The sea otter watching trip out of Zeballos had to be cancelled at short notice, firstly the recent wild fires had been quite severe and yesterdays torrential rain had left the town vulnerable to landslides.
However intrepid Ken Walker had been busy and found an alternative boat trip out of Port Alice, this would have to be done in two sessions as George only had a small boat.Lots were drawn and the first crew set off in search of the Sea Otters,somewhere under the rainbow.
PORT ALICE RAINBOW
The first Otter was not too far away,he was an old boy a bit of a loner evidently and he kept us at a respectful distance while keeping a close eye on us.
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| SEA OTTER minding his own business |
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| eating the odd clam |
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| tickling his chin. |
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| counting his blessings. |
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| on alert |
The next was a younger one intent on wrapping himself up in Kelp,it was very entertaining to watch.
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| If I wrap myself in kelp they won`t see me. |
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| I can suck my toes too. |
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| Nearly finished |
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| That's it |
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| Look mum no hands. |
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| Add caption |
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| That will have to do, |
We then came across a large mixed age group of otters playing in the kelp bed, unfortunatel we couldn`t get on the sunny side of them which made shooting into the light difficult.
MUM AND BABY.
Leaving the otters George had a go at fishing to entice the bald eagles into action,he dropped his line in four times within seconds he had caught a fish each time,the first a bass was not suitable,the second also was not right for the job in hand third time lucky ,but not for this rock cod,which was dispatched and tossed into the oggin for the eagles.The reason this was suitable is because it floats on the surface when dead,thus providing an easy target.
ROCK COD
Sure enough the resident Eagles came round to investigate but were not hungry enough to take the fish,which they did for the second group,and returned to their perch.
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| BALD EAGLES HAVE TALONS |
Our time was up and it was back to port but a few more otters were spotted on the way
RED NECKED GREBE
AS COMMON AS GREAT CRESTED HERE.
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| A LAST PAIR OF OTTERS |
ATMOSPHERIC SEASCAPE/LANDSCAPE AT PORT ALICE.
Back on dry land metaphorically speaking as the rain was still falling I had a quick walkabout and found this accommodating RED SHAFTED NORTHERN FLICKER,digging for ants in much the same way as our Green Woodpecker.
NORTHERN FLICKER
STELLERS BLUE JAY
NEXT TIME ITS GREAT BEAR LODGE,WHERE DO BEARS DEFECATE?
