Posts Tagged “Kitimat British Columbia”
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)
The sun sets over the Rio Tinto Alcan Kitimat Modernization Project construction site March 4, 2014. (Robin Rowland)
Updated (below) with the arrival of the Delta Spirit Lodge.
On March 4, 2014, Rio Tinto Alcan organized the first media tour of the $3.3 billion construction project since the announcement in December 2011 that the project had received the go ahead from the RTA board. The project upgrades the aging aluminum smelter, built in the early 1950s, using modern proprietary technology the company says will increase production by 48 per cent, while reducing most emissions by about 50 per cent.
I converted images taken during the tour to black and white for this blog.
Cranes operate in the area that RTA calls “Carbon South” where there will be the new modularized Paste Plant. Eventually, the Paste Plant will produce green anode blocks part of the electrical process that produces aluminum. (Robin Rowland)
A tower under construction at RTA KMP Carbon South (Robin Rowland)
Construction cranes at work at RTA KMP Carbon South (Robin Rowland)
A recycling truck passes the 1950s vintage Potline One at the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter. (Robin Rowland photo)
Part of the power grid at the RTA KMP high voltage substation area. (Robin Rowland)
Part of the power grid at the RTA KMP high voltage substation area. (Robin Rowland)
High voltage circuit breakers at the RTA KMP construction site. They are electrical switches capable of turning on power and turning off power to the smelter’s rectifier units which convert alternating current into direct current, part of the aluminum smelting process. (Robin Rowland)
The high voltage circuit breakers are seen at the RTA KMP construction site. The new potlines are under construction behind the circuit breakers and cable drums. (Robin Rowland)
An old conveyer system and an electrical transmission tower at the RTA KMP construction site. (Robin Rowland)
Kitimat’s iconic Mt. Elizabeth is seen in the background of the construction site. (Robin Rowland)
A platform lift outside the Anode Baking Furnace site. (Robin Rowland)
A heavy duty front end loader at the construction site. (Robin Rowland)
Construction at the KMP site. (Robin Rowland)
Construction goes on at the Casthouse C area, with the future cafeteria and change house in the background. (Robin Rowland)
Update March 11, 2014
On Monday, March 10, the Estonian ferry Silja Festival, renamed the Delta Spirit Lodge by Rio Tinto Alcan arrived in Kitimat to act as a bunkhouse/workcamp for about 600 workers who will be completing the Kitimat Modernization Project (Robin Rowland)
Another gorgeous evening in Kitimat, August 13, sun set lit clouds and the quarter moon setting over Douglas Channel.
Sunset and quarter moon setting over Douglas Channel, Kitimat, Aug. 13, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
Telephoto (200 mm) view of the forest and Kitimat harbour, Aug. 13, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
Another telephoto (200 mm) view of the forest and Kitimat harbour, Aug. 13, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
The oolichan, the tiny oil rich fish that sustained the First Nations of British Columbia for millenia come up the rivers in the early spring. At least they come up those rivers where oolichan (Thaleichthys pacificus) still survive. Like the salmon, the oolichan live their adult lives in the ocean and then return to their native streams to spawn and die.
One of the rivers that still sees an oolichan run is the Skeena. Gulls, eagles, ravens, seals all come to feast as the oolichan migrate upstream. The gulls, sensing a feast after a long, harsh winter, are almost in a frenzy, circling and diving over the spot in the river that the oolichan migration has reached.
On Friday, March 8, I was driving to Prince Rupert for an assignment and stopped at the Telegraph Creek rest area. I was lucky, for it was at Telegraph Creek, a great spot for photographs, that the oolichan had reached. There were a few naturalists at Telegraph Creek watching the show. It was an elderly couple who first clued me in to what was going on. Thank you.
Mostly gulls. An eagle flying overhead. Seals or sea lions just upstream.
If I didn’t have that assignment I had to get to in Rupert, I would have stayed at Telegraph Creek most of the day. But as it was, I did manage to get a few shots of the hundreds of gulls circling, wheeling and swimming. I got a couple of not very good shots of an eagle overhead (not very good which is why they’re not here) and the seals or sea lions weren’t anywhere close. So I stayed as long as I could, then it was back in the car for work.
