Am I greedy?
I have to ask myself, am I greedy? Let me explain.
I recently went on an amazing whale watching trip out of Richmond with Vancouver Whale Watching . The scenery was amazing while travelling for a hour and half to a pod of “Bigs” (aka transient) orcas. There were 5 of them and boy, were they active! They were breaching, sky hopping and just having a blast. I have never seen a more active pod. We watched, amazed, for over an hour, keeping our distance, and then headed home. As you see, an amazing tour. BUT, we didn't see any humpback whales, sea lions, seals, porpoises or ospreys. The only eagle I saw was at a great distance; therefore, no good eagle pictures either. That was a bit of a downer and left me wanting more. So, I must ask myself a question: Am I greedy? I guess when it comes to wildlife watching, I am! Are you?
I Was Mugged
I was mugged by a massive assailant. He is well known to authorities and goes by the name of Nike. Be on the lookout for him because it was fantastic and I hope he does it again! The suspect is as big as a boat (a whale watching boat, that is) and very wet. Of course, he is a humpback whale. It happened on my most recent whale watching tour. “Mugging" is when the whale comes up to the boat and rubs up against the it. Boats always try to stay 200 meters away from the whales, however, sometimes a whale has other ideas and comes up to the boat. In that case, the captain turns off the motor so the propellers don't injury the whale while the whale rubs up against the boat. I don’t know why the whale does it. Maybe it is curious or just wants its back scratched. (Hey, even I enjoy a great back scratch!) So the next time Nike or one of his massive buddies tries to “mug” you, just sit back and enjoy it! But, remember - always try to keep your distance from the whale and let the whale come to you.
Happy Rhino Day 2020
A Day to Celebrate. Pass it on
A Little Good News for Once
I recently read an article where the last Malaysian Sumatra Rhino died. That was truly disheartening. Although I didn't see one, it was one of the reasons I traveled to Malaysian Borneo 12 years ago. The Sumatran Rhino now depends on Indonesia to survive. There are only about 80 left in the would. When I was a kid (according to my son, when the dinosaurs lived) there were 300 in the world. There is still hope for them as in one rhino sanctuary there is evidence of calves being born.
However, that is not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about is their smaller cousins, the Javen Rhino. When I was a kid - again, back in dinosaur times - there were only about 50 Javen Rhinos and their numbers continued to fall. Believe it or not, they were once the most wide-spread of the Asian Rhinos. Their Vietnamese subspecies went extinct in 2010, leaving only those Javen Rhinos in the Ujung Kulon Park (Indonesia). Recently, I decided to Google them, and this is where my little good news comes in. According to the International Rhino Foundation website, the latest report (2019) tallied 79 rhinos including four calves! Since 2012, there has been at least one calf born every year. The concerted conservation efforts of highly trained officials and the Yayasan Badak Indonesia (Rhino Foundation of Indonesia) are paying off! Surpassing 70 rhinos is a significant milestone that should be celebrated. One day soon they can reintroduce the Javen Rhino into all their old stomping grounds. Yes I know, 72 is not a large number but it is a start and the population is going in the right direction. When it comes to rhinos, I will take all the good news I can.
A Javen Rhino photograph was taken from the Save The Rhino website savetherhino.org. I would recommend you check out the website. ( I really wish I had taken that picture.)
Birding I will go.
I thought I would be talk about where I like to go and photograph birds. (Okay, I like pictures of birds anywhere, but these are my favourite three in Greater Vancouver.)
Sandhill Crane Taken with a Cannon EPSos D7 with a Canon EF70-300mm ISO 160 ƒ/5.6 1/800 at George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
My third favourite place is The George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island near Delta, B.C. There is a $5 fee to enter but it is well worth it. My friend Martyn and I often go there to photograph the birds. I have seen snow geese in the winter and sandhill cranes in the summer. The "Ready for Take Off" (Red-wing Black Bird) and the “A Choir of One” (Song Sparrow) pictures on this website were taken at George C. Reifel (check them out). It has the greatest variety of birds I have seen in southern B.C. During the pandemic, you prebook a two hour window online for either the morning or the evening. Well worth the effort.
