Tonight is the full moon and It’s called a Strawberry moon. Seasonally fitting I suppose. Who doesn’t like a fresh ripe garden strawberry? I get by on the store strawberries but they just don’t compare to a sweet tasting garden strawberry!
The moon is at its furthest distance from earth. So It appears a bit smaller. Many of us are moon worshippers and who doesn’t love a beautiful rising full moon! Reminds us of where we came from.
On a side tangent……..did you know that earth once had rings like Saturn? AI said this about the rings……..”Scientists estimate that Earth had a Saturn-like ring system about 466 million years ago. This ancient ring formed during the Ordovician period when a massive asteroid passed too close to Earth and was ripped apart by our planet’s gravity. Instead of crashing straight into the planet, the pulverized debris was pulled into an orbit directly above Earth’s equator”
If they make a time machine I’m setting the dials for 466 million years ago……….OH and I’m taking my drone too.
It had rained all day. So I wasn’t expecting anything photogenic to happen?
Close to sunset, a clearing opened up enough to allow some gorgeous light in! A rainstorm was just passing through when the light came in like a knife.
trivia. To get a double rainbow the drops need to be half the size of a normal rainbow. Notice the colour reversal.
In the Spring, there is a robust hummingbird migration northward. They get tired and ramp off to safe spots they know……like my spot! Where they know they can grab a bite, socialize and warm up!
There are 2 types of hummers here. The larger green ones are Anna’s, while the smaller browner ones are Rufous. The 2 on my finger are adult male Rufous, while the one on my sleeve is a young male Rufous. You can see it’s gorget (throat patch) Is just beginning to form. He seems very curious about what manner of beast I am?
It’s one thing to be lucky enough to see a great rainbow but another totally when you have a front seat! Right place right time can’t be taught, It just ….serendipity!
And remember………”If you can’t be at the right place at the right time, at least try not to be at the wrong place at the wrong time”!
I was downtown today and saw a fantastic rainbow. It was more brilliant than normal!
Unfortunately for me I didn’t have my drone with me! So I raced back and I did manage to put it up before the bow faded! Those things are famous for being short lived.
I play a game with my Crow friends and they seem to love it! I call the game “Crow Frisbee”.
I slice up a baguette and stuff the slices in my coat pocket.
I ride down the road with this murderous flock following in tow. I kind of feel like Willard,……. with feathers and not fur.
As you already know, Crows are a very intelligent species. For me their greatest survival trait is that they flock together. Protection by numbers.
Having said that, some of them stand out in the brain department. They can adjust their flight to pace me and then swoop in and grab the slice without touching me!
Of course, there are some Crows who never did graduate and so they cheat by smacking the slice out of my hand. (those talons are sharp) They quickly grab it and fly off to cache their prize.
I recently bought myself a birthday/Christmas gift….a new drone! I’ve been itching to try it out and see how it performs but the weather has had other plans……for almost 3 weeks now!
It’s been raining biblically………..However, just like a classic Hallmark moment the sun came out tonight just 30 minutes before sunset and yours truly rushed to warm my drone up!
I shot 14 videos tonight. What I do Is a bit unusual compared to other drone operators. Most people travel the drone, meaning they move it horizontally. I do not do that, I go outside my apartment and sit on my beach and put the drone straight up! I can only up up to 120 m ( around 400 feet) as I am inside the Tofino Aerodrome. It’s an area that has floatplanes taking off and landing all the time. So my ceiling is rightly restricted!
Once I’m at the top, I simply pan either left to right or right to left.
I literally get a birds eye view instantly! I can see what’s going on downtown or in the harbour!
I was not only thrilled to only see the sun poking through near sunset but that I was going to be able to play with my new toy!
You can see snow up on the mountains. I use the height of the mountain as a gauge to how low the snow line is. Looks like it’s around 610 meters or 2000 feet?
Many people make a pilgrimage to Tofino for Christmas and New Years! They all walk the beaches at sunset. Normally you can watch them via beach cams walking along in pairs or groups but when a great sunset hits…..EVERYBODY stops where they are and stares silently. Saying “goodbye” to the days light is primal. It’s a recognition of the transition from light to dark. This process has been burned into our collective DNA ancestry for several hundred thousand years.
So I shot the sunset tonight and as I mentioned got 14 videos. I was thrilled that I had gotten all that footage!
After shooting them I was tired, so I went and had a short nap. After getting up I went to download the videos and that’s when my heart dropped!
