs" i.e. Hemiptera) I was photographing a flower and went to brush away a little stick, when I realized it was alive. The were about the size of mosquitoes. Despite their tiny size, I managed some decent photos. I thought they were new to me, but I see on iNaturalist that I've spotted them once before. I like the bright red eyes and the long antennae.

See all 20 photos in this batch

Hibiscus

I'm a fan of Hibiscus flowers. They're another tropical plant like Bougainvillea. Innovation Place had some quite large ones in giant pots that were taken inside in the winter. My sister (thanks Clare) gave me a plant when we moved to Victoria. Despite a running battle with a chronic infestation (spider mites?) it manages to survive and flowers fairly often.

The flowers open in the morning, and go quite rapidly (for a plant) from bud to large flower. There's a time lapse on the Wikipedia page. Here's one in the process of opening.

I was interested to see they are related to mallows. Which wouldn't mean anything to me, except that I just (tentatively) identified several flowers along the railway tracks as kinds of mallows.

Here's one more fully open.

The flowers only last one day. After that they neatly roll themselves up and drop off.

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.