Category Archives: Wanderings

Beach safari

July 23, 2019 Andree Fredette

This is a quick visual report on a sunny summer day’s activity for kids of all ages, an annual July ritual on Saturna Island in coastal BC.

Around 1 p.m. last Saturday, people started showing up at East Point, on Saturna Island, to come play and discover critters at the edge of the Salish Sea.

The point was a busy place, with divers headed into the water, to gather all kinds of creatures and bring them back to shore, so everyone could have a look…

A diver brings in some creatures from the intertidal zone at East Point, Saturna Island, BC.

Tanks were set up on the beach, with recirculating water, so their temporary residents would be comfortable.

Tanks full of sea creatures, Beach Safari, Saturna Island, BC

And everyone gathered to hear about the animals and plants that make the intertidal zone their home… Student biologists from the University of Victoria were on hand to share their knowledge about life below the surface.

Sea stars at the Beach Safari, Saturna island, BC.

There were sea stars, in their variety…

California sea cucumbers…

Sea urchin, Beach Safari, Saturna Island, BC

Sea urchins, including this big one (and look at the little baby one in the tupperware container on the side)…

Kelp crab, Beach Safari, Saturna Island, BC

And crabs, including these kelp crabs…

Male kelp crab, Beach Safari, Saturna Island, BC

And we learned that male crabs have a “lighthouse-like” marking on their abdomen…

Female kelp crab, Beach Safari, Saturna Island, BC

… while female crabs have a wider plate on their abdomen… So now, we can tell them apart. Also, notice that this female has been busy adding some camouflage greenery to her legs and back…

Sargassum brown algae, Beach Safari, Saturna Island, BC

Finally, this brown kelp is known as Sargassum, an invasive algae now present in the Salish Sea… We can pick it and plow it into our gardens as fertilizer without any guilty feelings…

And finally, no Beach Safari is complete without a little kite flying! There was a nice breeze, and people gave it a shot.

Summer weekends, the right time to go play outside.

Blog, Photography, Wanderings

Spring at East Point

April 6, 2017 Andree Fredette

Photo above: Boiling Reef, near the point, is still an encampment for Steller sea lions, harbour seals, eagles, ducks and more.

On a grey day in spring, it’s a quiet place. Few people, plenty of birds. A rare daytime low tide, too. Great for bird watching…

Above: the long nose of East Point, and in the distance, Boiling Reef to the right (the rocks where the big critters lounge), and the tip of Tumbo Island on the left.

There is quite a bit of wildlife at East Point, on Saturna Island… Lots of birds are finishing their winter residence and will soon depart for other locations in BC and Northward.

A Harlequin drake (Histrionicus histrionicus), handsome fellow, at the water’s edge. Waiting for the tide to come back in.

Not far away, his girlfriend, the female Harlequin.

Above: another Harlequin female, standing right where the buffet is happening, as the tide is rising. They seemed to like spots where the returning water was flipping over the sea weeds…

And this handsome one is a male Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica). Caught him just after he surfaced, water still beading on his plumage.

Above, a view of Boiling Reef, where the Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) are still lounging. They will soon leave to go to their rookery, that party place where all the mating occurs during the summer. To get that shot, I used a long lens because they are far away. The males can reach 7 to 9 feet long, and weigh 1.2 tons…

Which is why I am all the more impressed by the sang-froid of this diver:

Blog, Photography, Wanderings

Fresh air and The Birds

November 7, 2016 Andree Fredette

Photo above: participants in the “Round the County Sailing Race”, rounding the Lighthouse Point, Patos Island, WA. Photo taken from East Point, Saturna Island, BC, roughly 6 km away…

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to go to East Point, to get some fresh air (and oh yes, the air certainly was fresh…). Although rain was threatening, I went because someone pointed out that a major sailing race was underway in the Orcas islands. The header photo above is the best shot I could get, from 6km away…

Above: a straggler, way behind the rest of the participants…

A good breeze was flowing through and I found a large gathering of gulls, all over the rocks.

Gulls everywhere, resting while facing the wind.

Above: I think these are junior (not quite mature) herring gulls…

It was like a gull convention. Or the prelude to The Birds (you know, the Hitchcock movie…).

And more coming…

And these caught my eye, because of their red beaks…

I had to look them up today: they are Heerman’s gulls, and these waters are probably their northernmost habitat on the Pacific Northwest.

There were all kinds of Harlequin ducks, fishing around the point. Above, a lovely couple. The gulls kept trying to fly close, land next to the ducks after they surfaced, to steal whatever they had caught…

Oops, the hen dove and the drake gets to pose for the camera…

Here is a harlequin hen, at the shore…

And then there were the little ones, the sandpipers, scurrying between the gulls. They are so tiny and quick, and their camouflage colours are so efficient that they are hard to spot…

Snack time…

After a couple of hours, my fingers started to feel frozen (note to self: bring gloves, next time), so I decided to head home.

I leave you with a shot from the night before, a Saturday evening sunset minuet:

Blog, Inspiration, Photography, Wanderings

Mountain treasures

August 24, 2016 Andree Fredette

Above: the skyline, viewed from the Heather Trail, E.C. Manning Provincial Park, BC.

Summer, the perfect time for a road trip. A few weeks ago, I headed to the alpine meadows of the Cascades.

There were colourful treasures on that mountain path…

(Pssst: click on these photos, to view them full size.)

Meet the Indian paintbrush (Castilleja), up close. All these plants are really tough guys. They have to reproduce during a very short season (I was told that snow melted in late May to mid-June, at that altitude). The soil is poor, and the elements are cruel. And this particular plant, Indian paintbrush, is a hemiparasite, meaning that it gets some of its nutrients by living off its neighbours… Tsk, tsk.

Up on the mountain, the trail beckons.

Some of the flowering plants are very ancient-looking. Meet Lousewort (Pedicularis bracteosa), with pollinators on board.

I spotted a white and maroon variety of Indian paintbrush (Castilleja).

I was a few weeks too late to admire blooming Western Pasque flowers (Anemone occidentalis)… So instead, here is a close-up of a seedhead, with insect ornaments.

For that golden touch, there were specimens ofTiger lily (Lilium columbianum).

The lovely blue of Lupine (but which? maybe Large-leaved, maybe not…)

An intimate portrait of the Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).

In a moist area near the main road, Spirea in bloom, by the Beaver pond.

And here is a landscape, featuring the Beaver pond.

And I leave you with the irony of a hiking quatuor, catching up with the news near the cell tower. Top of the mountain, at 2200 meters, where they had many bars on their cells.

Blog, Just Because, Photo Wednesday, Photography, Wanderings

These waters – Photo Wednesday

July 6, 2016 Andree Fredette

Above: classic shot of the Fog Alarm Building at East Point, Saturna Island, British Columbia.

And below, I tried to catch the sky reflected in a puddle left in sandstone hollows, on the “other side” of East Point.

If you like blues, this is the place. In these waters, an entire palette of blues is deployed every day.

Above: an islet before the approaching fog engulfs it… Viewed from the ferry.

And the same morning, again from the ferry, an apparition: the HMCS Oriole, the oldest commissioned vessel in the Royal Canadian Navy. It is a 31 m (101 ft 8 in) sailing ketch built in 1921. (I had to look it up.)

And I leave you with these sailors, stretching the day into evening.

Summer is here. How about a tequila sunset?

Andrée Fredette