"Highly recommend using the wonderful fire pit. For wildlife lovers, on the property's beach in the evening, we saw seals and a family of about ten river otters swim by. There was also some sort of eagle convention going on." Alexandra J, May ‘22
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Wildlife is Just Part of the Scenery
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You don't have to put much effort into observing the wildlife around here, it's part of the scenery and it often comes to you! This is a 2 acre lot that has been carved out of the forest next to the ocean, and the wildlife doesn't seem to have noticed, the animals just continue to go about their business. It may be a cliché, but it really is a privilege to live so close to nature, and we do get a kick out of sharing it with guests.
A Week in the Life of Manna House...
In one week (14-20 July '22) three fledgling Cedar Waxwings, 2 new fawns, 1 tiny Tree Frog and a Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly presented themselves to be photographed. And, as usual, the Bald Eagles stole the show...
Fledgling Cedar Waxwings
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These baby bandits were huddled up in the sour cherry tree about ten feet off the ground, looking about quite unruffled by my close presence, perhaps waiting for their parents to return, when they decided to practice a bit of preening, which didn't seem to do much for the scruffy one on the left.
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I've seen more of these entertaining birds this year, they feed on the salmon berries, thimble berries, and now our sour cherries! Whilst developing the gardens we've been careful to leave swaths of wild berries (including tons of blackberries), creating "wildlife corridors" for the birds and other critters. The berries form an essential part of many animals' diets, as diverse as deer and hummingbirds.
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One of This Year's New Arrivals
A few days ago the doe that had been frequenting our front yard presented her 2 new arrivals. Our garden is a place where she feels it's safe to leave them alone while she goes off to forage and take care of other important deer business.
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Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
The butterflies usually make taking a close-up photograph difficult, they tend to flutter away when you approach them. This one was obviously having a tough day, note the torn wings, maybe nearing the end of it's 6-10 day adult life span.
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Bald Eagles
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The eagles spend a lot of time in the trees that grow from the bank down to the ocean, from where they call and 'chuckle' to each other. Then they will launch themselves off on another fishing trip and bring the catch back to consume.
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These two started mid-air combat as soon as they were airborne, and thanks to the iphone, I managed to snag this shot with a rainbow in the background! We get them frequently over the ocean and Hornby when it rains in the afternoon. Not usually with battling eagles at the same time however.
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More Critters (Without Feathers) seen on, from, and above these 2 acres...
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Pacific Tree Frogs (and introducing Boris & Ethel, aka "The Residents")
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Note that none of the frogs on this page are in a tree, because it's only when they visit our world that they become visible, or when you come across them by accident. Pacific tree frogs vary a lot in size, colouration and wartyness, as you can see, even on the same patch of land.
↕ Photos not to scale, enlarged x2 - x3
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River Otter (22 July '22)
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I don't remember ever seeing a River Otter in the vicinity of a Denman creek, but we often see them in the ocean, usually swimming not far off shore where the fish are found, or lounging around on a rock. Usually large family groups, with the cubs scrapping and clambering over long suffering parents. (Sound familiar?) This particular evening a lone male was preening himself on a rock, he tolerated my getting within about 10 metres, taking pictures with my iphone held infront of me like a shield. You can see he was as curious about me as I was interested in him.
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Occasionally we'll see a lone otter tearing across our back lawn enroute to our neighbour's large fish pond! They come up the steep bank from the beach using a path they've made for themselves, then cross the road and progress via the network of drainage ditches by the roadside and between the lots. Twice this year I've walked out of the drive in the evening and encountered an otter on the road.
The Herring Run
↕ Herring Run, March 2019, viewed from the first floor. Overnight the water turns a milky turquoise with all the herring sperm. Sounds delightful...
