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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Cattle Point

I was going to post another sunrise photo today but I realized that they are a little like cupcakes - one is fine but a steady diet is a bit overwhelming. After I had glutted myself on sunrise yesterday at Willows Beach I went down to the end of the beach marked by Cattle Point. I was amazed by the variety and busy-ness of the wild life off that point. All these photos were taken within a few minutes.

Above is a female American Wigeon. There were lots of Mallards as well and a few other kinds of duck but the latter were so shy I was unable to get close enough to identify them. On the left, poking about among the rocks was a Black Oystercatcher. These birds always amuse me because they seem to be trying to be inconspicuous but those eyes and that beak are a dead giveaway. To the right, seemingly traveling in tandem, are one of our local seagulls and a Harbour Seal.
There seem to be more than the usual number of seals around lately. I see one or more pretty well every time I am down near the shoreline. Last night while on the West Bay Walkway I spent about a half an hour watching one dine off a dense school of thousands of small silvery fish that were swimming directly below the walkway.

3 comments:

JoJo said...

The oystercatcher is amazing! I've never seen anything like it before! Love the cute little seal and seagull pic, and also the duck.

I, for one, never tire of sunrise and sunset photos.

Mike Laplante said...

Re: birds...

We've had a stellar jay showing up at our bird feeders recently (or maybe more than one, who knows?) -- the first time in the 5 years we've lived in the area that I've ever seen one. They seem to be appearing at nearby Swan Lake as well.

Maybe the deer, rabbits, coons and bears have put the word out -- Victoria is open for business as far as wildlife goes... :)

Dean Lewis said...

Victoria is fantastic for wildlife spotting almost everywhere as these photos show. I've seen deer at the top of Mt. Tolmie at dusk, and this week a bear has been rambling around Cordova Bay area gorging berries before hibernation.
Someone told me about a recent TV story about a Cooper's Hawk afficienado who has counted dozens in the city.