HARBOUR PADDLE
The sky was clear,so I got the heck out of Dodge for the day!
First thing I came across was this canoe. Neither of them was wearing a life jacket & the gunnels were coming very close to the water! Not the smartest thing to be doing in the middle of the winter. I suppose if they did spill,someone would be very close to pick them up anyways?
Found the two “Beck island” eagles sitting beside each other on the rock in the middle of the harbour.
Continued through the harbour & headed down to Tsapee Narrows. Some movement on shore caught my eye! I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a wolf!!
I thought it was “Salty” for a few seconds,but as we all know,she & one of her pups was shot by a local redneck! (btw,he shot himself a week ago)
I soon realized it was Pepper & the two remaining pups,except they weren’t pups anymore! They not only were as big as Pepper but had the same markings as Salty!
I was so thrilled to see them again! It’s been almost a year since I last saw them! The last time I saw Pepper & Salty was on February 5th! I didn’t see the pups with them at the time.
Pepper was looking heavy & had alittle more grey on his winter’s coat,but they all seemed well! I only had 5 minutes or so with them until they went into the bush. I shut the motor off & waited at the shores edge silently for them come back out along the shore line. After 20 minutes,I started up the motor & went around to the other side of that point of land & waited for them to poke their heads out. After another 20 minutes,I decided to go across to the other side of the channel. The channel narrows here (Tsapee Narrows) & I know they do swim across at this point,so I went over to the other side & waited in the shadows to see if they would swim across. I was getting hungry,so I decided to have my lunch while waiting for them to reappear.
Wolfs are smart & I’m sure they were very aware of me being there! After half a hour I booked it & continued down the inlet to visit with the Lions.
For a second day in a row,there wasn’t a single Lion on “Lion rock”! I think all the Stellers have left the inlet? By this time,a large cloud had covered up the sun,so I decided to go all the way down to the rapids & buy some time. Kennedy lake drains at this point into the ocean.I was very surprised to find 5 or 6 Lions diving about right at the edge of the rapids! Not sure what they were doing? Either trying to get some fish or just frolicking?
Came back to Cannery to shoot the rest of the Lions on that float,that cloud had gone but the sun had gone in behind a hill to the SW & I realized the light was gone for the rest of the day inside Cannery Bay! Took a few of the boys on the float but the light was poor,so I didn’t go nuts.
Left them & went over to Rankin Rocks to see if anyone was home? Nope…….no birds or Seals,so I booked it & headed back to Tsapee Narrows to visit with the Daredevil & Delilah. Both were there,but only the Daredevil was up to grabbing a few fish. She always has a laid back attitude!
Said goodnight to them both & headed back to town all the while watching the shore line for my wolf friends!
Went to visit with Moe & Maggie. They both flew out to greet me! Took a few of them with Strathcona’s beautiful snow covered mountains!
Said goodnight & moved on to visit with Romeo & Juliette. Romeo was at Deadman Island but Juliette was MIA?
The sun had gone in behind some translucent clouds,so the sunset was diffused but still very doable. Took a bunch of shots of my friend flying about. He was frisky as per normal & chirpy! He did have to go escort a intruder out of his territory. They are constantly reinforcing their boundaries with their neighbours!
The Geo-Duck opening ( a large bi-valve mollusk) was still on,so several boats were coming back into town to unload their wares at 1st dock.
Took a few sunset harbour shots & called it a night.
Had a really great shoot today & coming across my wolf friends was icing to my cake!
How interesting…I feel like I was tagging long. Amazing you saw the wolves and also the 2 couples of eagles, for a change, and I hope you’ll see Juliette soon.