Mandarin Duck Taken with a Cannon EPSos D7 with a Canon EF70-300mm ISO 200 ƒ/5.6 1/320 at Burnaby Lake
My second favourite location is Burnaby Lake at the sandpit in Burnaby, B.C. It is a great place to both see and feed ducks and other water fowl. It is a fun place to have a duck scavenger hunt from bufflehead to wood ducks. My son really gets a kick out of feeding the ducks there. If you do feed them, please use bird seed. Bread is not good for birds as it fills up their stomachs without much nutrients. I have also seen other birds at Burnaby Lake such as Long-billed Dowitcher, a Green Heron (a rare siting!), and “The Rookie” (Juvenile Eagle Bald Eagle) photo on this website was taken there as well. There is no fee to visit Burnaby Lake Regional Park. Please be sure to maintain the 2 metre distancing.
My number one favourite site is Maplewood Flats in North Vancouver. This is the place I go when I need peace and connection to nature. When I'm there and see all the wildlife and wonderful views, I can't believe I’m still in the middle of a major metropolis. I have seen everything from osprey, eagles, kingfishers, woodpeckers, finches, and many more. My “Small Towie Life” (Spotted Towie) and “Don't Mess With Me" (Cooper's Hawk) photographs were both taken at Maplewood Flats. It is a great place for birding. You never know what might you see.
Thanks for letting me share with you my favourite places around Greater Vancouver for birding and photography. I am sure you know other great places. Where do you go birding? Let me know in the comments.
A female American Goldfinch Taken with a Cannon EPSos D7 with a Canon EF70-300mm ISO1000 ƒ/11 1/250 at Maplewood Flats in North Vancouver
Sammy Jay
Stellar Jay Taken on a trip to Manning Park in June 2018
I have always liked Steller Jays. I remember when I was a kid at our North Vancouver home, we had a lot of trees in the backyard. In the Summertime, one of our favourite activities was sitting on our porch enjoying the nature of our backyard. Although our backyard wasn't very large, it had lots of trees, which gave us the illusion of being in the wild even within the city. We saw many birds while sitting on that porch. One Spring day, we heard a knock on the glass of the backyard porch door. When we investigated, we saw a Stellar Jay on our porch chair. He had flown into the glass door! He (we think it was a he but, to be honest, I did not know how to verify this) seemed to be alright because he got up a moment later and flew right back into the door again! He keep flying into the door for the next hour or so, only taking a break to poop on our porch chair. After about an hour, he flew off no worse for wear. Then we had to clean off the chair to enjoy the outdoors.
Stellar Jay being feed nut at a wood carver studio in June 2009
However, the Jay was back the next day pooping and flying into the door again! I don't know what was so interesting in our dining room. Maybe he wanted to critique the big ugly painting of Amsterdam Harbour hanging inside. He kept doing this all through the Spring. He kept coming back even though we put a large plastic sheet on the glass. Believe it or not, he came back each Spring for the next couple of years! He never seemed to be hurt. He must have had one thick skull! His return was so regular that we named him Sammy.
So, in honour of Sammy, I am adding some of my favourite Stellar Jay photographs to my website https://doriwildphoto.com. Let me know what you think of them.
Stellar Jay photographed in District North Vancouver in March 2020 while walking with my family
Aquarium Wildlife
Last week, I took my son to the Vancouver Aquarium and am I going to talk about sea lions, sea otters or seals? NO! The logical animal to talk about is… the crazy squirrel. Now, I know what you are thinking… that I am squirrel happy seeing as I just put photos of them on my website. That’s just a coincidence. Let me tell you what happened.
