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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Cadboro Bay from Cattle Point

I visited Cattle Point on the eastern shore of Victoria to see if there were any shorebirds there. It's a beautiful viewpoint, especially for looking north towards Cadboro Bay, which view is pictured above. I didn't see any shorebirds aside from a few Black Oystercatchers but thanks to a friendly birder who alerted me, I was able to add a new species to my life list, the Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata). The photos below are only suitable for identification. My only excuse for such poor photos is that the Rhinoceros Auklets were so far offshore as to be little more than black dots to the naked eye and not much larger through a 500mm supertelephoto lens. However, in the photos below the distinctive white eye plumes and projecting horn at the base of the upper bill are clear identification features.
Cattle Point seems to be a good place in general to view some of our urban wildlife. The photo below shows a Northern Otter, a Crow and two Canada Geese sharing a bit of rocky shoreline, quite unconcerned by a photographer and a class of primary school students roaming around in the near vicinity.

3 comments:

JoJo said...

the otter is so cute.

William Kendall said...

Spectacular setting!

I find myself wondering what the otter is thinking....

Stephanie said...

Cute otter and Canadian geese shot, but that sky, wow in the first shot. Love it!