I went to see If Romeo was home? I haven’t seen him in almost a month! When I arrived at our meeting spot I found a Gull on Romeo’s perch. I told him he better get out of here as my friend was going to be coming over real soon! Which he promptly did when he saw Romeo flying towards him!
I didn’t know KFC deliveries?
A gull was pestering the Daredevil. Eagles are the main target for many birds!
Both Frank & Frieda live on Frank island. They both saw something out in the ocean & went after it. A flock of Seagulls took to flight because they thought they were coming for them!
I saw some fish floating on the surface & they looked fresh! When they did their third kill,the animal must of regurgitated them or been thrown free by the tearing?
I got out tonight but only for a short harbour tour basically.Just as well,all of my fine feathered friends have flown the coup & gone to the salmon runs! Couldn’t find a single one!
I did find many a Blue Heron standing about however! They obviously do not fancy salmon & would have a hard time swallowing them anyways!
So tonight was a hectic Heron night. Beautiful birds but they squawk something fierce!
Today & tomorrow are the last days of Summer.Fall time is my favourite season personally! The sights & smells permeate through ones soul.
Had a short but still relaxing shoot tonight! I can’t wait for my eagle friends to come back!
The weather finally broke & the light was perfect…………but cold!
I headed down to Cannery Bay to see if the Lions were back or not? Unfortunately they were not! Not only were the Lions not back but it appears all the Harbour Seals are gone too! That can mean only one thing……….. “NO FOOD”!
All the small fish cannot be in the inlet. The oceans currents move around like a very large river. The plankton drift with those currents. Where ever the plankton go,the small fish follow & the Lions follow the small fish!
I wonder where all the Lions are hanging out? I noticed Rankin Rocks had a green colour to them. That’s algae. If the Harbour Seals were around,they would be hauling out onto the rocks & thus keeping them nice & clean!
I now am suspecting that the Lions will not be coming back this year at all! Very disappointed!
After going to Rankin I went down Tranquil to take a few of the Trumpeter Swans. Those birds are so skittish that I think the only way I’d be able to get close up shots of them would be to have a submarine! The only reason I have close up shots of them in flight is because they had to fly over me to get out of the inlet!
Left Tranquil & headed back. Stopped at Tsapee Narrows for a visit with The Daredevil. He flew out to greet me! The wind was up a bit so I knew what direction he would be coming in at. Stayed only a few minutes & had to continue on. The sun was close to setting. The sun sure is low in the south!
Went over to visit with Romeo & Juliette at Deadman Island & sure enough my friend came over to greet me! It was our first greeting of the year & he seemed to be happy! The sun was minutes away from setting,so I quickly got some shots of Romeo.
I always hate it when the wind blows. Flat water means good reflection,but disturbed water means no reflection. So the water appears to be darker. Darker water means poorer silhouette’s! (Less contrast between the eagle & the water)
Said goodnight to both of them & called it a day. First shoot of the New Year & to be honest I was disappointed. Without the Lions being around my subject material is few & far between literally!
Maybe I’ll get lucky & run into some Orca’s??
I found these two Gull’s discussing how to put their skates on?
I estimate from the end of Tranquil to this point to be around 5 kilometers.
I shot this at the mouth of Tranquil Creek.
The salmon spawn up stream & die. Their bodies float along the bottom until they come out here! When the next low tide comes,many of these newly arriving dead salmon bodies become accessible to all those hungry Gulls,Eagles etc!
Thats what these guys are waiting for…………the Dinner bell!
I loved the light but couldn’t find any subject matter! Thats when these Gulls decided to fly by! (i think the ones resting on those pilings are Cormorants?)
This needs alittle explanation!
When I came into the harbour I saw both Ernie & Ethel chasing this Gull! I saw Ernie yesterday chewing on a wing & have heard several accounts from folks that both of them are taking Gulls on a regular basis!
There was a gutsy Crow chasing Ernie who was chasing the Gull! It seemed like the Crow was trying to help the Gull!
Well,the Gull won out & avoided being on the menu for the time being? Both Ernie & Ethel perched from the long chase (5 minutes) & immediately began chirping loudly as if to say “WE’LL GET YOU SOONER OR LATER FEATHER DUSTER”!
This needs explanation.
A (not too smart) Gull grabbed a fish directly in front of both Romeo & Juliette. Romeo set upon it right away & the Gull realized that it bite off more than it could chew!( you can see in the second shot of the Gull,it crapping it’s self in fear) Romeo chased & made it drop the fish. He snapped it up & flew away with it. He had butter talons & dropped the fish as well!