You see, tonight was only the second time I had ever used my new drone. I had also put it up for last nights sunset. I always download the videos right away. So I had popped the micro SD card out and downloaded last nights videos.
BUT……….When I put the drone up tonight I had forgotten to put the card back in! ( a bit dozy after napping is my official excuse)
I was scared that I had lost all those great sunset videos! A real rookie move to be honest.
FORTUNATELY for me, my new drone has a great little feature…….If you forget to put a card in or fill the card totally It has a 42 GB internal storage space!
I was saved and breathed a sigh of relief! Technology covered my ass!
This video shows a beautiful Christmas Eve sunset!
I went upstream to check on the salmon run for this year?
We did see plenty of dead/chewed up salmon laying about and many more still in the system but there weren’t any bears?
Or I should say, the only bears we saw were this sow and her 2 yearlings.
That is odd?
(I saw “we” btw because I was guiding a group)
I have trail cameras set up around the stream. I do know there are at least 2 sows with 2 cubs each and another sow has a single cub.
In the twenty five years that I’ve been coming up to this stream, I have only ever seen one sow before. She almost immediately put the chase on another bear she felt was too close.
So I’m going to speculate that with at least 3 sows roaming around up there (and maybe more?) they’ve chased everybody else away?
I’ve never seen the stream so vacant of bears and I’ve never seen that many sows/cubs. So I’m connecting the dots.
I went out searching for bruins tonight, but I wasn’t too optimistic about finding one? It was high tide (they prefer low tide so they can overturn the rocks for the baby crabs) and it was hot (they tend to stay in the coolness of the forest during the hot day and forage during the coolness of the night).
Having said that, there almost always is at least one wandering along the beach!
This is a 2 year old female. She was skittish as most nervous 2 year olds are. She never knew I was there. I approached with the setting sun to my back so she wouldn’t be able to see me. When I shut the engine off, the lack of sound all of a sudden made her aware that “something” was different?
She turned and ran up the beach! She then stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. As if to say “later gator”!
I continued on into the harbour for sunset. I wanted to get some shots of Romeo but alas Nature had other plans for moi. During August, the fog like a creeping wolf is always close by. The heat of the day keeps the fog at bay but when the sun sets, It gets cooler. Allowing the fog to advance!
So by the time I got back into the harbour it was almost entirely engulfed in that cold magical mist! I went over to see Romeo ……but couldn’t and I suspect even with his eagle eyes, he couldn’t see me either!
The full moon in August is called the Sturgeon moon. August is called the Sturgeon moon because the Sturgeon are plentiful in late summer. If ever there was a Jurassic throwback, It would be Sturgeons. A very prehistoric and a bit frightening looking. Of course they are not violent and just want to be left alone. The truth is that Sturgeons are an endangered species.
Threats to Sturgeon:
Poaching: Illegal harvesting for caviar and meat is a significant threat.
Habitat Loss and Degradation: Dams, pollution, and other human activities can impact sturgeon spawning grounds and habitat.
Climate Change: Altered river flows and water temperatures can negatively affect sturgeon.
Overfishing: Unsustainable fishing practices can reduce sturgeon populations.
Invasive Species: Competition from invasive species can impact sturgeon.
From my position, the moon looks like it’s rising over Ucluelet (Ukee).
During August (Fogust), Tofino mornings usually have a layer of fog hanging about. I like to put the drone up in the morning to capture that soft silkiness of the fog but sometimes the it’s too thick. I can only go as high as 150 meters. I’m in the Tofino Aerodrome. So my elevation Is restricted. When I can’t punch through, I bring the drone back down and it’s always covered in drops.
During the summer months, Meares island mountains blocks the sunrise. As it gets later in the year the sun will slip further south. The best time for videos is right around sunrise (or sunset),but as you can see, the light isn’t that warm. The mountain ridge stopped me from seeing the sunrise and that height restriction seals It.
A 8.8 earthquake struck eastern Russia at 4:30 pm PST. (July 29,2025) It appears to be a thrust fault and a tsunami was generated. A one foot wave was expected at 11:30 pm in Tofino. As of this writing (7:00 am July 30) nothing of significance has been reported.
Further south a larger tsunami appears to have struck Crescent city in California.
This was the 6th largest earthquake ever recorded.
Our moon is roughly 238000 miles from earth. The distance around our equator is roughly 25000 miles. Making the moons distance roughly 9 1/2 times around the earth for perspective.
Our moon is tidally locked. Which means its rotation is matched to its orbit, so the side we see does not move. All the large moons in our solar system are tidally locked. The smaller moons are not.
