This Nest used to be in a big Fir right beside the main road overlooking the bank out to Denman & Vancouver Island from the west side.
The last couple of years it seemed that the Nest had collapsed & the pair moved inland to one & then another Tree.
This territory is beautiful, lots of beach front & a full view with beautiful sunsets.
You can read about last year & find links to previous years here.
Two days ago, monday, we did our monthly Beached Bird Survey of Phipps Point.
We walk north for a kilometer, then return to the Point, then walk south for a km.
So, more or less four km in all.
We are to note weather, tide, temperature, presence of seaweed & driftwood, but most importantly, we are to walk the high tide line to look for washed up Birds.
Fortunately, we rarely find any.
The biggest finding was a Great Blue Heron.
Otto usually finds everything for us.
On this day we found no dead Birds, two bags of plastic garbage & glass, some strange eggs & some cool young Eagles!
Here are the eggs my friend found.
They look kinda like Herring Roe, but way too early, plus they are a bit more opaque.
You can see eyes in some of them.
When i looked closer, i realized the eggs are all attached to each other!
Herring Roe are usually loose, or attached to seaweed.
So far the suggestion is that these might be Ling Cod Eggs, as they are around right now.
i*ll ask Jackie Hildering/The Marine Detective!
In the distance, at the low tide shore, my friend noticed this very light coloured young Eagle!
Looks like a cool big bubble to the right in the crashing waves.
We return to the point, drop off the full garbage bag, pick up an empty one & carry on.
It is so warm i can wear only a sweat type shirt.
We are completing our survey when we come across a local, sitting in the Sun with sunglasses on, reading a book!
She points out this GORGEOUS young Eagle right on the ramp that neither of us noticed.
Drat, i raised my ISO.
Not sure it*s an improvement.
We kept going to check out Phipps Point for Herring spawn.
One day there were all these boats lined up along the Hornby shore from the ferry all around to Collishaw Point & beyond.
i took some videos & some panoramas but am posting this foto to show you instead.
The next day, all the boats had moved over to Denman.
i heard something like 100 or 200 boats.
& this fishing is done in an industrial manner now.
The spotter plane flies over & detects all the Herring from the air.
Boats are hired to catch some Herring & test them for readiness to fish for.
Then they put out these huge seine nets & catch them by the ton.
They are then VACUUMED out of the nets into the boat that buys them.
To me it is like putting out bait & shooting the Bears that come to it & thinking you are a hunter.
It is not playing fair & is totally demeaning to the wonderful Herring which could be enriching all our wildlife instead.
Next the gill netters come!
They place fine mesh nets between the open Ocean & the shore, where the Herring go to plant their milt & eggs.
The Herring get trapped trying to spawn.
On our monthly Beached Bird Survey, we found a dead Otter!
They weren*t small, like a pup, but not huge, like an adult.
i looked at both sides but couldn*t see why they had died.