Around Here

More catching up on photos. These are a random assortment taken mostly (all?) with my phone. I happened to take my phone (for a change) on a run through Beacon Hill park and it was hard to resist the spring flowers.

Despite the cool morning the sun was shining so there were still some turtles out on their log.

Another day I had my phone with me when I walked the few blocks to my sister's place. Again, the flowers caught me.

And a few from the West Bay / Songhees walkway.

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Buzzzzzz

I was standing by our bookcases, looking at a book, when I noticed a buzzing sound. At first I thought it was coming from the speakers on the bookcase but it wasn't. I looked behind the cabinet in the corner to see if there was some kind of power adapter plugged in back there. Instead, I found a spider that had caught a fly in its web. The fly was trapped but it was still making a buzzing sound with its wings. By the time I returned with my camera the spider had already wrapped up the fly and was busy feeding on it. (Spiders feed by injecting digestive fluids and then sucking out the result slurpee.) Earlier I had been annoyed by a fly buzzing around in the house so I guess I should be thankful the spider dealt with it. Judging by the wrapped remains on the floor underneath it had taken care of several before this one.

I think it's a kind of cellar spider, probably a long bodied since that's by far the most common. Confusingly, cellar spiders are sometimes called "daddy long-legs" but that name is also used for Harvestman which look similar, but aren't actually spiders.

And in case you're wondering, no I didn't evict the spider. It'll die or move on before too long and then I'll vacuum up the leftovers. Meanwhile, we'll have less flies in the house :-)

Bougainvillea

I'm still learning what to expect from my Bougainvillea. It's probably not the best choice of house plant for a northern location but it's a favorite so I'm trying. Last fall it dropped all its flowers and then all its leaves. I was concerned but it grew a new set of leaves for the winter (but no flowers). Recently, I've been putting it in the sun room during the day to get some sun and warmth and it has responded by starting a new crop of flowers. When they're just starting it's more obvious that the "petals" are actually modified leaves. At the same time it is starting to drop the winter leaves. Presumably it'll grow a new set for the summer. I'm not sure what triggers the changes. Length of day? Amount of sunlight? (not much here in the winter) Warmth? (the house gets cool at night in the winter) If it's light, I wonder if a sun lamp would keep it flowering in the winter? But how much power would that waste?

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Tofino

We made a quick trip to Tofino for the long weekend. It's been quite a few years since our last visit.

Cathedral Grove was a good chance to stretch our legs and see the big trees. We stopped on the way back as well to see the trails on the other side of the road.

We stayed at Wildpod, which are a bit like yurts but geodesic domes. It's a small place (6 domes) on the west edge of Tofino. The Rock pod we were in faces away from town with a great view of the ocean and islands. There was lots of wildlife around - kingfishers, great blue herons, cormorants, a sea lion, sea stars, ...

The forecast was for rain so we did most of our exploring and walking on the first day. Our first stop was Radar Hill but the only view was of the fog.

Next stop was Grice Bay. Unfortunately, there weren't any migratory birds on the mudflats but I was satisfied with turning over rocks to find the shore crabs.

A Pacific Wren greeted us on the Rain Forest Trail. There wasn't much light and it never sat still so it's not a great photo. It was small enough that it could play peekaboo through the gaps between the walkway boards.

The spider webs were easier subjects.

After lunch we walked the Ucluelet Lighthouse Loop (part of the Wild Pacific Trail).

There have been reports about the herring spawn, so it was interesting to find herring eggs on the beach.

The next day, raining as predicted, we went to the Uclulet aquarium. I remember the first time we visited they were in a small temporary building raising money for the current building. It's a nice small aquarium, although not ideal for photography.

We went to the Wickaninnish Hotel for supper one night and also stopped by the bar for a quiet place to hide out from the rain in the afternoon. (I recently read Long Beach Wild where I learned that this is actually the second incarnation of the Wickaninnish Hotel.)

We also tried the Long Beach Resort restaurant one night. It also has a great view of the beach. Despite the cold wind, I had to grab my camera and get some sunset photos from the beach in front of the restaurant.

It was raining again when we left the next day and there was even a little snow on the road in spots (it was only +3c). But we managed a quick walk on the beach and of course a few photos.

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Butterflies Galore

Unexpectedly, I took the most butterfly photos of the trip during my time in San Jose. I started at the zoo where they didn't have a butterfly house but there were wild butterflies around.

I found this interesting (although ragged) Bumblebee Metalmark butterfly on the underside of a leaf. I was on the ground shooting photographs upwards when a couple walked by looking curious. I showed them the butterfly but I got the impression it didn't totally justify my antics to them.

I'm pretty sure this is a skipper but I'm not sure which one.

After the zoo, I noticed Spirogyra Butterfly Garden on Google Maps not far away. It turned out to be quite small but still a nice garden. By the time I got there it was the middle of the day and the butterflies seemed more interested in flying than posing so I didn't get a lot of photos. In North American butterfly gardens/houses you often see tropical butterflies that you wouldn't see in the wild. Here, the butterflies were mostly local so I saw many of them in the wild as well.

There were even a few Monarchs. I think of them in terms of their North American migration but they are also found in Central and northern South America (and other places like Australia).

The next day I thought I'd go to the National Museum - some history and culture for a change. The funny part was that immediately after you enter, you're in a large butterfly house! I had no idea it was there so I only had my all around lens on my camera. It was quite a bit larger than the butterfly garden the day before. And it was first thing in the morning so the butterflies were a little more cooperative.

The Owl butterflies are easy to confuse with the Blue Morphos. The difference is that the owl just has one main "eye" whereas the morphos have several.

I was lucky to see a Blue Morpho emerging from its chrysalis.

This one was almost ready to fly. The wings look so shiny and new compared to the ragged ones of the older butterflies.

After a couple of nights at the Gran Hotel in downtown San Jose I moved to the Hotel Bougainvillea (where the frogs were) It was in a suburb with not much around but that was ok because their large gardens gave me plenty to photograph while I was there.

This skipper only has a handful of observations on iNaturalist so it must not be very common. Love those bright red eyes!

On the other hand, these Hermes Satyrs were quite common.

Not counting repeats, I'd guess I photographed about 50 kinds of butterflies in the span of 4 or 5 days. I know I won't convince the birders but I find it just as rewarding finding and photographing butterflies (and other kinds of creatures).

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