Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)

I was out at Esquimalt Lagoon on the weekend and managed to capture this close-up of a Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia). I have seen Caspian Terns at the lagoon before but never more than three or four. On this day this bird was the only tern I saw and he was content to stay on the ground while I was around. I was hoping that after he had given me some static close-ups he would do some fishing. These terns are a pleasure to watch when they are hunting. They hover high above the water like kingfishers and then suddenly plunge down onto the small fish that are their prey. The first recorded sighting of a Caspian Tern in this area was in 1959 but since then they have been regularly seen in the summer.

Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)

The first time I saw terns like these I had no telephoto lens with me but that didn't stop me from enjoying their hovering and missile-like diving. The photo above is the second time I saw them out at Esquimalt Lagoon but they were quite far away and mostly obscured by the many seagulls surrounding them. I am not 100% certain of my identification of these birds as Caspian Terns. They are the birds in this photo with the large red bills. The distinguishing feature that I think identifies them as Caspian Terns is the black feet and legs visible on the tern just coming in for a landing in this photo.

Along the Coast

Continuing to browse through the May 2010 folder that yielded yesterday's post, I came across this one taken the same day. The photo is taken from Fort Rodd Hill (you can see the gun emplacement on the right of this photo) looking westwards and shows the proximity of Esquimalt Lagoon, created by that long spit of land that cuts across the water in this photo. Esquimalt Lagoon is a bird sanctuary and one can almost always depend on seeing a half dozen different species of duck, blackbirds, swans, geese, herons, shorebirds, seagulls and terns as well as the occasional otter. The lagoon is only a few minutes drive from Fort Rodd Hill. Much of the forest in the right center background belongs to Hatley Park, another splendid place to visit and see the wonderful gardens and Hatley Castle. Directly behind me as I took this photo was Fisgard Lighthouse. This catalog is just to indicate how rich and varied is this section of coastline that lies on edge of the Greater Victoria area.

Smart Birds 2

Here's another example of intelligent birds. The seagulls pictured above and below were photographed out at Esquimalt Lagoon. Both photos were taken within about a half hour I spent observing these gulls (and others) flying past with these clams in their beaks. They catch the clams in the shallows of the lagoon and then fly over the road to a nearby bunch of large boulders. As soon as the gulls are above these rocks they drop the clams from high enough so that the force of their fall onto the rocks cracks the shells. The gull then swoops down and enjoys his shellfish.

Smart Birds 1

Western science has been slow to recognize intelligence in animals. I suspect this is because since we began to get our food from agriculture there has been little need to observe animals closely in the way that hunters do. I always enjoy seeing animals think and above is a little example I saw out at Esquimalt Lagoon. Great Blue Herons usually wade around until they catch a small fish. Getting their catch from the end of that long beak into their mouth is usually just a matter of opening the beak briefly while tipping the head back so that the catch slides down towards the throat. I've never seen a heron lose a small fish while doing this so I watched with interest when the heron pictured above caught a furiously wriggling eel (above left). I figured he was going to lose it for sure as soon as he opened his bill in order to slide it down towards his mouth since the eel was whipping itself back and forth vigorously. What the heron did in this situation was to wade in to the beach and up onto the shingle. There he dropped his catch on the pebbles where it couldn't swim away to safety. The heron then stabbed it a few times (above center). Once it had stopped moving he picked it up and swallowed it in the usual way (above right). If you think about it, this is a wonderfully complex series of actions. I wonder whether this bird figured this method out for itself or whether it is behavior learned from other herons. I had been watching this heron for some time and earlier saw it twice catch small fish and swallow them without killing them on shore first.

Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)

I appear to have caught some kind of infection so here is a photo from a few weeks ago of a male Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon.

American Wigeon (Male)

Ten days ago I posted a photo of a female American Wigeon (Anas americana) taken at Cattle Point. Here is the male of the species, photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon last week.

Brewer's Blackbird (Male)

The day before yesterday I posted a photo of a female of this species, a rather demure lady with tasteful brownish gray plumage. Here is the male Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) with his dramatic yellow-eyed glare. From a human perspective this bird looks angry - always. I wonder if his enemies also interpret his intensely staring eye as ferocity and shy away from attacking him?

