
An American robin eats a mountain ash berry in my backyard. (Robin Rowland)
This October was a great month to shoot birds in Kitimat, not only in my backyard, but on the ocean at Kitamaat Village and MK Bay Marina.

Dark-eyed junco, also enjoying the mountain ash berries among fall colours in early morning light. (Robin Rowland)

Three green winged teals in flight at the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)

A Great Blue Heron foraging at the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)

A Great Blue Heron foraging at the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)

A Great Blue Heron flies over Kitimat harbour. (Robin Rowland)

Ducks in a row. Widgeons and Mallards on the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)

Widgeons and Mallards on the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)

A murder of crows over Kitamaat harbour. (Robin Rowland)


A bald eagle over Kitimat harbour. (Robin Rowland)

Herring gull in a rainy Wahtl Creek. (Robin Rowland)

A northern flicker on the wires overlooking my backyard. (Robin Rowland)
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The 99.9% waning super blue moon is seen over Kitimat on the morning of Sept. 1, 2023 at 6:38 am. (Robin Rowland)
August 2023’s super blue moon was full on August 31, but in Kitimat the sky was heavily overcast with rain up until the moon rise that evening when the moon was 99.9% warning
Early on the morning of September 1, the sky was partly cloudy and the dawn allowed me to photograph the moon over Kitimat and Douglas Channel.

The moon is seen over Kitimat and the Channel at 5:42 am (Robin Rowland)

The super moon at 6:28 am (Robin Rowland)

A wider view of Douglas Channel at 6:34 a.m. (Robin Rowland)

The moon at 6:37 am (Robin Rowland)

The moon at 6:37 am (Robin Rowland)

Douglas Channel at 7:32 am, after the moon had set. (Robin Rowland)

The 99.9% blue super moon rises over Albatross Ave, August 31. (Robin Rowland)

The moon rises over Albatross Ave. (Robin Rowland)
And earlier

The moon on August 27. (Robin Rowland)

There was so much smoke on August 25 that the moon was barely visible. (Robin Rowland)
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Super moon over Kitimat BC at 5:15 am, August 2, 2023. Most of the lights are from the LNG Canada construction project. (Robin Rowland)

Black and white version of the same super moon shot (Robin Rowland)

August sturgeon super moon over Kitimat, 5:13 a.m. August 2, 2023. (Robin Rowland)

The supermoon over Kitimat and the LNG project earlier at 4:30 a.m. (Robin Rowland)

Waxing 97 per cent super moon rising over Kitimat, July 31 (Robin Rowland)

Sunset over Kitimat and Douglas Channel, July 31, 2023 (Robin Rowland)
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July summer supermoon begining to wane over Kitimat and Douglas Channel. (Robin Rowland)

Waning super moon over LNG Canada site (Robin Rowland)

Waning summer supermoon (Robin Rowland)
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A mink (neogale vison) on a driftwood log at the Kitamaat Village beach, February 12, 2022 (Robin Rowland)
It was a cool, over cast Saturday afternoon when I accompanied birders from the Kitimat Valley Naturalists on the monthly shorebird count.
Just after we arrived at our first stop, the Kitamaat Village seawall and beach in Haisla traditional territory, I (and the others) saw something out of the corner of my eye, a flash of black with a tail scampering along a driftwood log on the beach. A few minutes later the animal appeared again, coming up from another log. So while the birders put up their scopes and scanned the shoreline, I walked up on a pile of dirt and kept watch for the mammal.
I kept watch. It was dashing along the logs and under others. Had the camera on high speed burst mode and missed it about twenty or so times.
Then the mink decided to pause (or to do me a favour) and stopped on one log, looked up and I captured this portrait. It looked around and then dashed into a hollow log and disappeared.

A mink (neogale vison) on a driftwood log at the Kitamaat Village beach, February 12, 2022 (Robin Rowland)
Cloudy day. Sony RX10M3, Iso Auto shooting at 2000 ASA. 1/1000 at F4.
A lot of other usual shots, even at low tide the beach is far off so it’s often hard to get good shots.
Then I spotted a bald eagle high over Douglas Channel.

A bald eagle flies over Douglas Channel. (Robin Rowland)
Then I got lucky again, the eagle flew right toward the beach, coming in for a landing.

Bald eagle coming in for a landing at Kitamaat Village beach. (Robin Rowland)
And then perched on a driftwood stump.

A bald eagle perches on a driftwood stump in late February afternoon sun at Kitamaat Village, Feb. 12, 2022. (Robin Rowland)

A bald eagle perches on a stump in Kitamaat Village, (Robin Rowland
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The weather in Kitimat has been awful during most of the fall, cold, windy, rainy, foggy and generally miserable. Not unexpected in a La Nina year.
I went down to Kitamaat Village for the monthly bird count in a rain squall. So the visibility was pretty bad. As I was about to leave, a half dozen northwestern crows landed right beside me, in the pouring rain and stayed long enough for me to shoot their portraits.

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