After seeing the sharks, sea turtle ‘Scuna,’ and then the jellies, we had lunch in their cafe before seeing the 4D Movie, “15-Minute Polar Express". My son got a small cheese pizza (his favourite) and I, a burger. As it was a sunny day, I decided to eat outside. As I walked outside, I eyed a gull on a table. The Aquarium warns you about how sneaky the gulls could be. So, while eating, I was making sure that sea gull was not getting any of our food. But the aquarium never mentioned anything about the squirrels! After finishing eating, I finally noticed a couple of squirrels. One of them was moving slowly closer and closer. I was beginning to think that if it got closer I could get a great picture, so I got out my camera and very patiently waited for the perfect shot. The squirrel climbed onto the table, closer and closer, until just before I was ready to shoot, it lunged forward and when lunged back! It had a slice of pizza in its mouth - my son’s last slice of pizza, in fact! I was so shocked that I forgot to take the picture. It would have been a classic!
Before I recovered, it ran away. I wonder if he was part ninja turtle! (If you don't get that reference then I am too much of a nerd.) Come to think of it, maybe the gull and squirrel are part of a criminal conspiracy! The gull’s role is to distract while the squirrel pulls the job. Now, I’m sure they are enjoying the spoils of crime. Call #CrimeStoppers and we will ‘take a bite out of crime,’ or maybe pizza. What do think about this conspiracy? Comment below, like and share (just not my son’s pizza!).
This is the squirrel making it move as his or her part of conspiracy
Squirrel TV
We have a bird feeder on our backyard - a Red Maple tree that we can see from outside our dining room window. I love watching birds at the feeder. However, we have one squirrel that loves to sneak the bird seeds from the feeder. My wife loves watching all the funny antics he gets up to in order to get to a free meal. When she works from home, she can see the feeder and the comedic squirrel through a nearby window. It always brings a smile to her face. We call that window “Squirrel TV.” Squirrels are the craziest ‘people.’ In honour of Squirrel TV, I am adding a collection of my squirrel pictures to my website. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below about the pictures and squirrels in general.
Birthday Whale Watch
For my xxth birthday, my mother and sister gave me the experience of whale watching. If you have read my past blogs (which I would recommend doing… no bias here), you would know I L-O-V-E whale watching. So my family booked a whale watching tour for me with #VancouverWhaleWatchingTours, which, by the way, is in the City of Richmond, not Vancouver. (NOTE: They have a great whale ‘seeing’ guarantee.)
This is not the first whale watching tour I have taken from the Vancouver Whale Watching Tours (see my November 21, 2018 post). This time, my tour included being picked up by their tour bus from downtown Vancouver along with a delicious bag lunch. I got to be a tourist in my own city. Everybody should be a tourist in their hometown at least once.
I had a great time! We a saw a pod of 5 humpbacks just 30 minutes out in the Straight of Georgia. I made my report on their whale sighting app - my chance to help whale conservation - and it got me thinking. During my first whale watching tour out of Richmond, over a decade ago, it took us over 2 hours to see a whale outside the harbour of Victoria - two Orcas (NOTHING wrong with Orcas). These were the type of whales we expected to see. Seeing a humpback back then was very rare. Humpbacks were once common to the Straight of Georgia but were eradicated by whalers in late 1800's. For the next 100 years, the Straight was a Humpback-free zone. Then in 1997, a lone Humpback decided to check out the Straight. She must have liked what she saw because slowly, over the next two decades, Humpbacks started to be seen here again. (I guess the whale messaging system is not very fast). Today, the whale watching guarantee now can include Humpbacks AND Orcas. So all I want to say is, “Welcome home, Humpbacks! We missed you.”
Have you seen any Humpbacks in the Straight of Georgia? Let me know in the comments below.
Oh yah, I saw eagles too.
Humpback Playing peek a boo.
Uber for Wildlife a Good Idea?
I would love to see and get a photo of a bobcat. It would be on my website so fast it would make my head spin, but would I want to be a chauffeur for it? I don't think so! I love see wildlife but I want to be safe. There is a reason it called ‘wildlife’. I would NEVER put a wild animal in my car!
