Month: May 2014

THE BACK IN BLACK “DAREDEVIL”

Eagles, Tofino Birds, Tofino Eagles, Tofino Wildlife

20140530-IMG_554220140530-IMG_5543I’ve been getting out every night now for a week! I was feeling tired today from this every night grind,so I got out later than normal & only did a harbour tour. Harbour tours are my way of saying I’m not going to be doing much.
I went down to Tsapee Narrows & visited with the Daredevil for half a hour.Delilah must of been on the nest. Their nest is so hard to see! It’s tucked inside a tree grouping on one of the islands. Most eagle’s nests are out in the open.
The light was excellent but I did see some a cloud layer near the horizon. The Daredevil does these extremely fast swoops from a high perch! He looks like he’s doing a kamikaze dive! After a brief shooting session I said goodnight to my fast friend & headed into the harbour. I diverted over to Morpheus island to visit with Maggie. I come around the north side & she was there to greet me! She’s such a sweetheart!
I got her in several different poses tonight. I couldn’t of gotten better shots. The light was excellent!
Said goodnight to my feathered girlfriend & went over to Deadman island to visit with Romeo & Juliette. Romeo flew out from Beck island to greet me as per usual. Than Juliette joined him! She does this from time to time. Poor Romeo usually gets knocked off his perch by her! She didn’t make him move tonight but Romeo did hop to a lower perch a few minutes later.
By this time the sun had gone into that low cloud near the horizon. It diffused the light tremendously. I haven’t been able to get a shot of them both in golden light yet! It’ll happen sooner or later.
I took my shots for the night & because the sun was getting snuffed,I decided to slowly head back across the harbour & call it a night.

Than it happened!!! I noticed off to my right (west) a series of blows! It was a pod of Orca’s coming into harbour! I couldn’t believe my luck! Plus,I was the only boat out there! I had them all to myself!
Because of the failed light,I realized the only shots I could take were silhouette’s. I was with them for about a hour or so. They were heading down the inlet. I later heard that they spent the night up around the Bedwell/Matleset narrows area. Rod Palm believes them to be the T023’s or AKA “Motley Crew”. Here is a link that will better describe themhttp://www.whalesafaris.com/whale-safaris-news/2534

Any time I run into Orca’s, it’s a good day! I wasn’t expecting tonights shoot to be so exciting,but it sure did end with a bang!

BEAR & GLACIAL ERRATIC

Bears, Tofino Bears, Tofino Wildlife

20140529-IMG_5363This boulder is not from this area. As a matter of fact,it’s probably came from a location several hundred miles away! It was picked up by the last glacier,taken along for thousands of years & than dropped when the glacier began to melt! These boulders are called “Glacial Erratic’s”.
Think of it like snow shovelling. When your moving forward,you pick up snow & maybe some gravel. You move that gravel along with the snow & deposit it else where. Than when Spring arrives,you see where you pushed all that gravel by the side of the driveway.Thats basically whats happened here.
Amazing to think this boulder hasn’t moved in ten thousand years or so & will last for hundreds of thousands of years more. It looks like it’s granite too which is a very hard rock to erode!