June 2010

20

Jun

Grey Whales

Here is one “spouting off” . As you can see the ocean was a bit rough on this day but that did not prevent us from seeing many grey whales that were migrating up the coast of Vancouver Island. The whales were feeding on herring roe according to our guide Lance Blackwell. They were amazingly close to shore and rolling on their sides to feed in shallow waters. These are baleen whales that filter their food from the ocean water. We saw a few whale tails, many whale flukes and lots of spouts in the Broken Group Islands area. It was difficult getting really good photos due to the rough waters and weather conditions but seeing these amazing mammals once again was an awesome experience. Below: Grey Whale tail, flukes and backs.

During this three hour outing we experienced the most fickle weather – hail, sleet, rain, sunshine, mists, winds . . . but it was still more than worthwhile to watch the whales.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

17

Jun

Urban Wildlife – Raccoon

Sometimes we need to learn to share our space with “masked bandits” that roam the nights – the good kind that is. In this case, a very plump raccoon! I was out filling up bird feeders late at night and thought I passed something in the fern patch but thought, no – just my imagination. Well I was not imagining things when this night visitor sat squarely on my sidewalk blocking my path to the backyard. Eventually he wandered into the backyard to get some peanuts that I had put out for the jays and ate some raspberries left on the bushes. I watched him/her roam around checking everything out. They are so curious, unafraid and did not appear threatened by me. Having said that, I did keep my distance. I was more worried about the feral cats that are around fearing a fight but that did not happen either. I watched one of the cats and the raccoon follow each other around the yard neither of which seemed bothered by the other. In the following photo you can see the orange tabby cat beside the raccoon. I wonder what else happens during the night hours when we are sleeping?

The photo below from a previous year – again at night but this time crawled up a tree and watched me from the neighbours roof.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

14

Jun

Red Fox Kit – A Scenario

Here’s the scenario. I am driving home from the Whiteshell on Hwy 44 and from a distance see a fox family up ahead crossing the road. The mother is a black fox, white tip tail ( only the second one of this colour that I have seen ) which is a variation of the Red Fox. She has two kits with her. Momma fox and one kit run towards the bush to the right of the highway and are safe. The second kit runs across the highway to the left on its own. There is fairly decent traffic on this highway and cars were coming in both directions. I had slowed down but still driving I could see that the kit realized it had been separated from its family and starts back up towards the highway. It was coming up on the highway, stopping on the road, going back toward the ditch and seemed confused about where to go. I had visions of another little dead animal at the roadside. So, I pulled off onto the shoulder and chased the kit back down into the ditch area. The kits were quite young and its first instinct was to crouch down and lay still as pictured above. It laid there looking at me. After a few minutes there was a break in highway traffic so I walked around and behind the kit and chased it up and over the highway so it could safely join its mother. I have to believe she was at the forest edge watching for her kit and that they found each other again. The kit was so beautiful with a soft and richly coloured coat of fur. It always makes me so sad to the wildlife laying at the sides of roads being the victims of vehicle traffic. A happy ending I hope.