Coyotes on the Hunt

     The other night two coyotes visited the back yard.   Off and on during night the resident bunny had been playing and drinking from the water feature.   About 15 minutes after his last visit, the coyotes showed up.
      I don't think they found him, but it wasn't for lack of trying.   They hunted for at least a half hour.   The pictures came from my Bushnell Trophy Cam. I edited them into a short movie.   This is my first attempt at using Picasa to make a movie.    I don't think Sundance will be calling, but have a look if you have a few minutes.

 

Coyote on the Cam

It finally happened!   I "captured" a picture of a coyote visiting our water feature on the new Trophy Cam that I set up.  

The coyote only stayed a few seconds.   He enters the picture on the right side and exits from the top left.   Here are the 6 pix:

I hope these are only the first of a lot of pictures of our backyard wildlife.

Backyard Trophy Cam

     For a long time I've wanted to set up a camera to record the wildlife that comes to our water feature.  During the day we see rabbits and quail almost every day.  Occasionally we see coyotes, road runners, and Harris Hawks.  Last week we saw a different bird of prey, which I think was a Cooper's Hawk. I wish I had a photo to study or show to someone who would know more.
       So I was excited when Kent surprised me with an early Christmas present a few days ago--a Trophy Cam.    I've had a great time working with getting it set up and experimenting with the settings.   Here are some of the photos:
     

   The rabbit on the left is the first one we "captured".

    I changed the location slightly here:

 

   So far I've only captured rabbits and quail.  But I'm sure that one night I'll catch the coyotes dancing in the moonlight.

Vancouver to Victoria

 

BC Ferries

We signed up for a Victoria and Butchart Gardens tour with Westcoast Sightseeing, which involved taking a ferry to Victoria.    The journey was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  

The islands are pine covered, with lighthouses and a few homes along the shore.   I don't know what the houses cost, but they have million dollar views.

          There are restaurants on board and plenty of comfortable seats.   But my favorite spot was on the deck.  With the wind blowing and the sun shining., it was the best seat on the ferry.    

River Otter Swimming

Here he comes!

River - Not Sea - Otters in Stanley Park

River Otters in Stanley Park

      Recently Kent and I made our first trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. We spent a Sunday in Stanley Park and walked along the Sea Wall. I spotted something swimming.  Initially I wrote that they were sea otters, but I was wrong.  A reader sent me a Comment, and he or she was correct:   They are river otters. 

There were three of them.  As we watched, one of them swam toward the shore.

According to Wikipedia, sea otters are members of the weasel family, and weigh between 31 and 99 pounds.   That makes them heavy for weasels, but among the smallest of marine mammals.


These are river otters that I mistook for sea otters.  According to information from "Ask an Aquarium", one of the best ways to tell the difference is to watch how they swim.  "At the surface, river otters swim belly-down and expose very little of their back, while sea otters swim belly-up and float high in the water due to their air-filled fur."   

I was so excited to watch him swim all the way to the shore.  

I've learned that sea otters hunt in short dives which usually last between 1 to 4 minutes.  One amazing fact is that they are the only marine animals that are capable of lifting and turning over rocks.  They do this with their front paws.
Since this one turned out to be a river otter, it isn't surprising that we didn't see this behavior.  But our river otter was looking around for something tasty to eat.

We watched as the otter climbed onto the rock and  used it like a table.  According to the experts, sea otters also use small rocks to open up shells, which make them one of the few mammals that we know use tools.  I'm not sure if river otters do the same thing. 

My favorite picture of him---smiling for the camera!

Sea Otters are endangered in the U.S., but rebounding better in Canada.  He turned out to be a River Otter, but he was still fascinating to watch.  I feel very lucky to have been able to see him so close.  
To find out more about river otters, check out '''Ask an Aquarium" at
http://www.ncaquariums.com/askaquarium/otter.htm
 


To learn more about sea otters, check out the Wikipedia article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otter