Storybook

Thanksgiving Turkey

but not for eating.

This guy is old, kind of stunning looking. The best part is when he 'gobbles' for us.

enjoy!

-Keta

KetaDesign

Great Blue Heron III

In direct contrast to the startlingly calm water in my last post, this blustery spring day is full of wind. The tide is out quite a bit more so I slosh out to the edge of the water to find a few great blue heron, and some seagulls, fishing away with delight.

Fish after fish the heron catches, as if at some kind of oceanic smorgasbord.

Those wonky feet, its amazing they don't trip on themselves

this seagull makes me laugh, I don't know what its trying to do, bring up some clams maybe? but its paddling in the muddy water much like an excited child in gumboots after a heavy rain. Meanwhile the heron catches yet another fish. Amazing.

The wind picks up considerably. I look around the tidal flats to find I am the only person out there. I can't bring myself to leave yet, the clouds keep parting intermittently to allow the most wonderful sharp spring light to shine down. A group of ducks pass by in the shallow water behind.

Its just me and this one windswept heron now. Well, except for more ducks in the background. Even they seem to be heading back to the shelter of shore. S/He seems to have eaten its fill and is just enjoying the ever-changing weather, as am I.

That's enough for  me, I'm starting to freeze. Its off home for a hot cup of tea. I'll be back another day.

-Keta

KetaDesign

Great Blue Heron II

Heron are much easier to photograph than eagles. They  might startle or stop fishing for a bit while watching my approach warily, but often my sneakiness pay off and they don't fly away. Even if they do its a short distance off and I can sneak up once more.

To me heron are not as interesting a subject, I can't perceive of different personalities the way I can with the eagles. Heron pretty much all act the same way, while eagles generally seem to have some objective in mind.

There's  no denying however, that under the right circumstances great blue heron can also be quite pretty. On this morning the water is so unusually calm, its hard to believe this is the ocean!

I'm really sneaking and careful here because the tide is not out very far and if these heron decide to fly away I will likely not be able to follow them. I circle around to get a different angle, different background.

a little less dreamy with the freighter in the background

more for the backdrop of the mountains. the heron does look really great in the early morning light but i'm quite a distance off so the shot does not have the good detail of most of my others.

I love the way the bubbles are coming up from  . . . its beak? The fish it just dropped?

-Keta

KetaDesign

Great Blue Heron I

Sometimes when I am out at the low tide at Spanish Banks in English Bay in Vancouver I don't see any bald eagles at all. I can always find some Heron fishing so have gathered quite a few photos.

The two species enjoy an uneasy relationship, sharing the plentiful fishing grounds in the harbour but also competing for food. Bald eagles don't hunt great blue heron, although I have seen a juvenile eagle 'practice' diving at a poor heron that was just trying to catch a few fish close to the beach for about 20 minutes. The heron just kept ducking his/her head with each successive dive without moving from its spot. Also an eagle will sometimes decide to chase a heron through the air in an effort to get it to drop its prey.

Its more a game of dominance, with the eagles clearly on top but the heron outnumbering significantly. There was word out of the heronry in Stanley Park last season that the eagles were poaching the heron eggs. So while eagles don't hunt adult heron, they are motivated to keep the heron population down. More fish for themselves that way!

At the favourite fishing ground on all of Spanish Banks, the sand bar.

A typical Vancouver cool-ish spring day, perhaps a bit too soon for outdoor activity but nobody cares about a little chill after being cooped up all dark, rainy winter.

A bit further west I got a lucky capture of a heron stretching in the brisk ocean breeze

before it decides to fly quite close by me

Another time I go down quite early in the morning, the water is so calm and the light is really great.

Closer to shore I manage to get a shot with the trees reflecting green on the water mixed with a reflection of the heron as well.

More to come!

-Keta

KetaDesign

Bald Eagle Mates Playing

It's so funny, after following and watching these eagles so closely I start to make up stories about their behaviour. They may not be human beings, but there are times I SWEAR where they act like little kids!

One thing they do, which seems to be like a game, is try to unseat each other from the highest tree top. Like one of the bald eagle mates will be sitting up in a tree nicely for hours, just taking in the view and occasionally grooming itself. Eventually the other one will come in from waaaay up high in the sky, circling, they might call to each other, then the one flying wants to land in the EXACT spot that the other is! Even though there are several very nice, very tall trees right there to choose from!

I have seen them do it a few times . . . once I saw the female actually nip the male in the leg when trying to get him to move. But actually that was nesting season (February) and I think she really wanted him to go get some more sticks for the nest. He just moved to a different branch, not before giving her a rather annoyed look, and she went ahead and took his spot!

Just like little kids, they only want that chair because the other kid is sitting in it.

I'm at the Jericho bald eagle nest site, the male is in a tippy-top branch of a fir tree. It's been well over an hour, when suddenly the female becomes a tiny speck in the sky, high above.

She circles several times calling. I wait with the camera, hoping for a moment when I can get them both in the frame. She's coming in fast, within a few seconds she goes from being a tiny dot to this majestic creature swooping in for a landing. The male just watches her come.

Since her mate doesn't move, she lands in a branch below him.

There's a bit of an exchange between them, then the females seems to decide she WILL have this seat and wafts up flapping away. The male seems resigned to knowing he is going to have to give it up so takes off, I can almost sense his attitude, "You won this round but next time it will be me that takes the good seat!"

The female folds herself in comfortably for a nice, long sit.

The male heads across the soccer field to the other side of NW Marine Drive for the cottonwood trees. Its like she is in the family room (the nest tree) so he's going to hang out in the living room.

Some awkward shots of him flying over me a couple of times . . .

 

 . . . the light is really good so even though the captures are kind of funny they're still worth sharing.

After a while he settles into a comfy seat in the cottonwood trees. Sometimes they have a bit of a chat across the field, or they may just sit quietly in their separate rooms presiding over their territory until evening.

With this nice moment passing between our wild bald eagle mates at the Jericho Youth Hostel in Vancouver, BC Canada I decide to leave them alone. I'll come back with the camera another day.

-Keta

KetaDesign