Brewer's Blackbird (Female)

Mixing sociably with the starlings pictured yesterday were a couple of kinds of blackbird, Red Winged and Brewer's. As is often the case, the males bear the most distinguishing marks of the species so I am not certain of my identification here. However, I think this is a female Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus). This species is named after the American Ornithologist, Thomas Mayo Brewer.

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Disappointed by the lame wild bird photos I've been taking lately, I decided it was time to head into the countryside once more. I went out to Esquimalt Lagoon yesterday and gorged myself on the birds. I am sure these birds are aware that the lagoon is a migratory bird sanctuary since they seem to be less fearful every time I visit. The photo to the left will give you some idea of the richness and tameness of the bird population there. You can see two kinds of swan (Mute Swans and one black-billed Trumpeter), a Canada Goose (just behind the Trumpeter Swan), pigeons, a male Brewer's Blackbird (extreme lower right), mallards, and gulls. In other parts of the lagoon I also saw American Wigeons, Pintails, Killdeer, Great Blue Herons and a Belted Kingfisher. Above is my favorite shot of the hundreds I took. These are European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in their winter outfits, not perhaps quite as striking as their spring and summer coats but still beautifully patterned and displaying a shifting iridescence that always makes me slightly envious - we humans are such a dowdy bunch in comparison.

Hatley Castle Autumn

I went out today bent on capturing some autumn color and I got enough for several days posts. I'll ease into it with a photo of a place we've seen before, back in June, Hatley Castle. That other photo was the opposite side of the castle. Here we see the seaward side of it from across Esquimalt Lagoon. And yes, that is a swan, a Mute Swan to be precise, one of a flock whose ancestors escaped from Beacon Hill Park in ages past.

Canada Goose

Here's another bird that remains still long enough for a neophyte to get a photo, the Canada Goose. This one was photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon, which shelters a large flock of these geese year-round. They are quite tame.

Esquimalt Lagoon - Canada Geese

Last time I was out at Esquimalt Lagoon a flock of about 100 Canada Geese was foraging along the shore. I approached very warily so as not to frighten them but found them quite unafraid, as evidenced by this photo of a father and daughter offering them some bread.

Royal Roads

Within the Greater Victoria area, travelling along the coast south and west, one passes Esquimalt Harbour and then Esquimalt Lagoon. This photograph is taken from the spit that marks the outer edge of the lagoon looking towards Metchosin. Royal Roads was the name given to the anchorage to the left. The snowy mountains in the background are across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Olympic Peninsula, in neighbouring Washington State, USA.

Animals

Today I cycled out to Esquimalt Lagoon because I wanted to photograph some deer and I saw one near there when I was out at Fisgard Lighthouse a little while ago. Esquimalt Lagoon has an odd history: At the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago a big chunk of ice about 100 meters thick was left by a receding glacier. Sand and gravel piled up around its edges and when it melted it left a depression that is now the lagoon. The lagoon is also the site of the first European landing in this area. Spanish explorer Don Manuel Quimper anchored here in 1790. The birds in the photo above are the indigenous Great Blue Heron and...a Mute Swan. The latter is not indigenous but is native to the UK and has naturalized itself here and in a few other nearby coastal locations after escaping from Beacon Hill Park in Victoria. However, what first attracted my attention to the lagoon was the little fellow below.I thought it was a Sea Otter and had visions of how I could ramble on about the history of the fur trade but when I checked it out, I realize it must be a River Otter, which species often inhabits coastal areas and is a known resident of the lagoon. He was very shy and I had to follow him along the shoreline for some time before I could get close enough to snap the above shot. That was when I saw the other swan, below.Deer - yes, on the way back from the lagoon, there she was posing beautifully by the roadside and my camera in its bag. Pull up, peacefully assemble apparatus, and catch a last glimpse as she disappears into the bush. Ah well, still a splendid morning on the outskirts of Victoria.