The Elusive Harlequin

Here are the latest fruits of my pursuit of the shy Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) that have been occasionally hanging out along the shoreline of the West Bay Walkway. Generally as soon as they see me coming they start paddling away from the shore into deeper water. On this particular morning I was armed with a mid-range telephoto (Minolta 100-200mm zoom) and used a digital zoom feature on my Sony to double the magnification to the equivalent of 400mm. The result is a little fuzzy and dark (handheld and shooting into the sun) but is my best capture to date of these wonderfully colored and patterned little ducks. On the left is another characteristic of these sea ducks that makes them challenging to photograph. They spend a lot of time cruising with their heads under the water like snorkelers, just raising their heads for a second or two to take a breath from time to time and diving whenever they see something worth investigating more closely.

Urban Environment and Mindfulness

I am so happy to see the wildflowers announcing spring that I tend to forget I am in a very urban environment. So yesterday I took advantage of a very low tide to walk around underneath the footbridge on the West Bay Walkway and photograph its lovely arches. What does this have to do with mindfulness? Those of you who read this blog regularly may remember that I have been attempting for some time to capture a good photo of a particularly beautiful duck, the Harlequin Duck, which is generally as shy as it is attractive. I took about a dozen photos of this bridge but it wasn't until I got home and looked at the photos that I saw the pair of Harlequin Ducks swimming around only a short distance away from where I stood to take the photo above. You can see these elusive ducks in the lower left corner. This reminds me once again that I usually see not what is really there, but what I expect to see. On the left is another reminder that despite its wealth of flora and fauna, the West Bay Walkway is part of the urban environment and as well as passing through woods and along the seashore, it skirts these towers and others like them.

Harlequin Duck

Here's a duck I've seen in many different locations but never close enough to make a good photo. This brightly colored and patterned beauty is the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus). This particular bird was seen off Victoria's eastern shore at Cattle Point.