I recently heard on the radio that a Colorado mother found a wounded bobcat beside the road, wrapped it in a towel and put it beside her infant child in the back seat. Bobcats are about 47.5 to 125 cm (18.7 to 49 in) long and up to 18 kg (34 pounds) and have been known to take down a deer. Is this the kind of animal you want next to your meal-sized kid? At least the child was in a car seat. (Safety first, you know). The woman then phoned a shocked Colorado Parks and Wildlife official asking what to do next. Wisely, the official told her to grab her child and get the ‘beep’ out of the car. When the official arrived at the car, the bobcat was too badly hurt to recover and had to be put down. I wonder if the Colorado woman was hoping to win a ‘Darwin Award.’ (See darwinawards.com for more info.)
If you ever find a wild animal that you think needs assistance, please DO NOT TOUCH IT! Call the wildlife experts in your area. Otherwise, the result could be tragic for you.
Did not have a picture of a Bobcat but I did find this etching of it at the Lynn Valley Cannon Ecology Centre in North Vancouver.(If you are in North Vancouver, i would advice to check it out. it is amazing) One day I hope to replace it with a real picture of the Bobcat.
Coffee Time for Bear
Just back from my highly enjoyable family vacation in Whistler. My whole family had a great time. Of course, I took my traditional bear tour. I enjoy doing a bear tour every time I stay in Whistler. This time I took the 6:00 AM Whistler Photo Safari’s bear tour at Whistler Olympic Park. The guide, Bronte, was amazing, friendly and knowledgeable. The scenery was stunning, the vehicle was very comfortable and I was the only passenger. (It is also great to have a personalized tour!). There was only one small hiccup - no bears! One owl and 5 squirrels but 0 bears. I guess the bears were taking a coffee break that day. I hear the bear union local 99 are very strict in making sure their members get their morning coffee. Of the many bear safaris I have been on, (I have been on many) this is the first time we never spotted ANY bears. Late August is not the best time for bear safaris as the bears tend to stay deep in the forest hunting for berries. I think what I impressed me the most is that when I called later that day pretending to be a new customer, they admitted they saw no bears on the morning and afternoon tours, and stated that at this time of year seeing bears is 50/50. They didn’t try to con me to get my money. Honesty is the best policy. The question is, would I takes another Whistler Photo Safari? Yes I will! I enjoyed myself and on a previous Photo Safari - they showed me a mother bear an two cubs - so there ARE bears out there. (Hopefully, the next time, their coffee break will over when I get there!)
The only bear we saw on our 2019 Whistler Trip was while eating at my favourite Squamish restaurant, “The Watershed” (It has great food with an amazing view. I would strongly recommend it & no, they did not pay me to say it.) Across the river, a bear just sauntering as if it owned the river and all I had with my phone to capture it instead of my good camera.
Cutest Shark
My son’s favourite shark is the Epaulette Shark. It’s a walking shark. Rap your mind around that! A shark that can walk out of the water for about an hour traveling between pools of water in the coral reefs looking for food. It reminds me of that old Saturday Night Live skit of the land shark! (Boy, am I old?!) For you young whipper snippers, look it up on YouTube. Good thing this shark is less than a meter long, otherwise, we would be in trouble. Every time we go to the Vancouver Aquarium, he wants to see it. They have 2 ‘Epaulettes’, one large spot on each ‘shoulder’ like a shoulder crest on a military or police uniform. Check it out! I had been volunteering at the #VancouverAquarium for 2 years and never saw it as it likes to hide. The first time my son goes looking for it, it comes out of hiding and my son spots it before I did! I guess it is a kid-friendly shark. His mother even made an Epaulette Shark costume for Halloween. He looked so cute in it.
But now I have seen a cuter shark: the Pocket Shark. It is 15 centimetres long (or a foot long for old fogees like me) and looks like a miniature Sperm Whale with pockets. That is so cool! Scientists know virtually nothing about it since it was only recently discovered. Even so, only two specimens have been found but neither one was alive. However, one thing researchers do know is that it is known to live in the ocean abyss. They don’t even know what it uses its pockets for. Maybe the shark keeps its keys there. I would love to be able to see it alive. Maybe #JamesCameron would lend a fellow Canadian his sub?? Hint, hint!
I really wanted to show you a picture of the newly discover species of pocket shark but couldn’t download a picture ,so go to the Live Science website for a look @ www.livescience.com/50611-deep-sea-pocket-shark-photos.html ( Just click on the picture above for a short cut to the web sight ) and let me know if you think it is as cute as I think it is.