Gulls feed on oolichan in the Skeena River at Telegraph Creek, March 8, 2013 (Robin Rowland)
One of the at least three families of stellar jays that live in the cedar trees at my house is bolder and smarter than the rest. Or maybe it’s a “point bird.” If I go out with a bag of seeds to refill the feeder, there is the harsh call of the stellar jay and in a few moments, the bird is close by (often on my deck) and watching me pour the seeds into the feeder.
So a couple of days ago, the stellar jay was sitting on my fence, watching, as I filled one feeder. Went back in the house to get a different bag, for a second feeder. Brought my camera along this time and caught the jay as it took off, heading right for me. Bold or what?
Here’s the stellar jay just a few seconds later on my deck.
A yellow-rumped warbler, a “common migrant” along the BC coast, sits on a branch on the new trail to Maggie Point near Kitimat harbour.
Mallards flying over the choppy ocean of Douglas Channel near Maggie Point.
A male Harlequin duck skims the choppy waters.
A Savannah Sparrow another “common migrant” along the BC coast, sits on my neighbor’s roof.
A robin checks out a Robin on my front lawn.
Golden-crowned sparrows are also regular lunch guests at my feeder.
Not sure who this little guy is. He was determined to get seeds and was good at finding the best spots in this feeder.
Salamanders
When I went out with the Kitimat Valley Naturalists, we went to special protected sites at Pine Creek, near Kitimat, to look for salamanders, part of a province-wide salamander count. Taken with a macro lens, but not exactly the best light. Next time I go out I will bring a small reflector.
Kitimat, in the language of the neighboring Tshimshian First Nation means “people of the snow,” and Kitimat businesses often call themselves Snow Valley. And the area has set records for one day snowfall in Canada.
Monday Dec. 13, 2010 was not much, just 30 centimetres, and people pretty well kept going about their business, just as people did more than 40 years ago when I was growing up here.
Monday is my administration day and a power failure in the afternoon interrupted my work, so I didn’t run the errands I was planning. I did dig out my driveway twice, and will have to do it a third time (at least) in the morning.
I know much of the eastern part of North America is socked in by the storm there. As for me, after I finished digging out the driveway, walked around the neighborhood with the camera and enjoyed the beauty of the heavy wet snow.
View the slideshow of Kitimat snow
From my new house in Kitimat, British Columbia, I can see from my front windows, the Kitimat Arm of the Douglas Channel framed by nearby mountains.
One of the many reasons that I chose to move back to my old home town, to build my new career as independent photographer, was that Kitimat is really a place of ever changing light. The Pacific winds bring weather up the channel, creating microclimates on each peak and each beach. Thus one moment you can have heavy overcast, a few minutes later scattered cloud, followed by sun, followed by black clouds and a torrential downpour.
A couple of days ago, during that major rainstorm that pounded the west coast for days, there was one of those breaks, where the sun suddenly shone through. So I decided to walk, rather than drive, to the local gym (a photographer hiker has to be in shape) and grabbed a couple of shots from a park a few steps from my house.
Of course, as I was walking back from the gym, the ocean squall returned full force and I was soaked by the time I got home.
But that shot gave me an idea. As I have said in previous blog posts, I always carry my Lumix FZ28 in a fanny pack, so for the past few days,as I walk to or from the gym, I stopped at the viewpoint and grabbed a few shots, hand held (against recommendations) and then using Photshop CS5 merged them into large (20 to 40 inch ) panaromas. Here are the web versions.
This dark, menacing sky is somewhat misleading. As I came home from the gym, on what had been a beautiful day, the skies darkened with dark clouds. But it was the opposite of the other day, the clouds blew over and the afternoon sun was soon shining again.
The panorama in afternoon light.
The panorama in mid-morning light.
Douglas Channel about the same time as the previous photo, on the following day.
(All photos pop as larger versions)