The Sun is roughly 93 million miles from earth. Light travels at 186000 miles per second or roughly 7 1/2 times around the equator in one second. The suns light takes roughly 500 seconds to reach earth.
When you feel the warmth of the sun on your cheek, it’s because of a energy particle called a photon. A photon is created at the centre of the sun under intense heat and pressure. It takes thousands upon thousands of years for a single photon to make its way to the surface, and then…..500 seconds to your cheek.
With our eyes, we can see roughly 3 to 4 thousand stars on any given night (depending upon how much light pollution there is?) Light from these stars can take millions of years to reach our eye. The distance light travels in one year is roughly 5.9 trillion miles. When you look up at the stars, you are basically looking back in time.
I am humbled by this mysterious and immense beauty that surrounds us!
Here are a few shots of that female bruin I came across up in Fortune Channel. She was enjoying grazing. Notice how her left eye is slightly closed. Her left side was exposed to the bright light but her right eye was in the shade. So when she looked at me the right eye was more opened.
As you’ve all noticed, I haven’t been getting out. Not due to anything, other than lazy I guess? Having said that, It does take a huge effort on my part to go out!
My Zodiac RIB (ridge inflatable boat) is on land. It has wheels on the back, so I can pick up the bow and move it around. I’m not sure how heavy it is, but it has to be over 200 pounds If It’s an ounce.
The motor (which is brand new btw, Mercury 20 hp) weighs in at around 125 pounds. The fuel tank is about 55 pounds.
I wheel the boat down the ramp and put it on the beach close to the water’s edge. I then wheel ( I built a cart for the engine) the engine down and put it on the boat.
I put all the rest of the gear in and walk it into the water with the boat (about a foot deep). I then drop the wheels.
I push off into the water and start the engine up. After about 5 minutes of warming up,…….I’m off!
It was high tide, so that means very few bears would be roaming about. Bears usually only come out at low tide. They overturn the rocks and eat the baby Dungeness crabs hiding underneath. They eat them like Lays chips! All that oil makes their fur shine!
So when I went out on this particular venture, It was high tide. So I wouldn’t be surprised If I didn’t come across a single one. They fill their bellies with hundreds of crab and then go have a siesta. They wait for the next low tide (12 hours).
I was travelling along my favourite bear spotting area ( southern Fortune Channel, eastern shore ) when I spotted a bear at a distance! I almost missed her, she was hidden under some bows.
She was eating sea asparagus. They love that stuff! I’ve seen it sold in the local supermarket. It’s crunchy and salty.
I only had about a hundred feet of good light until she walked into the shadows. Fortunately she wasn’t cruising, just foraging.
Tide was dropping and I was over the mudflats. So I only stayed with her for 10 minutes or so.
I will post shots of her soon.
I then headed back into town for sunset. I wanted to see if my eagle friend Romeo would still come to me? I haven’t seen Romeo in a year or so? Some eagles get upset with me If I pass through their territory and do not stop. How do I know that they are upset,…..they refuse to come when I call.
If enough time passes ,they totally reject me. They won’t come over when I call at all. I’ve lost 3 eagles that way.
So when I entered into Romeo and Juliette’s territory I held my breath. I was zipping along and raised my arm to signal to him to come over……………and sure enough he flew out to greet me!
I was so HAPPY! I yelled up to him HELLO MY FRIEND,I’VE MISSED YOU!
He does something kind of cool. You know how jet fighters escort a larger plane? He circles around behind me and comes up on my right flank just a few feet off the water! He’s not even flapping, just gliding and he’s going way faster than me! He always beats me to our designated meeting spot. He perched there and waited for me to catch up. If Juliette is around, she’ll sing me a song but Romeo never does. Oh he’ll join in If she sings but never when he is by himself. Each bird is so unique in their personality.
I told him that I was sorry for not visiting very often and that I missed him! I asked him how many eaglets they had this year? I could hear Juliette calling. She was sitting on the nest with the young.
I stayed with him until the sun had set. It was so good to see Romeo again!
I then went back to the boat ramp and hauled everything back up to the boat shed. This is when I am most tired, at the end of the day and It’s when I have to haul it all back uphill.
This was shot out on Frank island and I’m pretty sure It was Frank. I found Frank perched perfectly for tonights sunset! Eagles always have the best seats in the house!
I went out to Chestermans beach for sunset hoping for some great light………but a large cloud had other ideas. However, a bit of light did sneak through near sunset!
