Tag Archive | gulls

A watery world of gulls

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If you have ever taken the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, the part with the spectacular scenery is Active Pass. This narrow channel separates Galiano Island on the north from Mayne Island on the south, and is a great place to watch out for wildlife. This time of year, thousands of tiny Bonaparte’s Gulls gather in the pass for feeding prior to migration to breeding grounds inland. These gulls have molted into their breeding plumage, and are quite handsome. They are difficult to get close-up shots of, as they are small and shy, and don’t like french fries. Nonetheless, they add to the feeling of abundant life of the sea-land interface of the Pacific Coast in springtime.

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When I can’t get a closeup, a shot like this emphasizing the patterns of the water works nicely too.

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Here the subjects are difficult to discern, but I like the juxtaposition of the small gulls and the big ocean.

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Here you can see some feeding behavior in a raft of gulls.

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The gulls seem to commute from one end of the pass to the other, perhaps following the tides. These waters get turbulent, and I presume lots of organisms get churned out of either end.

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Getting out on deck on the ferry for photography is a great way to spend the time. Especially so now that the weather is fine!

Of Gulls and GoPros

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I have written about gulls before, and exploiting their love of potato-based baits to get close up photos, and I have written about using a GoPro. This time, I combine the two, for a 120 fps free-for all, slowed down to 1/4 speed for your edification.

 

 

Along the way, I also managed to snap a few other cool shots.

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This is a still from the GoPro. Note the extreme distortion and the off yellowish cast.

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And here is a shot from my Canon 60D.

 

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A Pigeon Guillemot on a oddly pleasing background.

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When the sea looks like this, it is almost like a woodcut.

Fisherman’s Wharf, Victoria BC

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Yesterday was my birthday, and after wandering around town for a bit, Catherine, Jeff and I went down to Fisherman’s Wharf to check out the gulls and seals. This is a good place to go to see the harbour fauna, as folks feed the seals, and there are often sea ducks of various kinds hanging around.

We are now headed back to Vancouver, to face dreary skies and a large amount of work.

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Action on the wharf as a kid tosses herring to the seals.

 

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Harbour Seal, doing its seal thing in the harbour.

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Blue sky reflecting on water makes a great background for thr gulls.

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Gulls are another of my favourite birds, loud, opportunistic and graceful, they seem to be a real jack-of-all-trades kind of seabird.

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The local domestic fauna. Watch out for this guy in the springtime, as he gets a little crazy.