Title photo - Surfbird Rock at Clover Point

November Monsoons

Nov. 9/09 - As I sit here on another dreary November morn the rain is pounding like a drum on my metal roof and the winds are gusting up to 50 k's. On the tube Mark Madryga has just mentioned that the gusts are up to 110 k's somewhere in Howe Sound and 90 k's off Victoria. I think this all has to do with El Nino winters or have I got it all mixed up? Regardless, life goes on and we do what we must just like the birds.

During the past week we did have 2 dry and occasionally sunny days, but I was busy on both which seems to be the trend lately. My only outing was an uneventful rainy day circuit of my usual spots - Kaye Road, San Malo, French Creek, and Qualicum. That's my lame excuse for not having much to share with you, and I'm sticking to story. All right, there's another excuse. I've been preparing for 2 craft fairs and 3 presentations as well as experimenting with prpeparing prints for the fine art market. I'll elaborate later after the Great Blue Heron photos.

The bird of the week was the Black-headed Gull reported by some folks who were doing a seabird survey off Qualicum. Some of our dedicated local birders checked all the gull locations from Qualicum to Deep Bay yesterday and were finally rewarded by the appearance of the gull at the Big Qualicum River. The Black-headed is a rare east coast visitor and an excellent sighting. Kudos for the skill of the original observers and the dedication of those who expended the effort to confirm the report.

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(Oct. 28) A Flicker With a Difference - On my last trip to Victoria, there were Northern Flickers all around the Nature House at Swan Lake. One of them caught my attention in a tall oak tree. It had a black moustache. The one quick photo I managed to get confirmed the yellow tail feathers. It was my first photo of a live Yellow-shafted Flicker. The only other one I had ever seen was a road kill in Parksville. The Yellow-shafted is quite uncommon on V.I., but the few that are must breed regularly with the Red-shafted based on the abundance of hybrids.

Fox Sparrows were plentiful around the feeders, but they all stayed hidden from the camera. I finally found one in the open on the path to the floating bridge.

There was one American Coot at Esquimalt Lagoon fraternizing with the Mallards, American Wigeons, and Northern Pintails.

I had enough pictures of the pintails from my last trip so the coot got most of my attention this time. I love the size 20 feet.

For some reason everybody loves the Great Blue Heron. A few weeks ago I had some of my favorite photos framed for the fine art market. Guess what the best seller was. Yes, it was the heron. In fact, it was a heron standing in the long grass across French Creek. The whole scene had the effect of an oriental water colour. If anyone in the Comox Valley or Campbell River is reading this, I promised to donate 10% of the sales to local environmental, educational, or rehabilitation programs. So far I have $100 to donate. It's not much but it's available. I need some suggestions so email me if you know of a worthy cause, or drop in to visit me and my photo exhibit on Sat. Nov. 14 at Graham's Jewellers in Courtenay from 11 am to 3 pm

With success of my first heron print I'll be keeping an eye out for more interesting shots. Now if this one had a 5 pound fish in it's bill ...

As usual the Surfbirds were the main attraction at Clover Point. (They were the only attraction.)

They were feeding in the surf along the rocky shoreline.

My goal was to try to catch the birds in the surf.

The birds were cooperative but the surf was a little more unpredictable. I think this looks more like a bubble bath than the surf.

There's always juncos to photograph if there's nothing else around.

Here's a common scene at Qualicum by the viewing stand - the usual winter gang. The only one missing was the Black-bellied Plover. For all you budding photographers, this is an excellent location to practice your craft. There all always these local shorebirds as well as Harlequin Ducks, and occasionally a very rare gull. During the herring season there's a lot more.

What more can I say about the Black Oystercatchers? I'm just glad to see them especially on days when there's not much around. In the past I've rarely seen juveniles here, but there seems to be a few this year.

I used to have a lot of difficulty with the exposure for the oystercatcher because I had the camera set on spot exposure. I'm doing much better now that I'm exposing more of the field and letting the camera deal with the correct exposure.

My first Dunlin of the fall ... Last year my first was in Sept.

Common Mergansers are a common sight at French Creek. I wouldn't be surprised if this one was raised there.

Big and Small - If you had to decide whether these two birds at Parksville Park were different species, what would you decide? The little Cackling Goose stayed in close contact with two large Canadas. I think it gave the little one a sense of security being next to big brother.

At first I thought this was the smallest Cackling Goose I had ever seen, but I think the problem was the big geese it was fraternizing with. The comparison skewed my perception when in fact it was just a normal-sized Cackler.

Even eating can be a tiring task.

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Bird Poster

My posters are on display at: Victoria - Swan Lake Nature House; Nanoose Bay - Credit Union; Courtenay - Graham's Jewellers

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PUBLICATIONS

VOLUME I & II BOOKS AVAILABLE AT

PARKSVILLE & QUALICUM - MULBERRYBUSH BOOKSTORES

NANAIMO - SAVE-ON FOODS (WOODGROVE),
SAVE-ON FOODS (COUNTRY CLUB), CHAPTERS, FALCONER BOOKS

PORT ALBERNI - CLOCKTOWER GALLERY

COURTENAY - GRAHAM'S JEWELLERS

SIDNEY - VICTORIAN BIRD HOUSE, TANNER'S BOOKSTORE

COMOX - BLUE HERON BOOKS

BOWSER - LIGHTHOUSE GIFTS

DEEP BAY - SHIP & SHORE

SAANICH - WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED

VICTORIA - BOLEN BOOKS, MUNRO'S, CROWN PUBLICATIONS, IVY'S

CAMPBELL RIVER - SAVE-ON FOODS, COHO BOOKS, CAMPBELL RIVER MUSEUM

DUNCAN - VOLUME 1 BOOKSTORE

CHEMAINUS - WILLOW"S WILD BIRD STORE

LADYSMITH - SALAMANDER BOOKS

NANOOSE - SCHOONER COVE MARINA

LAKE COWICHAN - GALLOPING MOON GALLERY

TOFINO - BOTANICAL GARDENS

QUADRA ISLAND - EXPLORE & BOOK BONANZA

LANGFORD - WILD BIRD CENTER

SOOKE - READING ROOM BOOKSTORE

SOOKE - MUSEUM

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