I saw one of the Frank eagles perched pretty, so I headed over and got a nice silhouette!
Merry Christmas to all of you ………and to the eagles as well!
If you are a salmon, It’s a scary time of year for you!
The salmon are spawning right now. With most salmon being Chum salmon. Nobody wants Chum salmon, so as a result…..there are plenty of them!
Everybody wants Chinook salmon, so as a result …………..there are very few of them.
Clayoquot Sounds most prolific spawning river (Tranquil) had 51 spawning Chinook last year.
There have been stream restoration projects in many rivers to help restore their numbers but the problem isn’t in the streams, It’s out in the ocean.
The Chinook salmon are being caught by the commercial and sport fishing industry.
If you really want to increase the Chinook numbers, put a moratorium in place. They had to do just that on the east coast for the Northern Cod, but that was after the collapse. Like closing the gate after the horses have gotten out.
The Americans cancelled this years Chinook harvest due to low numbers. It took just 3 days for the fishing industry lobby group to reverse that decision!
We take and take until …….it’s somebody else’s fault.
This bear was patrolling the shore for salmon. You can see at one point it lunging into the water after one, but alas, It comes up empty pawed!
A spider had made a web right over the trail camera housing. Giving it a spooky feeling!
There has been a Racoon hanging about of late. I’ve called it “Rocky”. Rocky was joined today by a larger racoon and he was familiar with it. I suspect a parent.
This parent appears to have lost Its right paw somehow? If I had to guess,I’d say somebody put a small trap out?
So I am calling this Raccoon “Stumpy”.
Rocky was acting like a cat with the Pigeons. He was laying low and rushing them as If he was trying to capture one?
As cute as Raccoons are, they can be very aggressive. I know when Stumpy or Rocky are around…….my Raven friends scream out this very loud ALARM croak!
There was a pigeon hanging around recently with what looked like a broken wing. I guess it couldn’t get enough to eat and made the mistake of going after what the Ravens were eating. Before I knew what was happening one of the Raven chicks had attacked it! It was plucking the feathers off of it. I felt sorry for the poor thing!
I checked 15 minutes later and the pigeon was gone.
In Nature there are nether rewards nor punishments, only consequences.
Robbie and Rita brought their kids over to introduce them! They had 4 chicks this year (like last). I always know when they are around as the chicks squawk loudly! I’m sure in “Ravenese” It means “FEED ME……NOW”!
Now when I ride down the street I have my own “Unkindness” of Ravens following………squawking to beat the band!
I’m a sucker for sunsets. Because of Tofino’s geographic situation, there isn’t any land to the west of us. Creating a beautiful canvas for nature to paint upon.
I have a theory about people and sunsets.
As a species, we learned a long time ago that the day was “good” and the night was “bad”. Our eyesight wasn’t designed for night vision. A predator could prey upon you If you went walking around at night in the forest.
So we had it branded into our DNA that we need sunlight to survive. Our ancestral DNA recorded this collective common experience.
Over the years I have observed an interesting behaviour here in Tofino, which I also suspect happens on all the beaches on the Earth. When the sun is just about to slip into the darkness, our ancestral DNA kicks in. It reminds us of the coming darkness and how we must seek shelter for the night.
I have seen many people on the beach stop walking and just stare! Everybody stops walking and stares.
In the setting sun we remember our past.
To record this video, I simply walked out front of my apartment and sent the drone straight up. Makes it really easy!
We do not get much snow here in Tofino. Up until a few days ago, we hadn’t seen a single flake.
When we do get snow Tofino just seems to sparkle even more ! While other curse the stuff, we love it…….maybe because we know It won’t be hanging around very long.
I’m guessing that the thermocline was around 1000 feet?
Originally I called this Blue Heron “Harriet”. I now am going to call her “Babsje”in memory of Babsje who recently passed. She loved these beautiful birds like no other and took the most amazing pictures of them.
She would paddle her kayak around the lake, visiting them like old friends. I liked to think that she will be reincarnated this Spring as a Blue Heron at the same lake.
This is Ernie. Ernie and Ethel claim this tree as one of their perching trees. In a given eagles territory, they will have many of these perching trees. They almost always have the best aerial real estate. Eagles territories are kind of like puzzle pieces. They all fit together. Tofino’s harbour has about a dozen of these puzzle pieces and they all butt up against each other. This is Ernie and Ethel’s favourite perching spot. Eagles prefer old growth trees as they are usually are the tallest and with the best view. Being beside water is another thing all eagles insist upon. This tree is called the Eik St. tree. It has a history with Tofino. It’s the longest surviving resident of Tofino. It’s estimated to be over 1000 years. It is a Western Red Cedar. I forget the height but it is the tallest tree in town.
