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.

Crow

There's some controversy amongst taxonomists about Crow (Corvus) species, the differences between which are difficult if not impossible for the amateur to perceive. So this may be the Common or American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), or the slightly smaller Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus). I suspect this is the latter since it was quite a small crow and hanging out just above the shore along the Westsong Walkway. Wikipedia has some discussion of the taxonomic differences and, as mentioned in an earlier post, crows have their own website, www.crows.net, where you can find out more about their language and culture.

Crow - Dallas Road

It is easy in our cities to forget the larger natural environment that is our true home. Victoria is perhaps more blessed than many cities since most streets are tree-lined, and there are lots of small parks and plenty of avid gardeners, but I am always particularly pleased to see wild animals co-existing with us in urban settings since they remind us that we are not the only inhabitants of this planet. This crow seemed to be a little doubtful when I first approached him for a photo but then he settled down and provided me with the nice profile above. Wikipedia has a good article about crows and how intelligent they are. And, not suprisingly, crows have their own website, www.crows.net, where you can learn about their language and culture.