Archive For The “nature” Category
A small lake in a bowl at the peak of Trapline Mountain on a sunny August morning. (Robin Rowland)
GPS route to Trapline Mountain (Google Earth)
On Monday August 5, friends invited me along for a trip to Trapline Mountain to photograph the alpine. Trapline Mountain is about 30 kilometres east of Terrace, BC. You get to the mountain first by driving along the road that follows the Copper River and then taking a rough access road to the peak. At the peak is a BC Hydro microwave communications tower. The area is popular with photographers, ATV enthusiasts and the occasional campers in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter.
Black and white images
I have converted most of the images to black and white. Depending on the image I either used Photoshop or SilverEfx.
Another view from the peak of Trapline Mountain. (Robin Rowland)
Another of the mini-lakes at the peak of Trapline Mountain. (Robin Rowland)
The peak of Trapline Mountain. (Robin Rowland)
The tree line just below the peak. (Robin Rowland)
A vertical view of the lake. (Robin Rowland)
A sharp distant peak. (Robin Rowland)
Another view of the mountains. (Robin Rowland)
Flowers and reeds at the shore of a lake a little lower on the mountain. If you look carefully you will see a swarm of flies. (Possibly mayflies?) (Robin Rowland)
Bright plants track a small stream through the alpine. (Robin Rowland)
Ferns and flowers among the broken rocks of the peak. (Robin Rowland)
Colour images
The peak of Trapline Mountain is absolutely beautiful. So I have included some colour images.
A view from the peak. (Robin Rowland)
A closer view. (Robin Rowland)
Another view. (Robin Rowland)
GPS track to the peak of Trapline Mountain (Google Earth)
Haaland Ave. Waterfall
Haaland Ave. Waterfall tumbles off a cliff into the Copper River.
The Haaland Avenue falls on the Copper River, (Robin Rowland)
A pole among the rocks below the falls. (Robin Rowland)
A juvenile bald eagle prepares for take off at the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)
Portrait of a juvenile bald eagle at Kitamaat Village, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
The juvenile bald eagle just after take off, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
A flock of Barrow’s golden eyes hug the shore off Kitamaat Village. (Robin Rowland)
A crow caws on a snag at low tide at Kitamaat Village, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
A song sparrow on stump on the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)
Storm clouds over Douglas Channel, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
A crescent moon sets over the mountains of Kitimat, with “earthlight” from our home planet illuminating the sphere, March 8,2019. (Robin Rowland)
A seagull hunts for oolicahn on the Skeena River, March 6, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
Trumpeter swans, signets and canvasback ducks in the Kitimat River estuary, Dec.15, 2018. (Robin Rowland)
My portion of the Christmas Bird Count in the Kitimat River Estuary (courtesy Rio Tinto) was in an afternoon blizzard which cut visibility by up to about 80 per cent at times and was no help to the cameras, whether or on auto focus or manual.
A killdeer hunts for food on a patch of wetland grass as the tide rises (Robin Rowland)
A rare sighting of a Wilson’s snipe out in the open on the river estuary. (Robin Rowland)
A bald eagle overhead. (Robin Rowland)
Another shot of the killdeer. (Robin Rowland)
Another shot of the Wilson’s snipe. (Robin Rowland)
The Wilson’s snipe getting a last shot at a meal as the tide rises. (Robin Rowland)
The trumpeter swans, signets, canvasbacks and mallards. (Robin Rowland)
A great blue heron huddles against the snow storm. (Robin Rowland)
Another great blue heron. (Robin Rowland)
A loon in the choppy waves of Kitimat harbour. (Robin Rowland)
The weather here in Kitimat on Saturday, November 3, 2018, was miserable, with heavy rain. I don’t often get ravens in my backyard but on Saturday morning, one landed in the mountain ash tree in my backyard to sample the berries. You can tell just how wet it was from the drips on the berries.
The raven gulps down two mountain ash berries.
Sony Alpha 55 (the camera I always keep by my backdeck) with a Tamron 70- 300.
There were more crows than usual Sunday morning at the Kitamaat Village waterfront. Crows perching on old driftwood roots….
…or in the air along the shore line.
Suddenly all the crows took to the air….that murder of crows (or as one of the other birders said “it looks like two murders”).
It was soon clear that they were mobbing a juvenile bald eagle.
The eagle escaped the crows. And we saw it about 20 minutes later, a little further away over the mouth of Whatl Creek at MK Bay, flying over some gulls skimming the water.
One of my favourite birds in here in Kitimat is the Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius). There were a lot more than usual this spring for one reason or another. So here is an album of images.
A varied thrush on my back deck. (Robin Rowland)
There was still snow in a hollow in a small woods near my house in mid-April. (Robin Rowland)
The snow in the hollow which lasted for about a week after all the snow had gone elsewhere attracted varied thrushes almost every day. (Robin Rowland)
The spring melt advances on the last patch of snow. A pair of varied thrushes. (Robin Rowland)
As the spring buds come out in the nearby woods. (Robin Rowland)
And in my backyard.
And on an old log in the same hollow a couple of days later. (Robin Rowland)
In early May on the waterfront at the Minette Bay Lodge. (Robin Rowland)
A closer shot of the varied thrush at Minette Bay. (Robin Rowland)
On an driftwood stump at the mudflats of Minette Bay at low tide. (Robin Rowland)
A closer view (Robin Rowland)
Two bald eagles battle over a duck at Kitimat harbour. Images taken off the shoreline of Kitamaat Village.
A bald eagle flies over Kitimat harbour (Robin Rowland)
(Robin Rowland)
Another bald eagle watching from above. (Robin Rowland)
Splash! The first eagle swoops down and grabs a duck (hard to see in this image) (Robin Rowland)
The second eagle heads skyward with its eye on the first (Robin Rowland)
The first eagle is heading away with his catch (Robin Rowland)
The second eagle swoops down to attack. (Robin Rowland)
But the attack is unsuccessful and the first eagle escapes with its meal still in its talons. (Robin Rowland)