Westsong Walkway

Usually when I go for a walk locally I just walk along the West Bay Walkway that follows the shoreline of the westernmost part of the Inner Harbour. However, the northeastern shore of the harbour skirted by the West Song Walkway is just as nice and has some lovely vistas.

Victoria International Marina Update

I walked along the Westsong Walkway yesterday specifically to see how this new marina for luxury yachts is developing. You can see for yourself in the photo above - the new marina is the platform on the left. If you look at the small red rubber buoys you can see the extent of the marina out into the waters of the harbour. Here is a link to the Victoria International Marina website where you can see a conception of the finished marina. It occupies a large portion of the Inner Harbour where it is quite narrow so there were concerns about all the traffic that would be squeezed together - seaplanes, harbour ferries, pleasure craft, canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, etc. I believe the solution offered is that small craft such as canoes and kayaks will travel along the shoreline and pass beneath the two buildings on the wings of the marina. You can see below that there is probably just sufficient space for this. The new marina is slated to open in June 2017

Arbutus

The wind died down today and it didn't seem so cold so I went out for a walk along the Westsong Walkway to see how the new luxury yacht mooring is progressing. We'll have a look at that tomorrow but for now here is a photo of a tree that caught my eye this afternoon. The bright orange-red wood of the Arbutus turns this lovely silvery color when the tree dies.

Arbutus Extinction?

I've noticed recently that there seem to be a lot of dead or dying Arbutus trees. These are a native tree here and I have often photographed them over the last 8 years. There seems to be a popular belief that many more are dying than is normal but there is no consensus as to the reason or even as to whether this is true. Some scientific opinion is that the trees are dying due to a variety of fungus diseases. Others think that these diseases are more common now because of environmental changes such as global warming and fire control. It may also be that those I see along the walkway are all more or less the same age and are leftovers from when the area had more wild bush. I quite like that the city is not rushing to remove the dead trees since they are like silvery tree sculptures but I hope that there will be young replacement Arbutus trees visible soon.

Westsong Walkway

Always changing, always beautiful. - Fern

Westsong Walkway

Usually these days I walk westwards along the West Bay Walkway but the other day I took a turn heading east towards the city along the Westsong Walkway. It's the same walkway that goes around the Inner Harbour but the different parts of it have different names.

Westsong Walkway 2

Here's another from the Westsong Walkway a few days ago. I haven't been able to get out much for the last few months and have only resumed my daily walks along the shore recently. We are very lucky to have such a splendid waterside path available to us. This morning it was almost crowded with joggers and walkers but everyone seemed to have a smile and a greeting for fellow strollers.

Westsong Walkway

Yesterday's photo was taken from Rainbow Park Viewpoint looking westward. Today's photo was taken from the same place looking east along the Westsong Walkway towards the city. Rainy weather means lots of gray gloom but it also means dramatic clouds and light.

A Learning Experience

Photography is a fascinating hobby. I've taken several hundred thousand photos over the last 5 or 6 years and I am still learning more about the art every day. I mentioned last week that I have been experimenting with Pentax Takumar "legacy" lenses. They are called "legacy" because they are left over from the days of film cameras. Most of the Takumar lenses I have are 40 to 50 years old. Fortunately their metal and glass construction ages well. They mostly come from the time before autofocus and autoexposure so they are nearly fully manual - not quite in that although I set the aperture and focus manually, I am happy to let my camera choose an appropriate shutter speed. Lately I've been experimenting with de-focused backgrounds, mostly using these Takumar Lenses. This technique is widely used by photographers to isolate and accentuate the subject of the photo - particularly portraits. I can't say as I've got it under control yet but here are a few examples of the technique.

Westsong Walkway

Here's a little different view of the Westsong Walkway that goes from Vic West to Songhees Point (just off screen to the right). This photo was taken from the RV Campground on Work Point.

WOW Lighting

Rain from those clouds cleared the air and then the sun peeked out low on the horizon from beneath the clouds to produce this amazing light.

Family

I know, I know, I've already posted a photo of some Canada Geese goslings earlier this month, but can you ever have enough baby geese? And this group is a little bit special since they must have hatched right along the Westsong Walkway somewhere. They were swimming just offshore when I was walking there yesterday morning and these babies are too young to be flying yet. I say this family group is "special" because while many different kinds of birds hang out along the urban shoreline, most go elsewhere to nest and raise their young.

Hands of Time 1 - Carving a Canoe Paddle

Last week I posted a photo of a small sculpture that recently appeared on the Inner Harbour Causeway wall. It is only one of a series of twelve sculptures of hands engaged in various activities that have been installed here and there in the downtown area and nearby. This one is located in Lime Bay Park southwest of the Songhees (Westsong) Walkway. It depicts hands carving a canoe paddle to recall the local First Nations Lekwungen culture. The canoe paddle was designed by First Nations Artist Clarence Dick. All of the sculptures are by Crystal Przybille and over the next few weeks we'll take a look at all of them.

North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis)

It always gives me a thrill to see wildlife here in the city and it has been some time since I was privileged to sight an otter. Although he was swimming yesterday in the salt water near the shoreline along the Westsong Walkway, he's a North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) and not a Sea Otter. Sea Otters are found in the coastal waters of Vancouver Island but not in the Victoria area. I particularly like to see otters because they are sometimes used as an indicator of pollution - they are very sensitive to pollution.

Dawn

Winter Morning 2

We're having a lot of these cold gray mornings lately. Here's what the city looks like from the Westsong Walkway.

Cold Paddling

Well the cold weather may have caused some ducks to move around recently (see yesterday's post, below) but it did not deter these members of the Ocean River Paddling Club.

Juvenile Brown Pelican

The flock of Brown Pelicans that are currently visiting Victoria is a mixed group of adults and juveniles. Yesterday I posted a photo of an adult and above is a photo of one of the juvenile Brown Pelicans in the group.

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

It was exciting to hear a few days ago that a small flock of pelicans were visiting Victoria (Thanks, Dean Lewis). Apparently they are visiting here from further south because of seasonal shoals of some kind of small fish. When I first saw them they were all perched on a small island in the Inner Harbour off the Westsong Walkway. I rushed home and dusted off the 500mm super telephoto lens and voila! The flock is a mixed group of adults and juveniles and we'll have a look at some of the others tomorrow. Above is an adult Brown Pelican.

Unwelcome Visitor

I could hear the gulls' angry cries long before I reached the shore and saw the eagle they were harassing. Eventually he tired of the in-air chase and landed on this small island. Gulls perched on telephone poles and trees along the walkway continued to broadcast their danger signals as long as he rested there. The Canada Geese didn't appear to be worried by his presence but as soon as he took off the gulls were after him again.