The arrival of the herring to spawn on the East Coast of Vancouver Island, from Parksville to Campbell River, is traditionally a major global wildlife event, helping to sustain the First Nations People and wildlife alike. Their place in the food chain is vital. California and stella sealions start noisily announcing their arrival in December, joined nearer the time by orca pods, hundreds (if not thousands) of bald eagles, hundreds of thousands of sea birds, you get the picture... Denman and Hornby are right in the middle and the Lambert Channel is reckoned to be the most important stretch of water, the epicentre as it were, with concentrations of the spawning on both sides; the East Coast of Denman and the West Coast of Hornby. We've had a ringside seat for the last 19 years and have sadly been witness to it's recent dramatic and I would say, accelerating decline.
↕ Fishing the Herring, 24/7
The reason is of course, over-fishing, and the worst of it is that most of the catch is only for the roe, destined for the luxury Japanese food market. The herring are dragged out of the water in their thousands by the factory boats only to be mechanically stunned , then somehow the eggs are squeezed out of the females (and I have no desire to know how) then their bodies and all the males, at best, end up as fertilizer or cat food.
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I remember standing at the top of the bank and counting over 80 fishing vessels all clanking away, from as far as I could see to the North to as far as I could see to the South. This year the Provincial Government restricted the catch, at last, to the First Nations Fleet; just as well because for the first time ever known, there was no spawning on our shore. For years concerned conservation groups, scientists, etc., have been calling for a serious moratorium on the over-fishing, but as usual, this year's action was too little too late. Let's hope that we can report something of a recovery next year with spawning once again taking place on our shore.
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Find out more ►
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Breaching Seal
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This was taken through the living room window. I had the camera set up on a tripod, trained on the snag at the bottom of the drive, the eagles favourite hang-out, doing time-lapse photography for four months. One day I noticed some activity in the water and moments later captured this decisive moment!
Seals are very common in these waters, curious and playful, but usually it's just a head up out of the water to say hello, then gone again. Leaping clean out of the water, that must have been one excited seal! |
White-Tailed Deer
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Denman Island has evolved its own sub-species of white-tailed deer, slightly smaller than their cousins on Vancouver Island. With no natural predators, population control is a contentious issue which I'm not going to weigh in on, but I can tell you that if you visit Denman Island, you'll see a lot of deer!
They are a delight to have around, but can also be a real nuisance to the gardener and will go to amazing lengths to get at veggies, roses, and other delectable plants. Our solution has been to fence off all of the back gardens and the front gardens for the units, but allow them to roam free over the rest of the front gardens where we stick to (so-called) deer-resistant plants. Thus a "wildlife corridor" connects our 2 acres to the rest of Denman's deer habitat, and as a result there's a family that include this land within their territory every year.
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Does and Fawns Through the Seasons ↕
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"We loved seeing multiple deer every day on the property and in the area." Linda F, Sept '21
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This buck is chillin' about 5 metres from our living room windows; so who needs a lawn?
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I'm sure another reason that we are favoured is we leave some, if not all of our front lawn to become a wild flower meadow. Whilst we can mow it when we want and achieve something resembling green ground cover, we gave up on the perfect lawn long ago. We find the many different long grasses, clover, dandylions, thistles, california poppies, foxgloves, etc., much more interesting to look at; and it's providing habitat for insects, birds, bats (to name but a few), and the deer, who require a varied grazing diet. We're just trying to do our bit!
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Dragonflies
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During the Summer several of these large and thankfully benign insects are constantly on the move, patrolling the air within a few feet off the ground over the gardens; moving fast, darting this way and that, on the hunt for mosquitos and other small flies, bless 'em.
However, they are apt to fly in through open doors and windows, and have to be coaxed out or delicately removed. After exhausting themselves by attempting to fly through a closed skylight for a couple of hours, they will gladly allow you to handle them, and might rest awhile on the tip of your finger to freshen up before taking flight.
(At least) 80 species of dragonflies and damselflies are known to occur in British Columbia; most of those on patrol here have the blue on black of the Lance-Tipped Darner (above), occasionally the large Common Green Darners, and the little one on the tip of my finger, rescued from the living room window, (in the slideshow) I haven't identified.
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This Common Green Darner was trapped in a covered walkway for a while and gave it's wings a good bashing. Once on the outside it was content to rest on the cedar planking, giving me the opportunity to take some detailed close-ups.
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