STRAWBERRY SEQUENCE

Strawberry island is a small island in Tofino’s harbour. You could swim to it. It’s owned by Rod Palm. A very interesting man in his own right. Rod has been the eyes and ears for whales in the Tofino area for many a year now!

On his island are two tree spires that Ernie and Ethel love to perch on. When I know there are zero clouds to the west,I sometimes come down here to try and get a few eagle/mountain shots! If there are clouds to the west,the setting suns light will be snuffed.

I went down a few nights ago and basically stood around for 1 1/2 hours and nobody came to perch? Strawberry island is about 500 yards away from me, and those mountains (Strathcona) are 22 miles north of Tofino.

I went tonight to see If anybody was home and sure enough there was! I think It was Ethel? Hard to tell at this distance? I say Ethel because she’s taken off before. It’s like she senses me looking at her and so bugs out! Ernie doesn’t do that,but she does. So I think it was her.

From the time I arrived to the point she took off was only a few minutes. I waited for 70 minutes more but nobody came home.

Glad I got her at least,even If she doesn’t like me very much.

ROMEO’S WORLD

There are 365 days in each year and given that you will live to the ripe age of 80 years,this means you would have lived 29,200 days. If you could some how photograph the same spot each day at sunset for your entire life,you would see that no two sunsets are the same. A sunset is like a thumb print,each is unique. Now that doesn’t mean that each sunset could be called “beautiful”. After all beauty is in the eye of the observer.

Personally, for me clouds are very important. They colour the background,like wallpaper. A good picture should be layered with foreground,mid-ground and background. The foreground works best to invite the observer in to explore.

MY FRIEND

I went to visit my fine feathered friend,The Daredevil. He flew out to escort me. It was at this time I had to make a critical decision! Before I left harbour a friend told me about Orca’s being spotted close by for the last two days! So, I could go looking for them but that would mean no time to visit with my friend and there was a good chance I’d come up empty handed, as Orca’s are notorious for not hanging around!

So I decided, a bird in the hand is worth two Orca’s in the water! He was great fun tonight! There wasn’t much of a prevailing wind from the west. So he easily caught me! Once he catches me he kind of hovers like a huge Hummingbird looking goofy!

It was so good to visit with my friend and I didn’t hear about any orca’s being around.

A MAD HATTER RITA

Rita’s eyebrows went up like the Mad Hatter’s! I have no idea why? Might of been the wind?

A RAVEN’S TALE

Rita was posing on a prominent lamp post downtown today, when I noticed the moon was in perfect position behind her! I didn’t have my camera with me and cursed! I rode home as fast as I could and grabbed it and came back……but too late Rita had already flown the coup! I was afraid that would happen! So I sat there for over a hour calling to get her to come back. People must have thought I was crazy! I literally had given up and was beginning to walk back home with my bike in hand when I heard her calling me back! I turned and saw her back on her lamp post! I rode back and began to take some shots of her! She was making these cute single clucking sounds. (Robbie was MIA btw)

Sometimes she would make this single loud call! She looked like a wolf barking madly at the moon! I actually think she was just getting impatient with me and simply wanted her treat!

CRAZY CROWS

I feed the downtown Crows usually each day. They like to perch on my bicycle handlebars. I hand feed these Crows. Others like to perch on a nearby metal container. I call these Crows “Jumpers” as they like to play a jumping game with me!

I toss a piece of bread up into the air and they all jump to grab it! They are very agile flyers! Sometimes one will miss it but swoop back down to catch it on the second try! Several dozen Crows like this game and so the competition can be fierce at times and yes the feathers do fly!

When they see me riding down the street many join to escort me to our gaming “spot”!

There is one Crow who will take a piece of bread from my hand as I am riding. I call this one “Bandit”!

Crows are very intelligent creatures. One of their greatest strengths is in their numbers! Sometimes a Crow will foolishly grab Robbie or Rita’s treat! That’s when a Crow gets beat up and a cacophony of screaming Crows ensues! They don’t call this a “murder” for nothing! It does raise the hair on the back of your neck!