Goldens and killers in saanich inlet from the top of Jocelynn Hill

 On Tuesday I took the scope up Jocelynn Hill in Gowlland Tod park to look into a Golden Eagle nest, I had discovered a few weeks ago, to see if there were any young in the nest. While taking a break from spying on the nest,  I looked further down the cliffs into Saanich Inlet and discovered a whale surfacing, I wasn't sure if it was a humpback or a grey, it quickly sunk back down below the surface.
At that moment we looked farther out and we saw several Orcas heading south down the inlet. Surfacing fequently as they went and never really going deep enough for us to loose them under the water. It was exciting to see not only one whale but all these others as well, and not a whale watching boat in sight. The other day we were out in metchosin and noticed about 10 whale watching boats  cirlcing around and obviously following a group of whales heading out the strait of juan de fuca. It was pretty disgusting to watch the harassement the whales were having to put with.
Today these whales looked quite happy to splash along the inlet unhindered.  Unfortunately that was not long lasting as a pleasure boat headed out of the marina at the mouth of the goldstream river. It followed the pod all the back out past our point on Jocelynn hill manuevering around trying to get close looks at the group.

 They are possibly transient whales and are trying to find their way out of the Salish Sea, and made a wrong turn, or they may be hunting seals and even the large whale that disappeared down deep as the swam by it on the surface.

One of the Golden eagles was sitting on the edge of the nest when we got there. The other was flying back and forth along the cliff ledges below us. Later the one on the nest flew off as well and went around the corner from where we were standing. I could not tell if there were any young in the nest but I am assuming since one adult was on the nest that there is one hiding behind the branches in the photo

Aylard farm, East Sooke Park

Aylard Farm, East Sooke Park

the beach at aylard farm

mt wells and mt macdonald today

top of the first summit of Mt Wells, 

Took a hike this morning, up mt wells and down the other side across the road and up Mt Macdonald and back to the parking lot. took an hour to get up and over Mt Wells. Lots of wildflowers blooming this week up both mountains, the rains have kept them from drying out, but they are kinda short because of the cool spring. Lots of warblers singing, orange-crowned, yellow-rumped, townsend's, Wilson's. House wrens are back and singing in their usual territories. The Sooty Grouse is back on top of Mt Wells, hooting in the tree tops.

Lots of Camas blooming on the top

Down the other side the Olive-sided flycatcher was singing his "quick three beers" tune, and a Pacific slope flycatcher was calling for  his "sweet" one. But the day was pretty much about all the flowers

At the top of Mt Wells, a Garter snake lay sunning its self, uninterested in me.

Some morons lit a fire in the meadow 

After climbing down the steep back side of Mt Wells, I crossed Humpback road and climbed up Mt Macdonald, Lots more flowers on the hillside, hard to step off the trail without stepping on any.

trail to top of Mt Macdonald

Yellow Monkey flower

Chickweed Monkey flower

ON the way back down the trail a Townsend's Solitaire was feeding on the cliff ledges

Poor shot of a Solitaire.

tower point pano

tower point pano, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

spent the afternoon in the sun here

red-breasted Nuthatch feeding young

red-breasted Nuthatch feeding young, originally uploaded by robinnestridge.

the adult feeding its young in a nest it made in an Arbutus in my back yard

Peden Ridge hike

on Friday my neighbour and I parked at Sooke Potholes Regional Park and hiked up to the Peden Ridge, click on the name and you will see the map . The trail leads follows an old logging road at first along side Maryvine Creek, with Wilsons Warblers and  Pacific wrens singing along the way. There is a fairly large waterfall that we pass by .

Above the water fall we climb on to the 100 year old waterline , a stone pipe. that runs from sooke lake to the base of Mt wells, 44 kms long.











From there we cross the creek and head up the hill.

From the top of this knoll, I could see the sooke basin far down the sooke valley.

The trail picks its way through the Manzanita, and fallen pine trees.

From the top there is quite a view of the sooke hills and Sooke Basin with Whiffen Spit cutting across the mouth.

Turkey Vulture

Townsend's warbler

When we got to the top there was a bird singing that I had think about for a minute. I then realized that it was townsend's solitaire. It flew down from a small tree and headed around the corner of the ridge. I searched after it and found it with another solitaire, on the ground . they chased each other around for a while before heading further down the steep rocky outcrop, I am hoping they are nesting in the area. That would be rather rare for the Victoria area.

Blue-eyed Mary

On the way back we came across this precarious boulder ready to tumble down the trail ahead of us.
When we got down to the parking lot I heard a familiar call, a golden Eagle "barking" as it dove across the sky above us towards the cliffs we just came from... arrgh.. oh well, another hike in the area soon I guessin'.

Jocelynn hill over the cliff

over top of Mt Finlayson you can see the Olympics quite clearly today

 I hiked up to Jocelynn Hill on Tuesday, to see what has been happening up there for the last little while. The wind was calm and the inlet below was a beautiful shade of blue.

Fawn Lily   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of the wildflowers have finally decided to bloom, and now there is a great abundance. Monkey flower, blue-eyed Mary, Fawn Lily, Starflower, and even a Chocolate lily.

Chocolate Lily

star flower and monkey flower 

There was a Golden Eagle cruising back and forth below the ridgeline. Every few minutes it would sail past me. I think it was looking for the deer on the cliff ledges for a healthy snack.

While I waiting on the cliff ledge for eagle to come back an Orange-crowned Warbler flew in to see what was so interesting.

Orange-crowned Warbler