Rhinos are cute Part 2
I have a question. What is so powerful about fingernails? If your treat them right, they can look quite good. My wife likes to paint them and turn then into a work of art. But can they cure disease or provide better sex? I think not. Yet people are wiping out rhinos to get what their horn is made of: keratin or - you guessed - it fingernails. Some say the belief is based on the legend of the unicorn. If you think a rhino looks like an unicorn then you need a new set of glasses ASAP. There is nothing magical about their horn.
I don’t want to say that all eastern medicine is phony as science has shown aspects of it can be beneficial, such as acupuncture or herbs, but rhino horn? No. Eastern medicine got it wrong here. Science has shown that it has no benefits other than a placebo effect. In fact, it can cause great harm as people who use it would not seek proper treatment and suffer the consequences.
So don’t believe those wild internet stories of someone being cured by rhino horn. It is BS (pardon my language). It was a lie started by the greedy wildlife traffickers to make more money. So if want a placebo cure or aphrodisiac, grind up your own fingernails! It would have the same effect as rhino’s horn and you would be saving these wonderful and amazing creatures. I know that all five species would thank you.
My second best picture of a rhino ( A Black Rhinoceros from the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania in 2004 )
Rhinos are cute. Part 1
Picture of a White Rhinoceros taken Sep 1998 in Zambia with a Disposable Kodak Camera ( Piece of advice: never go wild life photography with a Disposable Camera. That is my one regret of my 1998 Africa Tour.)
Rhinos are my favourite animals. l love to start arguments with my son, whose favourite is the elephant, by telling him that ‘rhinos are better than elephants’, which everyone knows is true. He makes a riled up face that so adorable.
What’s not to love? They are very unique. Nothing looks like a rhino. They are the 2nd largest land animal, which make then so powerful yet, due to poaching, they are also so vulnerable. (I will come back to that in part 2.) They are cranky and don’t take any guff from anyone. (That is why a group of rhinos is called a crash.) They are a ‘keystone’ species for their environment. They can survive on low quality plants because they their guts are so big. This allows a rhino’s stomach the time it needs to absorb more nutrients. Then the rhino’s dung fertilizes the growth of higher quality grass that the other animals need to survive. It’s all connected. You see, it’s amazing!
There are 5 species of rhinos; the White, Black, Indian, Javenese and Sumatran. I have seen the Black during my 2nd African trip, and then only from a distance. I couldn’t get a close up photo of it to my disappointment. However, during my 1st African trip, after a long canoe trip on the Zambezi river, there was a a White rhino staring at us from 50 meters away where our canoes came out of the water. We were then taken on a game drive and saw five more Whites. This time we got within 3 or 4 meters. It was probably the best wildlife picture I took on that trip with my disposable camera. Did you know that each of those White rhinos had a bodyguard with a AK45!?! Rhinos are so cool that they have their own possy!
One of the main reasons that I had my honeymoon in Borneo was that I hoped to see and get a picture of the Sumatran Rhino. To my great disappointment, I did not see any as they are now so rare. I still want to go back to Borneo and marvel at one. I just hope the poachers will allow me the chance to be amazed by the Sumatrans and their 4 cousins.
What is your favourite wild animal? Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks! And, until next time, remember to ‘Go Wild!’
What Young Hawaiians will do for attention
The youth these days. Last month, BBC news reported that in the last couple of years a few of Hawaii’s youth have been sporting a very unusual nose ring - a dead eel, forcing the authorities to act. Where did their parents wrong?
That’s right, a few young Hawaiian Monk Seals have been spotted with an eel sticking out of their nose. How does one get an eel stuck in one’s nose? I have no idea ( not that I want to try it). The wildlife experts have been able to remove the eels and the seals are now doing fine. The experts are puzzled why this is a recent phenomenon and hope the seals learn that the nose is not the place to store your eel. Ain’t nature wired and amazing?!
I wish I could take a picture of a seal with an eel nose ring. What are your thoughts?i
I wish this was one of my pictures, but it is not. I am so jealous.
