This short video was recorded last Fall (21). A large tree had come down during the year and bridged the river. I knew during the spawning season in the Fall, bears would use this tree as a bridge. So I set a camera up to record the activity.
I called this Sow “Lady” and her cub “Scamp”.
Lady wanted to scratch her back, but notice that she stopped and looked back to make sure no male bears were following her!
A male will try to kill her cub, so she was being careful.
Category: Wildlife
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!
ON PATROL
SHY BRUIN
SEARCHING
WHO’S THE NEW GUY?
SOMEBODIES PISSED THEY HAD TO MOVE!
This Blue Heron was perched on Romeo’s spot,which I guess is fine for most of the time but not when company comes over for a visit………namely me!
THE COMINGS AND GOINGS OF THE DAREDEVIL
BLUE VISTAS
“WALTER” TAKING FLIGHT
“HAVE YOU SEEN ANY SALMON”?
Many times they will wade into the stream. Like a dog flushing a Grouse,they hope to spook a salmon!
POSING PRETTY
ON ALERT!
If they hear water splashing,they stop to see If It’s a salmon?
SEARCHING
Bears will walk along the river bank looking for dead salmon. They are much easier to catch than the live ones. They have favorite spots they like to check for dead salmon.
ICU
The Harbour Seals catch some salmon,chow down and then lay in the sun! What a life!
CRESCENT EAGLE
STRAWBERRY ISLAND SUNSET
This most likely is Ernie enjoying the sunset.
SUNSET EAGLE CRANE
INTRODUCING “BIG BEN”
I came across a male Stellar Sea Lion. He was here for the food……namely Salmon! They eat anywhere between 10 to 50 pounds of salmon each day!
I’ve decided to call him “Big Ben”…………because he weighs in at 2000 pounds!
CHOWING DOWN
I found this male Eagle eating a freshly caught salmon! Looks like a male Chum.
SEAL OF APPROVAL
The Harbour Seals all hang out together on Rankin rocks. No ground predators! They love laying in the sun! They have all come for the salmon festival!
“THEIR BACK”!
I went down the inlet to check on the salmon run? When the Harbour Seals arrive with bibs on,you know the salmon can’t be too far behind!
UP UP AND AWAY!
Walter took off like the man of Steel himself! One thing about Blue Herons is that they are very beautiful but very squawky! They always sound pissed off! Kingfishers and Stellar jays belong to the squawky club as well!
ANNETTE CUB
I promised Annette that the first cub I saw this year I would name after her. So her you are Annette. I wanted to get closer but there was 200 meters of mudflats between the bears and me.
The cub was trying to overturn a large rock to get at tasty crabs!
A BLUE SUNSET
It’s hard to see but there is a Blue Heron in the top shot.
ROMEO’S SUNSET
NAME GAME
I was pleasantly surprised to see Romeo and Juliette’s latest offspring! It’s hard to tell but I suspect it’s male? He flew over and promptly took the fish Romeo was eating! Romeo didn’t seem to mind.
So the game is whoever comes up with the best name for this male eagle will get a picture of him!
THAR SHE BLOWS!
I was downtown chatting with a few friends when another friend joined us. He was very excited! He said he had just come off of the water and had come across a pod of Orcas! I immediately got excited myself and asked where he had seen them and how many? He said there were 10 and they were heading around Meares island!
I had to go around to 4 different whale watching companies to find out where they were exactly at that moment? I finally found out their location and knew where they were heading. They were in the north and about to go south around Meares island,so I got all my gear together and headed out! I decided to go eastward and then turn northward to intercept!
I figured they’d be in Fortune Channel by the time I caught up to them and sure enough that’s exactly where I found them! The best way to find a whale is to watch for slow moving boats but because of the pandemic there were no Whale watching boats trailing behind. So the only way I could spot them was to keep turning my head from side to side like a human radar looking for the blows!
When they surface they blow which puts a fine mist up into the air. That blow will “hang” and give away their position BUT If it’s windy (which seems to be more often then not) the wind will sweep away that blow concealing their location! I’ve had entire pods go right underneath me and not seen them at all! So If you go looking for whales hope that it’s a calm day or just look for the whale watching boats trailing behind.
I stayed with them for over 2 hours. The light wasn’t great but hey……they were Orca’s! One of them spy hopped (coming up vertical) to see what was going on around but because I was moving fast to catch up, I missed the shot.
This pod is known as the T069’s. It’s a category system for identification of Orca’s. This pod loves to come around Tofino! They are Transients,meaning they eat warm blooded animals,Seals, Lions etc The other group of Orca’s are called the Residents (Southern) and they eat salmon exclusively.
The Souther Residents are few in numbers (76?) because humans are eating all of their food! They eat just about nothing but Chinook salmon which is also a prized salmon for anglers. Many Resident Orca’s have died because of malnutrition over the years! Researchers can tell when they are starving because of the shape of their head. They get what is called “peanut head”. The fat reservers deplete creating this odd shaped head.
The only way to stop this group from dying out is to limit the salmon catch of all fisheries but as per usual so many fisherman cry foul! They want money in their pockets and don’t give two shits about any damn Orca’s!
Homo Sapiens are a species that is unsustainable. Until we can limit OUR numbers and live within Natures bounds we are destined to fail and thus perish.
A PROUD DADDY
I couldn’t let this one pass on fathers day. Here we see the father and it’s calf breaching together!
MAKING A KILL
The bull caught a Harbour Seal! The family would come in and take turns feeding. Even the Gulls and Eagles take turns as a Harbour Seal has a high fat content to protect them from the cold. That fat is lighter then water and so floats to the surface. When you see Gulls massing over the water and diving in that’s a defiant sign that there was a kill.