A local unscrupulous land developer, wanted to build some condos beside the Eik St tree and demanded It be cut down! In his mind, the tree imposed a hazard to his condos. The tree was in perfect condition!
The locals banded together and said NO WAY! We raised enough money to build a steel girder supporting structure around the tree. This structure insured that the tree would remain upright, even during one of our famous windstorms!
You will not see that steel structure in this video but you can see where the tree was topped. This topping made a perfect Heli pad for both Ernie and Ethel!
Notice the wind was blowing and how the drone was constantly being buffeted. Ernie doesn’t seem to mind me being around. This drone has a zoom capability. I always like to use it when filming eagles. It keeps me further away creating less chance of spooking them.
Her last posting was December 20th 2023. I have been corresponding with her over time. Her health has been suffering of late. She broke her foot and then caught Covid. Then to make matters even worse,she fell and broke her left arm. She was at the Hospital when she fell breaking her left arm. That was January 9th and I haven’t heard from her since. This is unlike her and I fear she has become either too sick to reply or worse.
If anyone knows or can find out what has happened,I and many others would be grateful.
One thing you can just about guarantee Is that sooner or later everybody is bullied. If you haven’t ever been bullied,that’s probably because you most likely are the bully.
Bullying applies to not just humans but also wildlife. I’ve seen just about every kind of animal bullying other animals.
Several days ago I saw a male Anna’s hummingbird bullying a female hummer. Males tend to take possession of a given feeder. They will perch close by warding away any other hummer coming in to have a drink. A male hummer will guard “his” food source the same way a dog guards It’s bone!
During the cold weather hummers need extra calories. They burn more calories than normal just trying to keep warm.
One female hummer was getting desperate for food. She basically told the male hummer “SCREW YOU! I’M GETTING A DRINK”!
The male hummer decided to teach her a lesson! He wanted to dissuade her from feeding at his food source. He put his talons into her backside and hung on. She unfortunately chose a feeding port that didn’t have a perching bar. So she had to hover in place while drinking. Because of this extra weight she couldn’t hover. She was slowly being forced downward,which jammed her beak in the feeding port. She no longer could pull out. Her bill was bending badly. The male by this time had climbed up onto her head to put extra weight down on her.
She managed to finally pull her bill out of the feeding port. They gently fluttered to the ground as one. The male was standing on her head pinning her to the ground.
This is where I decided enough is enough and decided to end this. I moved to open the sliding door. (I had originally thought he was trying to mate with her but after seeing this I realized he was being a typical male asshole.) I moved to open my sliding door and that movement was enough to take his attention away so that she was able to escape and fly away! He pursued her immediately!
I’m sure she is ok but most likely will not do that again. I have since put out another feeder for her and the other female Anna’s. Males can be brutally territorial!
Not many people have feeders out at this time of year. My feeder the other night froze solid! I now bring the feeder in If I think It’ll get too cold.
Bullying happens in nature and with humans as well. I now believe that bullying starts in the cradle and ends in the grave.
Groups of humans bully others as there is strength in numbers. Just look at the 6pm news for proof of that.
I went upstream to check on the salmon run? I figured it was done and sure enough…. it was. Not only was it done but there wasn’t a single dead salmon to be found anywhere! Even on the bottom of the stream was vacant! With the heavy rains the creek swells into a raging river, which flushes all those dead salmon out into the bay where my crab minions await their salmon dinners!
I also didn’t see any Boo Boo’s. All my furry friends have gone to sleep. So I made sure to walk softly.
This video shows me paddling upstream. I shot this with my drone.
This video shows some of the problems I’ve had to overcome with filming salmon. Shallowness and water speed.
I modified the original drift rig to be shorter. So that it could drift downstream without hitting the bottom………..but It appears I still need to adjust it even more!! You will hear the rig hitting bottom several times!
This section of the stream I call “The Speedway”. It’s not only fast but shallow! I think the new drift rig is about 8 inches in height and yet it still smacks the bottom!
This is a picture of my original drift rig. Its 20 inches in depth. Great for deep pools but not the Speedway!
I used stainless ready rods for the camera support. I can adjust the camera height as its threaded.
Halfway down the Speedway the rig gets hung up on a submerged tree limb. You can see that the fish are basically staying still and I’m the one moving!
