March 8th, 2013 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Bird Watching, Birds
Update: March 24, 2013 Last confirmed sighting of the Citrine Wagtail on eBird was Thursday, March 21. However, since that time, access to the farm lane has been restricted due to active farming and the lane is gated. Original Post I have to admit that during the dark days of January, 2013 I had written the citrine [...]
February 21st, 2013 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Backyard Birds, Bird Watching, Birds, Woodpeckers
Having a backyard (or in this case, front yard) suet feeder is great for easy, coffee drinking (shade grown/bird friendly of course), birdwatching. Since we’ve finally gotten around to putting our feeders up, we can settle in to enjoy the show. Over the course of a week a flock of bushtits make regular appearances, chestnut-backed [...]
February 2nd, 2013 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Natural History, Odds and Ends, Shopping Carts
It’s been a while since I’ve posted observations on the natural history of feral carts that I’ve found and photographed here on Vancouver Island—I moved my cart related posts over to a separate blog but it’s now time to bring them back home. No real reason to keep them separate and it’s just too time [...]
November 20th, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Bird Watching, Birds
Update: March 24, 2013 Last confirmed sighting of the Citrine Wagtail on eBird was Thursday, March 21. However, since that time, access to the farm lane has been restricted due to active farming and the lane is gated. Update: March 6, 2013 Checked the original farm site on Wednesday, March 6 with Viktor Davare and had a [...]
November 3rd, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Destinations, Fish, Nature Photography, North Vancouver Island
I’ve been experimenting with long exposures and photographing moving water (and chum salmon) down at the Puntledge. I don’t have the technique quite right yet and really need to get some neutral density filters so that I can get longer shutter speeds. It has been fun trying different things out and it’s forcing me to [...]
October 30th, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Fish, Nature Photography, Nature Viewing
The weather has been rather wet and dark over the last couple of weeks making photography challenging. Fortunately, the rain has brought a rise in the water levels of rivers emptying into the Courtenay River estuary (both the Tsolum River and the Puntledge River join together to become the Courtenay River a short distance from [...]
June 19th, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Backyard Garden, Caterpillars, Invertebrates, Moths
I was out supervising the neighbourhood kids bicycling in the back alley when I noticed a very interesting caterpillar on the leaf of a lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) in our rather wild roadside flower bed. Several of the kids took a break and had a closer look at this striking caterpillar and one mentioned that [...]
June 5th, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Botany, Estuaries, Flowers
One of the plants that seems to be common in the Courtenay River estuary is the common red paintbrush (Castilleja miniata). What interested me about the plants that were growing along the edges of the slough and wetter areas was the variety of colour represented. Colours ranged from deep red through to a pale yellow. [...]
May 6th, 2012 |
By Dave Ingram |
Published in
Bird Watching, Birds, Events, Nature Viewing, Warblers, Waterfowl
A great day out birding for the Comox Valley Nature spring bird count. Like Christmas Bird Counts, the spring count is an attempt to tally as many species as possible while trying to document the number of individual birds in the count area. Unlike Christmas Bird Counts, the weather is generally a little better. I [...]
April 3rd, 2012 |
By Jocie Ingram |
Published in
Destinations, Environmental Issues, Estuaries, Landscapes, Natural History, Nature Viewing, North Vancouver Island
I am looking at Google Earth, following the coast south of Courtenay and I find myself staring at a river, the Trent, as it snakes down to the ocean, opening into a fan-like delta that forms a prominent bump on the coastline. Even from this bird’s eye view, I’m stuck by the estuary’s beauty—a geographic [...]