INTRODUCING THE LUCKIEST HARBOUR SEAL ON EARTH!
I have to tell this story!
When following Orca’s it’s proper to follow from behind and to the side. I was the only boat following them. We were heading southward in Fortune Channel about to pass through Dawley pass. Dawley pass is a narrow passage between Fortune Channel and Tofino inlet. It’s probably about 500 feet across.
I was on the right hand side and decided to hug the rocks as I passed with them through Dawley. I was only 10 feet away from the rocks when the Matriarch came up right beside me!! I just about crapped myself! Then to make sure I did, another Orca breached right beside me as well! I put the engine in neutral and just held my breath! I know Orca’s are very gentle creatures and very intelligent creatures! I knew they would not harm me but that still didn’t calm me! Both Orca’s sounded and joined the rest of the pod going through Dawley.
I exhaled and wondered what the hell that was all about? It took a few seconds but I spotted the reason off to my immediate right…….It was a Harbour Sea! It had hauled Itself out onto the rocks to stay out of an Orca tummy! It must have seen or heard the Orca’s (they are a chatty bunch at times). I could clearly see it was trembling and with good reason!
I suspect the rest of the pod must have caught it’s friend as there was lots of splashing and tail slapping! An indication of a kill.
I was able to get close to this lucky Seal cause there was no way it was going to be going back into the water any time soon! I’m calling this guy “Lucky”.
It took me a few minutes to figure it out but I do believe I accidentally saved this little guy’s life!! By me keeping so close to the rocks when the Orca’s came calling my boat was inadvertently between them and the Seal. There really was nothing stopping an Orca from lunging out of the water and grabbing this Seal ……except my boat. As I already mentioned, Orca’s are very intelligent. I think they knew that If they had lunged at this Seal they most likely would have hit me as well. So they took a pass and said to the Seal…..eat ya later!
This might be an older Harbour Seal as I believe it has either a cataract or glaucoma in it’s left eye?
One of my more interesting moments.
DAWLEY PASS
I shot this just after they passed through Dawley Pass. It’s a narrow channel linking Fortune Channel to Tofino inlet.
LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT
In this shot the Bull was inverted. A Orca is about 25 feet long and weighs in at 5 tons. It also has one of the largest penis’s in the animal kingdom at 8 feet. The Bull (T069C) must of had sex with his partner? How do I know……….when he rolled over he was smoking a cig.
IDENTIFICATION
Researchers have found the best way to ID a Orca is to look at it’s “saddle patch”. The saddle patch is at the base of the dorsal fin. Each is as unique as a fingerprint. They also show unique scaring. Sometimes chunks are taken out of the dorsal making them easier to ID.
A FAMILY THAT SWIMS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER
Two of the family members are out of scene. Trying to get them all to come up at the same time in the same place is kind of like winning the lottery!
LAST SHOT
I sometimes have very strange dreams. When this scene happened, I remembered it and knew it was the last shot. So I turned around and headed back to town.
THE DAREDEVIL
ROMEO
I spent so much time with the Orca’s that I missed the sunset with Romeo,but he still looked great!
CONTRAST
The majority of our greatest inventions have come from observing and duplicating Nature.
For instance,the shape of all airplane wings come directly from the shape of a birds wing! The leading edge is rounded. Air flows over the top edge faster then the bottom edge. Creating a lower pressure on top,which in turn creates lift…..flight!
Eagles are masters of flight!
SUNEAGLE
Whenever you see a halo around the sun it means that rain can be expected within 24 hrs.
GET MY GOOD SIDE
The Daredevil is the only eagle who will approach me……closely!
Such a goof ball!
FINE FEATHERED FLIGHT
A eagle has over 7000 feathers. The largest are the primaries (the 5 feathers at the end of the wing) and the Tail feathers of which there are 12.
Finding a Tail feather is suppose to bring good luck to the finder. Once you find a tail feather put it in a place where nobody else can touch it. It needs to have just your energy on it.
A SUNSET ROMEO
SCREAMING IN
The Daredevil’s new nest is up much higher then the last one. So when he comes down he is coming in at high speed! He has to slow down so he turns his wings on a angle and drops his legs to increase the surface area!
I was very happy to see that Delilah actually flew over to be with me! I think she’s getting use to me! It’s only taken 1 1/2 years.
I went looking for bears tonight but I couldn’t find a single furry butt anywhere? I originally went out because the cloud structure looked great but by the time sunset came around those beautiful clouds had gone bye bye.
So I was skunked on two fronts tonight but my feathered friends once again saved my non-furry butt!
ROMEO’S ACROBATICS
Romeo sometimes likes to change direction very rapidly! He does these about face turns on a dime! Of course it’s all I can do to hang on tracking him!
ROMEO ECLIPSING
A TELL TALE FACE
This male bear was sporting battle scars. This must of happened last year? Once wounded the hair will not grow making the scars more evident.
When bears fight they always go for the eyes. He was lucky! Maybe the other guy was worse?
THE DAREDEVIL
I was surprised to find that The Daredevil/Delilah had built a new nest on another island! About the only reason why that happens is because the old nest fell down. Probably during a windstorm?
The good news is that If it did fall down It didn’t happen while they were nesting! I saw the Daredevil take a fish up to the nest. Which means he has hungry mouths to feed! I could just barley see where the nest is.
He seemed very animated and very active! He hasn’t had eaglets for several years,so he must be excited!
ROMEO
Both Romeo and Juliette came out to do a fly by when I arrived! By the time I got to Romeo’s place the sun had set. I had spent too much time with The Daredevil….but who could blame me! Time flies (no pun) when I’m with my friends!
Tofino Photography 