Out to the E & N goldstream lookout

Hiked up along Arbutus Ridge trail today, out the E and N Railine, to the lookout above the Trans Canada highway. It was a bright high overcast morning at the start but cool, still some ice on the rail ties. I was actually checking out the trail I was going to take on the Christmas bird count in a few weeks. It will be pitch dark when I head out that day so I was familiarizing myself with the route again. I often see golden eagles from this lookout so I was hoping one would appear today. no luck, it was pretty quiet except for  a few Pacific Wrens and a Bald Eagle.

first snow of the season

looking south from the top of mt finlayson after the first snow fall

 looking over the Estuary towards the malahat and the nature house below

gonzales

gonzales, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

from King George Terrace , victoria

uplands fall leaves

uplands fall leaves, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

a few pics from my last few hikes around victoria, east sooke park, mt finlayson

this was on a Hike towards Sugar Loaf mtn. in the sooke hills, looking towards Helmchen mtn. and the "sookeahalla"... Victoria is directly behind the mtn. apparently I took the shot from Camass Ridge.

this one is from near the top of Mt Finlayson, looking westerly over the Goldstream estuary. The Nature house in in the shadows at the head of the delta. and the Malahat Highway is the cut you see just above the inlet heading to the right.

 These are part of the Olympic mountains as seen from East Sooke park above the hawkwatch lookout at Beechey Head. The shot below shows beechey head and the hawkwatch lookout

 a nice looking mushroom, Gomphus floccocus, on the trail edge. and Here is brent scrambling out of the thick tall Salal bush that seemed to go on for far too long. Lots of dead falls and stuff to climb through in east sooke park once you get off the trails.

Never say Never.

Went on a Quad ride the other day with a friend from work. He said I would likely be interested in the Wye Lake area that he is familiar with. I said a Quad Eh... hmmm. never been on one of those. Never have been impressed with the noise, or the beer cans left behind, and the damage that many of them cause to the environment. but he assured me that he doesnt drive that way, and will bring out others garbage regularly. So we went. It was a quick 10 mile trip up Jordan river and past the two dams. Up the San Juan Ridge to Wye Lake

  The fall colours of the huckleberries and fireweed on the hillsides were great with the nice weather this day.

We saw one bear on the hillside above us, he stood up on a stump to see what all the commotion was about as we rounded a bend in the roadway

Wye Lake from the logging road above

floating camp roof

Beechey head this weekend

 Headed to  Beechey Head through Methosin today
on the roadside out there were some Greater-whitefronted geese feeding in grain feild. At the parking lot as soon as I got out of the car I could hear the kinglets and chickadees scoulding this Barred owl on the edge of the field.

When I reached the lookout, I was disappointed in that there were no raptors of any sort that I could see. I waited for several minutes before anything showed up, a red-tailed hawk, a sharpie and a coopers

Finally a Golden Eagle showed up from around the bend of the hill. It never stopped to say Boo, it just continued to flap and glide, out over the strait toward the States.

the Broadwing hawk is on the left

Finally after an hour or so,  a large kettle of Turkey Vultures came over and with them several Red-tailed Hawks and a Broadwinged Hawk were circling in the mix.

Barred owl at the top of the trail to beechey head

Steller's Jay in the breeze

oregon peg mushroom, Gomphidius oregonensis

A Pygmy Pair on Jocelynn

I hiked up Jocelynn Hill this day and quickly found a pair of Pygmy Owls canoodling in the tops of the Fir trees on the interior ridge.

I first heard them when one was doing its rapid fire tooting, I believe it has something to do with courtship.
I then called to it with my own toots and the male started answering  back to me, making a toot every 3 seconds, a little quicker than I have noticed in the past around these parts in the spring.

I carried on up the trail and out to the Ridge Top trail where you can look down onto Saanich inlet
From there I could see a Kestrel hunting along the rock outcrops of the cliffs below.

I couldn't get very close to him and this is one of the better shots I got of it as he was landing.
It is mushroom season here now, but not much is out yet. this Velvet-top fungus was the only notable one today.

Phaeolus schweinitzii

To Beechey Head for Hawkwatching

Since it was a nice day the other day, I went out to East Sooke Park to hike out to Beechey Head to see what hawks and other birds were congregating for they exit from the island for the winter.

Above the fields there was a Peregrine surveying for some  nice tidbits, possibly the cedar waxings or the robins eating the Mountain Ash berries.

Nice and clear and sunny with no wind was what I encountered at the lookout. Not much good for hawk watching. Lots of turkey vultures far in the distance and every once and awhile a red-tailed hawk or a sharp-shinned hawk showed over the ridge for a few minutes before heading off back over the ridge

4 Greater-white fronted geese flew over heading east but not south.

A Sharp-shinned came by near enough to get a poor shot of it .

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the view was spectacular though, with the waves crashing on the rocks but no whales today. apparently there were lots the other day

A rescue helicopter flew by and basically that was it for the raptors. After that not much showed up.  The S and R was looking for 2 men that fell out of their kayaks. a flock of Band-tailed pigeons flew by as well.

After returning Aylard farms I looked across the bay and found about 1100 turkey vultures circling in several kettles over the small hills to the west, they looked like mosquitoes.