Orca Pod

May 20, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

For those who have told me recently they miss the orca when they are not here on the BC coast – a northern resident orca pod photographed in Johnstone Strait last summer.  The northern resident orca pods will often arrive and stay close to the Johnstone Strait area from early July until late October/early November, but often throughout the year, one or two will be occasionally spotted just checking out the area, and mid-spring can often be found a little further north, possibly following in the wake of the herring run.  Hopefully we’ll see some more of these guys soon and as soon as I do, I’ll post some on here.  For now though, more can be seen here: Orca Gallery

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

May 17, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

The Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) is a common sight along the BC coast in spring and summer, but spends the winter at the southern end of the province and further south down the coast.  This colourful and busy little bird has a two part call that seems to be telling the world spring has arrived and it will feed on insects in the spring and summer and loves berries, particularly the ‘waxy’ variety in the fall and early winter. The males (seen here), as with many other birds, are the much brighter coloured of the sexes, but the females are lighter in colour with ‘softer’ yellow patches in similar spots to the males.

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Harbour Seals – Chilling Out

May 13, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

Here’s a shot of some Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) from late last summer, as you can tell it was a pretty good weather day for the BC coast and these guys were just hanging out basking in the sun and trying to cool off on a log. Although normally quite skittish around humans, these five weren’t too phased as we went by in a small zodiac – of course their reaction would have been different if we’d have been transient orca, or if we’d altered course to approach them.

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Trillium

May 10, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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A native perennial of temperate North America and the provincial flower of Ontario – the Trillium (Trillium ovatum) is also a common springtime sight throughout British Columbia’s wetlands, riverbanks, temperate forests etc.  These little plants, members of the lily family, not only have three petals, but usually their leaf growth or ‘whorl’ down their stem also comes in threes.  As they begin to die off, some change colour to a spectacular dark pink or magenta colour, before retreating back in to earth to await next spring.

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Fishing Spirit

May 6, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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Here is a shot from last fall on the BC coast – a spirit bear (Ursus Americanus kermodai) hot on the tail of a pink salmon.  A large splash of water spray can be seen to the left of the image from the tail of the salmon as it makes it’s way up river and this has caught the attention of the spirit bear. He was successful and left the river with a large pink salmon for his efforts.  More spirit bears can be seen in the spirit bear gallery.

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Cormorant Rock

May 3, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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Actually, this is Mittlenatch Island, in the Strait of Georgia on the BC coast just south of Quadra Island.  It is a Provincial Park and home to a very large seabird colony which includes Pelagic Cormorants (Phalcrocorax pelagicus) and their much larger cousins Double Crested Cormorants (Phalcrocorax auritus) and lots of guano!  Amongst other seabirds, the island also plays host to thousands of Glaucous-winged Gulls that come to nest here in late April & early May each year. The waters surrounding the island (out to 300m) are also protected under the auspices of the park and these are rich in shellfish such as abalone as well as marine mammals such as harbour seals and steller sea-lions.

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Bear Food 2

April 29, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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Around this time last year I published the post Bear Food!  So this spring I thought I’d publish a shot of another spring time favourite of bears, this time the rather pungent ‘Skunk Cabbage’ (Lysichiton americanum).  These plants are often found in moist, muddy and or swampy areas close to creeks and rivers and are often one of the earliest plants to bloom – however, it is not what is above ground that the bears favour, it is the succulent corms and roots beneath which they will dig up and devour, leaving the bright yellow flower & stem and the large green leaves strewn across the mud.  When flowering, these plants do give off a rather distinctive aroma, especially when there are a number of them in close proximity.  In the past, some first nations communities here on the BC coast – during times of hardship – have eaten the bitter skunk cabbage by steaming its cabbage-like leaves and eating them as a vegetable substitute.  Dried, the large leaves have also been used as a lining for baskets and boxes.

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Springtime Cubs

April 26, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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Here are a pair of black bear cubs of the year, taken early spring a couple of years ago.  The cubs were hesitant at first to come out on to the shoreline - this could well have been their first day down on the shore. With a little coaching from mom they soon ventured out and as their confidence gained they began to explore amongst the rocks and bushes of the BC coast and I was fortunate to spend a little time watching them.

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Sea-Lions

April 22, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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Here is a recent shot showing both species of sea-lion that can found on the BC coast, the Steller Sea-Lion (Eumetopias jubatus) and the California Sea-Lion (Zalophus californianus).  Both species are seen here together ‘cooling off’ from the early April sun by raising their flippers up out of the water in this way.  The ‘Cali’s’ will head off south soon to bread and by May will be gone from BC waters until the fall.  In the meantime, Stellers remain year round and can often be found in large congregations of hundreds and in some places thousands of animals.  More sea-lions can be seen in the Other Wildlife gallery.

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Mute Swans

April 19, 2013 by Steve W Photography | Comments Off

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Here is a shot taken back in February.  These three Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) were wintering on a marsh on the North West Coast of England.  Here in British Columbia, a few can be found year round on the southern coast.  An alien species to western Canada – they were first introduced and used to ‘adorn’ Victoria City Parks in the late 1880′s.  Today, a small population exists in the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island.  At around 60inches, they are a similar size to the more common winter visitor the trumpeter swan, but they have a distinctive orange bill with a bulge at the top between the eyes.  It is unlikely the two species would be seen together as mute swans can be quite aggressive and will chase their similar cousins away from feeding areas.

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