Our plan was to stop at the Newport aquarium, but it was raining and a lot of it is outdoors. Instead we tried to find a coffee shop. The ones I picked out in the historic waterfront didn't work out, but we could hear the sea lions so we went in search and found where they were hanging out. I see that the spot is actually labelled in Google maps. Despite the rain, we stopped long enough to take some photos. There were lots in the water as well as on the dock. As usual, they were quite vocal.
At this rate it'll take me forever to cover this trip. Shelley is doing a lot better at keeping up. Nonetheless, I'll continue to post as I have time. The nice weather held another day and we continued down the coast, first stop Elixir Coffee.
This small bay was covered in birds so I pulled over to photograph them. The traffic going by didn't bother them, but as soon as I walked over with my camera they all took flight. Zooming in on the photo I think they are Northern Pintail ducks.
Cannon Beach is another favorite stop, first for a walk on the beach with views of Haystack rock, and then to refuel at Insomnia Coffee.
We ended up that night at Cape Lookout State Park where we enjoyed another beautiful sunset on the beach.
Walking back to our camp site we came across this Greater White-fronted Goose.
See Shelley's post
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I'm already a week behind on posting photos from our latest road trip. I just keep taking new ones and don't get around to posting the previous ones. It doesn't help to be camping where often the only internet is on our cell phones. And brief coffee shop wifi isn't enough.
We caught the 10:30 Coho car ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, ate our lunch at Lake Crescent, and stopped for the night at Kaloloch, on the west coast of the Olympic peninsula.
There was a short nature trail across from the campsite. It was late afternoon and the light was going so I didn't take a lot of photos. There were some good ferns and mushrooms.
There was a sign for a lodge just .5 km down the road so we walked down there to check it out. Crossing the bridge over the river I had to photograph the reflections.
We had a glass of wine and a cheese plate with a view of the ocean. The sun was just going down as we left the restaurant.
We walked back along the beach to the campground. The sun was down, but there was still color in the sky.
See also Shelley's post
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We had planned to go see the raptors when we were in this area a few weeks ago, but it ended up raining. The forecast looked good on Friday so we drove up. It's a relatively small place, but they have a good variety of birds and usually some of them are out where you can photograph them without a cage getting in the way.
The first one that was out (being held by one of the staff) was a Gyrfalcon, the largest falcon in the world.
Next was one of the smaller owls, a Western Screech Owl.
The flight show is always good to see the birds in action, not just perched. It started with a Bald Eagle. It takes Bald Eagles a number of years to get the white head and tail. This one was almost there.
It was still learning to pick fish out of the water.
Harris's Hawks are one of the only raptors that hunt in groups, cooperatively. They live in the southern US but I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild.
The Barn Owl was the most entertaining. It was not in a cooperative mood and would not land on the presenter's glove. It would only take its treats from the posts. And it kept flying off and perching in the nearby trees. (The birds have radio trackers in case they decide to wander.) When it was time for the owl to leave, it refused and the show had to be cut short because they couldn't bring out the next bird while the owl was still out. Another trainer came and eventually lured it out of the trees.
There were several American Kestrels, the smallest and most common falcon in North America.
There was also an Aplomado Falcon.
Coincidentally, driving home from the raptor center we spotted this wild Bald Eagle.
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I did my weekly long run yesterday since it was supposed to rain today. But it was calm and sunny first thing this morning so I got out kayaking. As I paddled around the little island in front of our place I spotted a pair of Harlequin ducks. Now I know winter is coming. They were shy at first, swimming away faster than my slow unobtrusive paddling.
I was just about ready to give up and leave them in peace when they got out of the water and stood on the shore for me to photograph.
As usual with birds it's the male that's colorful. I probably wouldn't recognize the females if they were on their own.
According to iNaturalist the peak months for observations in BC are October and March so I guess they are on schedule. We usually have a few around all winter.
See also my previous post with more photos
A few photographs from a walk along the Gorge.
There are still some flowers hanging on.
And one of the crazy magnolia trees had a few out of season flowers:
Fall is the season for the Cross Orbweavers:
There were Canada Geese on the gorge and when a bunch took off they looked good backlit by the low sun. So I set up to catch the next group when they took off. Which they didn't, despite some kayakers going by. Eventually something triggered them to take off and I had a few seconds to catch them in action.
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We saw this Belted Kingfisher in Cowichan Bay on a railing overlooking the harbor. Usually you hear their chattering call before you see them. But this one was silently watching us. I happened to look up and there he was. I assume it's a male because it doesn't have a brown stripe on its chest.
These Broad-leaved Sweet Peas (I think) are common "weeds" around here. I love their bright color. All summer I was thinking I should take some photos of them, but it never seemed urgent since they were so common. Now summer is gone and so are almost all of these flowers. On my long run yesterday, I spotted these ones, but at that point I wasn't up to carrying flowers. Today I went for an easy recovery run and took a few home to photograph. My mother always liked sweet peas and my father used to take flowers indoors to photograph, so I figure I'm following the family traditions.
I just thought of these as wild sweet peas but when I looked them up, I found they are yet another non-native species. I really start to think nothing is native around here, not even me!
