A river otter chows into a large sculpin at East Sooke Park.
This weekend was the Victoria Day Holiday in Canada, so what better way to spend it than out searching for cool things in and around Victoria? Over the course of the past four days, I traveled on the Saanich Peninsula, out to East Sooke, and around the city to various localities to take pictures of natural things. I also spent some time by the seaside in Oak Bay, shooting intertidal creatures for the Cheapskate Tuesday post to follow. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as Catherine and I enjoyed taking them!
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- The Bald Eagles nest at Oak Bay Firehall every year, and are great in the evening light!
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- Juxtaposition of a rainbow and a robin.
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- Three bird species in this shot!
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- My shots of a Camponotus ant colony…Myrmecos here I come!
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- This was my favourite of the bunch, with the water droplets adding to the interest.
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- This hydro right-of-way near Prospect Lake is great edge habitat where I like to go to find lizaards and snakes
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- Full of invasive Scitch Broom of course, but that one is never going away….
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- Gulls near Ogden Point.
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- Ah, East Sooke Park! The access trail is full of slugs, and used to be full of Red-legged frogs as well, but these are getting very rare indeed.
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- Western Red-backed Salamander.
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- Trees, light and rocks.
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- Maggie was our faithful, slightly insanne companion for the hike.
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- Amphipods mating in a tide pool! Check out those claws!
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- Epiphytic growth on a fir.
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- Stonecrop is common in the drier rocky areas.
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- Catherien examines a spider?
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- Unidentified elasmobranch. ID suggestions? The jaws were 16 cm across.
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- teeth of aforementioned elasmobranch.
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- Soldier Beetle.
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- Sculpin above calcareous red alga.
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- Lots of pink!
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- I like this, sea and sky and rock, together with crab.
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- A River Otter feeding.
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- Looking south across the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Washington State and a US Coast Guard ship.
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- Isopods abounded too!
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- Catherine takes a break in the spring sun.
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- Canadian Forces CF18, Note the false canopy, drop tanks and live Sidewinders. My brother tells me it was a coastal patrol flight.
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- Maggie’s mission is to retrieve stuff, even kelp. It is in her nature!
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- A Northern Alligator Lizard at Mt. Tolmie.
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- Many species of birds were feeding on very abundant caterpillars on the Garry Oaks.
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- Frugivore turns insectivore!
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- Granivore becomes insectivore!
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- A Lycaenid.
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- Dysdera crocata, the woodlouse hunter! We found a male and female beneath a log.
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- Check out those woodlouse-killing jaws!