The Gull made a move to grab it & realized that that was not a good idea with Romeo so close!
Romeo rules……..Gulls drool!
A flock of Gulls was heading out to their safe resting spots for the night. Most likely on one of the islands with trees on it.
Romeo went right over top of me. I was surprised to see a Gull directly above him.
Looked like the beginnings of a traffic jam?
I didn’t get out yesterday or today. I would of posted something last night,but a large wind storm took out the power!
Today was clean up day in town.
I didn’t shoot anything today,so I thought I’d put up something funny tonight. I took this last Monday.(Jan 23/12)
We had some snow and I was out looking around for things to shoot. While I was down at 4rth St. dock,I noticed a small murder of Crows with a big old Gull sticking out like a sore thumb! All the birds were on a local Fish Farm company’s fence (Mainstream). They’re always hanging around waiting to gobble up any spilled fish feed.
I laughed when I first saw it. I wondered if anybody else had seen it?
I thought the old saying went……”Birds of a feather flock together”! Someone needs to explain that to our fine feathered friend!
Lets pretend for a moment,that Mr.Gull was somehow brought up by the Crows & has always thought of it’s self as a Crow! Just a bit bigger & whiter! Wouldn’t that make a interesting book? ( anyone takes my idea I want 3% royalty’s!)
I bet the other Gull’s would look down their beaks at him!!
Another Frontal system is upon us, so the light looks poor for tomorrow. If the waves get up & It’s blowing out,I may head out to the beach?
Thursday is the day they are calling for pure sun! First thing I’m doing is heading down to visit the Lion’s! They’ve become my ongoing Winter project.
This is the Almond Island Eagle. I have seen them kill Gulls before and noticed that they always eat them on this rock!
So I’m calling this “Kill Rock” because they seem to kill and than eat their prey here.
This is the first I’ve seen the sun in along time! The rear end of this Frontal system was about to pass over. The leading edge of the clearing in behind all this cloud was arriving right at sunset!
Bad timing! Timing is almost everything in photography!
I didn’t walk away empty handed however. I did get some afterglow silhouettes!
It was cloudy and rainy when I woke up but I could see a rather large clearing in behind this Frontal band! As it started to pass over ,the wind picked up! It blew too hard to get out in the boat,so I decided to go out to the beach.
The beach was full of tourists here for the Christmas Holidays!
It made the beach seem that much merrier today!
They do not kill Gulls very often,but I do see it happen from time to time.
While I was waiting to see if the light was going to return to the Lions.I decided to have my lunch. I just sat there with the motor off watching the Lions while I ate.
This Gull saw me eating and hung around me like a dog! After I was done and decided to go check the other rock with Lions around the corner,it followed me!
It followed right behind and above me all the while. Just like if it was my pet!
When I left the Inlet,it followed me for more than a mile as well! I turned while in transit and took a few shots of it.
Crazy Gull
It was a great day today! I got out and headed down Tofino Inlet. I wanted to check in on the Lions down by Cannery bay.
Unfortunately…………they weren’t home! The tide was too high for them to fit on their rock.
I have a theory about whats happening here. During the high tide period,the Lions might be active catching something to eat. By the time the tide starts to drop,they are getting full. The two rocks they are using right now are in the sunshine. They than crawl up onto the rocks and just lay there napping!
They’re not going to move into Cannery Bay right now because that area is in the cold shade at the moment and these guys are HEAT Vampires! There is a large hill to the southeast of Cannery that is blocking the suns rays from getting in.
When the earths axis starts to head back,the sun will move further north and move back into this area. When that happens ,they will start to move back in,but the sunshine “HAS” to be there or they won’t be!
By that time there will be about a thousand Lions barking and growling & these Gulls can forget about this Real Estate!
The moon came up over Meares Island (from the harbour’s perspective) and it looked fantastic! I had trouble trying to find foreground material. I got a few Gulls in front,but that was it.
Another great day out in Clayoquot Sound!
These Gulls were at the mouth of Tranquil Creek. Because it was high tide,they were just hanging around and waiting for the water to drop to expose those juicy salmon carcass’s!
The entire system has been flushed from all the heavy rains we’ve received recently!
All the birds have to do is wait for low tide out in the estuary & chow down!
The river deliverers!
Tofino Photography 