San Juan Island: Part 2

Welcome back! Here are some more photos from my trip to Washington last month. These photos are from day 3 which was spent traveling around and exploring the island. San Juan isn't too big, but there is a ton to explore. I started the morning at Roche harbor.

Looking over Roche Harbor

Fall colors

Roche Harbor at sunrise

The mouth of Roche Harbor.

After leaving Roche harbor, I traveled over to the west side of the island where I was also camping that evening (At San Juan county park). SJI has a lot of Madrona (also called madrone, Arbutus menziesii) trees. These trees are known for their stunning red bark that peels off.

Madrona tree (Arbutus menziesii) bark

Madrona tree (Arbutus menziesii) bark peeling

Madrona tree (Arbutus menziesii)

While at the park and waiting for the sun to set, I saw Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus). This pair was a mom/fawn.

Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

Columbia black-tailed deer fawn (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

  I also watched a hungry red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). 

Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)

Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)

Moon rising over the trees

The end of photography for the day was the sunset. Since I was on the west side of the island, I watched the sun set behind British Columbia (which I was close enough to that my phone thought I was in Canada and texted me the outrageous roaming rates!)

 

To end this blog post, I am going to start the 4th day. I did a little more island exploration before heading out on a whale watching boat in the afternoon. I started at False Bay (which is on the southwest side of the island) and it was a bit foggy and low tide which made the bay look somewhat prehistoric.

 

Then I headed down to the southern tip of the island which was mostly closed due to the government shutdown. I saw another mom/fawn pair of Columbia black-tailed deer on the cliff above Eagle cove. 

Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

And with that, I will wait until the next blog post for the whale watching trip and my final day in Washington. Stay tuned!

San Juan Island Part 1

I took a trip up to Washington last month. The purpose was to visit San Juan Island and I was fortunate to get incredibly nice weather. I'll start the photos chronologically and because there are a lot, in this blog post will be the first 2 days of my trip. I flew into Seattle airport and drove up to Anacortes where I camped at Washington park. I made it there just in time for the sunset and my favorite photo of the night was of a house on the water near Sunset beach.

 

I also got a few fall leaf photos in on the first day.  

 

On my second day, I got on the ferry out to Friday Harbor first thing in the morning. I got to watch the sun rise while I waited to drive the car onto to the ferry (which was a first for me!) The ferry ride was nice and I took a few photos of some of the over 400 islands that make up the San Juan Islands. Below is Blakely Island with Frost Island in the background.

 

When I arrived at Friday Harbor I went kayaking in search for Orcas (killer whales). We didn't get to see any orcas, but it was an amazing trip. Below are some photos from the trip.

Herring gull (Larus argentatus) chick and (possible) parent. October is much too late for this young one to be begging for food. Hopefully the parent learns some tough loving techniques!

Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) resting on a rock.

Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) with a lingcod.

Red-breasted merganzer (Mergus serrator)

Harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus)

... Part 2 is coming soon!

The moment my camera was waiting for

So I haven't had a lot of time to take photos lately. I was thinking about this on my way into the Rancho Marino property on Monday afternoon. Rancho Marnio is the UC reserve in Cambria where our SLO otter field station is based. I was headed up to help out with an activity budget on an otter early Tuesday morning. I love getting the chance to go up because RM is so peaceful and I get a chance to see other otter folk. (And lets not forget that I get to see my favorite beagle, Harry)

There was some offshore fog and a few clouds in the sky. I was wondering if there would be a photo worthy sunset. Then it occurred to me that it has been over a month since I have touched my camera! I was a little sad, and had a feeling that the sunset wasn't going to be as nice as I wanted it. I parked the car and got out and starting walking towards the buildings when Zach came over making a 'take a photo' motion to me. I walked back to the car and grabbed my camera. I had no clue what I was about to go take photos of. It turns out that there was a bobcat hunting for rodents. Talk about timing! I was just getting sad about not taking photos and walked into a perfect photographic moment.

Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

Santa Cruz Island

I am a little behind on these photos. We were camping at Santa Cruz island about 5 weeks ago. Santa Cruz island is the largest of the northern islands in the Channel Islands chain off the coast of Southern California. If you are able, I highly suggest checking out some or all of the islands. They really are something special. We had some overcast days while we were there, which bummed me out from a photo standpoint, but still had an amazing time. Can't wait to return!

China Harbor at Santa Cruz island

Bluff on the North side of Santa Cruz island

Cave near Potato Cove, Santa Cruz island

Channel Islands Fox

Channel Islands Fox

Trails on Santa Cruz island

Potato Harbor, Santa Cruz island

The North side of Santa Cruz island

Friendly humpack whale on our trip out to the island. It was a mom/calf pair that were so close that my large lens couldn't get both of them in the frame!

What's the word, hummingbird!

I missed a lot of the events at my hummingbird nest this year because of work and how high up the nest was. Then, at the zoo a few weeks ago one of the keepers pointed out a nest right at eye level. Probably because this Anna's hummingbird (Calype anna) is a little more used to people all around her, she doesn't seem too bothered by people watching her chicks grow up. The last week of the chicks nest time I was camping out at Santa Cruz, but I was happy that I got to see this mom raise her young as much as I did!

Mom feeding her young chick. They were so small that they barely poked out of the nest.

Mom feeding the chick. The chicks stick out a bit more and are starting to grow in feathers.

Notice the chick on the right has its tongue out.

Mom fluffing out her feathers after feeding the chicks.

Spring in California!

Ahhh... Spring. It is so wonderful! It even smells good. (you'd be able to smell it in this post if Google's April fools prank wasn't really a prank!) I love coastal California, but I love it even more in the spring. There are large fields of beautiful wildflowers, the most 'California' of them all (at least to me) is the poppy. One thing I miss about living in Big Sur would be the poppy field overlooking Lopez Rock. Luckily, it isn't too hard to find poppies down here as well. This photo was taken this week along Jalama Road. 

California poppies (Eschscholzia californica)

One of my other favorite things about the spring in California (or anywhere in the country, for that matter) is that we get new baby hummingbirds. I was fortunate enough to have an Anna's hummingbird build her nest right in our magnolia tree in front of our house this year. Unfortunately, I was extremely busy with work throughout the month of March and missed a large part of the chick growth, including when they fledged. I did get to see mom feeding the babies a few times and got a few shots of mom and the babies on the nest. The first photo below is the mom before the chicks hatched (2/16/13) and the second photo is of the two chicks right before they fledged (3/20/13). The other two hummingbirds are of a male Anna's who was taking time to show off his color to me.

Female Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) on her nest

Anna's hummingbird chicks (Calypte anna)

Male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)

There are so many more amazing things about spring in California, but today the final image I have is the annual monarch migration. Monarch butterflies travel a far distance to winter in California and Mexico. I live about .75 miles from an eucalyptus grove that homes approximately 12,000 monarchs every winter. In the photo below the monarch is feeding on a flower that I believe is California fuchsia (Epilobium) but flowers are not my specialty, so I'm open to other opinions.

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)