Sad News From Japan
I recently heard from BBC News that Japan decided to start commercial whaling in their territorial waters as of July 2019. They have a legal right to do it. However, this makes me sad. I guess I could get angry, but what’s the point. It would not help the the whales. If you verbally attack, demonstrate or throw paint in protest marches (PETA method) this will only cause the Japanese whalers and their government to double down and be more entrenched. Athough they claim that whaling is cultural, I think the true reason is economic. I hear that in Japan, whale meat sales are down and government subsidies are up; however, they have a bunch of people who depend on the whaling industry. What do you do with these people? If your livelihood was threatened, wouldn’t you fight for it even if that livelihood is morally questionable, as I believe whaling is? If you want to save the whales, provide a livelihood for the whaler that doesn’t involve killing whales such as whale watching or filming them. Let’s get creative and start being rational. Talk to them and hear their side, and together we may find a solution.
On the bright side, the commercial whaling will be in Japan’s territorial waters instead of the Antarctic waters where Japan is doing what they call « scientific whaling ». (Maybe someone could tell me the difference between scientific whaling and commercial whaling since whales are killed in both cases.) Meanwhile, the Antarctic whales will be safe. I don’t know how many or what type of whales are in Japanese waters but I will pray that we can find a solution before they go extinct. What are your thoughts?
An African Hightlight
My favourite place to visit is Africa and one of the reasons I fell in love with Africa happened during my Contiki tour of Zimbabwe in 1998. (If you under 35 years old, I would recommend a Contiki tour anytime. I have done 3 of them and they were all amazing. No, they haven’t paid me to say that.) It was before Zimbabwe fell apart with the actions of its government. The people were very friendly and welcoming. Our tour group had split into cars for an afternoon safari at Hwange National Park. After seeing many wonderful animals, including a Sable Antilope, our car meet up with another tour group coming in the opposite direction. The cars stopped and the guides started to talk to each other in a native language. I don’t know what they said but soon we took off like we were being chased by the cops. We soon arrived at a watering hole. All I saw was the watering hole about 500 meter away and on the other side of the water, between it and a bunch of trees, was a log. The guide pointed across the water and said, ‘There is your lion.’ I did not see it so I said, ‘Where?’ The guide pointed again straight across the water but I still couldn’t see it. He looked at me as if I was blind. This went on for a few minutes until the log decided to move and roared. The log was a female lion! At that distance, I would never have noticed it with its tawny coat if it hadn’t move. It was amazing just to watch it move and roar. It was the only lion we saw on that trip. They are beautiful animals. I also enjoyed boasting to the other car of our tour group that we saw the lion and they missed it. I have work on my humility.
“Can you see the Lion? It’s right there. This is the picture of the watering hole from my 1998 Africa Trip. Learned a very valuable lesson. Never use a disposable camera on a Safari. None of my wildlife pictures turned out. On the good side, it made my good back to Africa in 2004 with a better camera and got some great shots of African wildlife”
Merry Christmas from Santa Giraffe
Merry Christmas from Dori Wild Photo
Time to kill
Today, I volunteered at the Vancouver Aquarium and I really enjoyed teaching the grade 1 students about marine adaptations. If you ever have a chance to volunteer at the aquarium, you should. It is amazing and very awarding. But, I am not here to talk about the aquarium. I had some time before my shift and as it wasn’t raining which seems unusual in a Vancouver winter. I decided to to walk around Beaver Lake to see the animal you would expect to see at a lake called beaver : an otter ( that right I am still team Otter) I was told there was a family of otters living there and did I see them? No . They must have been on a cofffee break when I walked by. Oh well, it was still a beautiful walk and I am glad I did. It put a smile on my face. Saw lots of ducks and squirrels ( I think the lake is squirrel central). 1 Downy Woodpecker seemed to pose for me. To bad I did not have my camera with me. I guess I will just have to come back with my camera and maybe the otters won’t be on coffee next time.
So whatt have you seen at Beaver Lake?
Picture take from Stanley Park at another time (Sep 2015)