The aquatic world is surely an alien one. After all, one can only visit for a brief moment and never live there. It is not our element, we ironically would be like a “fish out of water” If we tried to live down there.
This year’s salmon run started off on shaky ground but Nature managed to come roaring back to the rescue!
The bears are full! They catch a salmon by instinct but can only take a few bites before dropping it and searching for the next one.
In this video you will see mostly Chum salmon. There are lots of Chum salmon because they do not appeal to our palate. There are very few Chinook salmon and zero Sockeye……guess why?
It’s that time of year again,spawning time. This year we’ve had poor rain levels and so that in turn makes the streams low. When the streams are low,the salmon cannot swim upstream to spawn.
They arrive to their natal stream by sniffing it out like a bloodhound. They “stage” at the streams mouth. The salmon breath in the freshwater, which begins to change them. They all wait for the streams to increase in flow rate. If it doesn’t rain the streams remain too low for the salmon to spawn upstream. If this persists they will perish before they get a chance to spawn.
Which means in 3 years time there will be a poor return.
I checked the stream levels. I have never seen the stream this low before. So am worried that we may not have a good return?
Having said all that,It’s been raining all today! So our salmon friends may still have a chance!
Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetops,When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,And down will come baby, cradle and all.
I’ve been dreading this post ……
Frank and Freida own the territory on Frank island. Frank island is on Chestermans beach. Chestermans is in the shape of a “L”,with Frank island being at the bend of the “L”. Their nest is very prominent. Anyone walking on the beach can see the nest from a distance.
The song “Rock- a-bye-baby” is very apt as Frank and Freida’s nest has fallen. We had a bad wind storm a month ago. Two eaglets were in the nest at the time. A friend went and rescued them both. Unfortunately one of them perished. However Frank Jr. seems to be doing fine. He is on the other side of the island at a rehab clinic.
I’m sure Frank and Freida are still in mourning.
Nests keep getting larger and larger each year as the eagles add to it. Some nests weigh in at many tons,but sooner or later………they all fall down.
Tuesday June 20th is National Bald Eagle day! I randomly selected a few shots of my fine feathered friends. I could take a million pictures and would still not be enough! I feel very privileged and humbled to know them.
Remember, If you see a Baldie flying over you on Tuesday,you get one wish but you have to use it before sunset.
I found this Sea Otter in Tofino’s harbour. I kept my distance and observed what she was doing? She was having a Rock crab dinner!
She was drifting with the tide. She would submerge and come back up further down tide. I calculated her speed and direction. When she came up the fourth time she was only 10 feet in front of me! She wasn’t aware of my presence for a few seconds,but when she realized she submerged in a nanosecond!
I know It’s a female because of her nose. Females have pinkish marks on the nose. The pink marks are scars. The males grab the nose to make the female more submissive.
I got a new toy……a drone! When I saw this pod coming into the harbour I got excited! I knew they were heading down Tofino inlet! It’s a dead end,so I also knew I’d catch up with them.
This pod’s catalogue number is the T 109,aka “The Runaway’s”,also known as ‘BIG MOMMA’S” gang. I was very happy to see that they had a new member added to their ranks,a calf!
This pod visits Tofino on an almost regular basis! It’s always exciting to visit with them!
I do not know the name of the large bull,but will try to find out?
When I shot this drone footage I was around 400 meters above and used the zoom to get in closer.
above : Unknown bull (they should call him ‘BIG DADDY”)
Above : This is a shot of Big Momma and her new born calf in the distant.
My little feathered friends have come back from their winter vacationing in the south. Most are Rufous with some Anna’s thrown in for good measure.
Around sunset each night their numbers increase dramatically! The collective noun for a group of hummers is a bouquet, charm or shimmer. They gather for “LAST CALL”! They fill up to stay warm during the night. They go into a state of “torpor”. A energy saving mode. So during this “feeding frenzy” they are going CRAZY! The Rufous are actually the ones going crazy, while the Anna’s seem to perch quietly wondering what the ruckus is all about?
During this feeding frenzy period I open the sliding door and just watch and listen to them. By doing this they become familiar with me being there. I like to put my finger out to see If any will perch on it and they do!
Of course I have to remain completely still! Any movement and they are gone instantly! I even found they will take off If somebody walks past within 100 feet!
What you cannot tell is that my hand is being chilled! All the air being disturbed by their wings (50 to 60 times per second) blows the heat away from my hand, making it cold! What you also cannot tell is that when one of them perches on my finger the warmth from their tummies warms that spot up!
Tofino Photography 