"You’ll enjoy the smell and use of your own private Japanese Cedar hot tub and the sounds of frogs and birds at night, sitting on your balcony looking into the beautiful gardens. Additionally, the access to the beach was lovely and we would often walk down for a morning walk and would see otters, eagles, and lots of other wildlife." Callista R, Apr ‘22
55 Species and counting...
|
You might just pull up at the bottom of the drive and see an eagle sitting on a branch in front of you across the road; and if you are like me you'll pull out the cell phone, snap a quick pic., and be on your way. After all, one can't spend all day watching eagles...
During March the "Herring Run" attracts more wildlife in general, and eagles in particular, to our shore. Whist there may be many more in the trees lining our bank, they are difficult to see because of the dense foliage. When they rest in the snag, it gives us the opportunity to see them clearly. Here, they look bedraggled; they are wet and drying off after fishing.
|
I challenge you to click on this to enlarge it, and count the number of eagles in this feeding frenzy taking place off the North shore of Hornby Island; photographed from the deck. There must have been a sizeable shoal of herring near the surface, and the red pleasure boat just drifted picturesquely on the edge of it all.
Taken on March 11th. (2018) at the time of the annual "Herring Run", the largest wildlife event of the year... |
If any bird is part of the scenery, it's the ravens. This family group are around most of the time, but at a distance. They rarely land in the garden unless it's to raid the fruit trees; apparently too busy flying back and forth, playing, and bothering each other in the tree tops.
|
"Each morning, we woke to the songs of the thrushes and robins and the raucous music of the ravens. It’s hard to forget the sound of their wings whipping the air—a sound that became familiar biophony after six days. That and the buzz of the hummingbirds." Tom & Gillian, July ‘21
Denman's most common hawk, a small accipiter that specializes in catching small birds on the wing; a few times I've seen a one tearing its unfortunate victim limb from limb on a nearby tree stump. More often I've seen them flying straight across the garden extremely fast, and I've witnessed a couple of high-speed hunts, the would-be meal weaving left and right, with the hawk locked on and gaining.
In late August '22, I've had 4 consecutive and unusual sightings. The first was from a large downstairs window - suddenly a raven flashed infront no more than 6 feet away, with a cooper's hawk literally 'on it's tail'; adjacent to the window the raven did a sharp left and flew directly away from me, the hawk turned with it and I clearly saw those barred tail feathers fan out in the maneuver, before the it veered off a second later leaving the raven to continue unmolested. It was all over in an unforgetable 3-4 seconds.
The next day I was eating supper on the deck with only my iPhone to hand, when a the hawk landed on the gate at the bottom of the garden. He sat there for a minute or 2 but I dared not move, except to take some really lousy shots on the phone. Then finally I was rewarded, when another day or 2 after that I was on the back deck when a it (probably the same one) flew past me within a few feet and came to rest on a branch on the other side of the garden. It graciously stayed there long enough for me to fetch the camera, then posed for some lovely portraits before flying away.
|
Virtually always seen on the wing, silently circling above us; wherever they choose to roost overnight, it's usually in the treetops out of sight. Needing to warm up on a bright Summer morning, we caught this one sunning itself in our neighbour's dead maple next to what is now the guests' back garden.
|
Large flocks of Canada geese live on our side of the island, flying back and forth between the pastures intended for grazing livestock on the farms a few blocks either side of us and the ocean. They perform this ritual several times a day (and at night), and they are usually very vocal! Occasionally one has landed on a topped tree to use it as a "honking post".
|
These are the most common of the 5 species of woodpecker and their cousins the sapsuckers that we see in the garden, the others being Pileated Woodpeckers, Norther Flickers (sapsuckers), Red-breasted Sapsuckers, Downy Woodpeckers, and just once I sighted a pair of rare Three-toed Woodpeckers, with their distinctive yellow crown and barred back, which makes it 6 species!) However, more often than seeing woodpeckers, we hear them drumming on a hollow trunk, sometimes answered by another, more distant...
|
Look closely at the bark on the dying maple that the hairy woodpeckers are feeding on, and you'll see that it's covered in hundreds of tiny holes, mostly in verticle groups of three, for some strange reason.
Woodpecker Hunting Marks are made when exploring; they have a keen sense of hearing that aids them in hunting for prey underneath the wood. The woodpecker will tap the wood to listen for any hollowness or irregularities that may indicate a beetle or ant gallery. By tapping at the tree, any bugs within will get disturbed, causing those bugs to move and the noises created allow the woodpecker to zero-in and grab its next meal. (Extracts from: https://natureidentification.com/woodpecker-holes-and-other-sign-on-trees/ ) |
Sap Wells can be considered a type of passive trap as the sapsucker revisits these wells to feed on both sap and bugs attracted to the sap. The damage caused from sap wells can be extensive and can expose the tree to fungal and other microbial infections.( https://natureidentification.com/woodpecker-holes-and-other-sign-on-trees/ )
As ubiquitous as the ravens, chickadees are around every day; unlike the ravens, these bold little titmice will land on a plant within reaching distance of you to hunt for insects, urgently cheeping away, as if it had some important information to impart!
Known for their acrobatics, they can hang upside-down under the eaves looking for a meal, and they often forage on our cedar shake roof; so if there is a bird trapped in the roof space you can bet it'll be a chickadee.
|
I've only seen a red-tailed hawk a handful of times, and this one sat on that branch for a long time. Although I was able to identify it with binoculars, the light and the technology wasn't good enough at the time to capture any shadow detail. However, it did have an elegant silhouette.
Besides the Eagles, Vultures and these guys, the other raptors we see are the occasional Coopers Hawk chasing down some hapless small bird or perched on a stump consuming same; the very occasional American Kestral, last year, a big Barred Owl sitting on a fence post let me approach quite close before taking flight; no phone/camera on me at the time, darn it! But most exciting for me, this year an adolescent Peregrin Falcon has been visiting the snag, I'll post photos asap. |
|