After the Indigenous Plant Walk the day before, my Airbnb hostess Kelly Kerr invited to show me around the Beacon Hill Park, a 200 acre mix of both natural areas, formal flower beds, but above all else the site is of great cultural significance to the Lekwungen People (now known as Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation). In fact, the City of Victoria has adopted 2017 as a Year of Reconciliation, and a traditional longhouse will be built on a hilltop site! When the British arrived they wrongly assumed that the open meadow landscape was “natural” and unused. In fact, the Lekwungen had cultivated and maintained these shrub-free grasslands for centuries. The meadows were worked to grow camas which was their most important root crop, as well as other edible wild plants. Both common and great camas (Camassia quamash and Camassia leichtlinii) were used. This habitat was reminiscent to the English of the ideal 19th century parkland landscape that they recognised from home and was instrumental in Victoria being founded at this site!
The Beacon Hill area was apparently “one of the most productive camas territories on Vancouver Island,” The Lekwungen people both harvested bulbs for their own use and also traded with other west coast peoples. Thankfully, it is now likely that these productive and butterfly rich grasslands will be gradually restored. The album of pictures were taken in the park and along the adjacent shoreline where native families would arrive in the past for the harvest. They would harvest the bulbs in summer when the seed heads were ripe. Only the largest bulbs were harvested and the others replanted. Invasion by shrubs was minimised by regular burning. Each family had its own designated area. The practice of farming natural areas in this way was commonly practiced around the world by native peoples.
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A highlight of my visit to British Columbia (apart from the plants) was to experience springtime birds in a different part of the world, and most species I hadn’t seen before. There are two albums below plus some videos showing a selection of pictures taken with my handheld Panasonic DNC-TZ80 which has an amazing zoom…
Many of the pictures in the first album from Victoria are taken from my fantastic Airbnb room which overlooked the harbour!
See further down for an album from Vancouver (mainly in the fabulous Stanley Park).
At the bottom are several videos for your entertainment including Pileated woodpecker, Rufous-sided towhee, two squirrel species, bald eagles, American wigeon, Great blue heron, Northwestern crow, American robin, White-crowned sparrow, Red-winged blackbird, Northern flicker and American goldfinch
Hooded merganser (female) the only merganser restricted to North America
Hooded merganser (female)
Hooded merganser, male
Common merganser (goosander in Europe)
A male bufflehead (related to Goldeneyes)
Black oystercatchers
…and there “she” was, Anna’s Hummingbird, a singing male, just a few hundred metres from my wonderful Airbnb room, which overlooked the harbour (all the pictures above were taken from my room!)..
Anna’s hummingbird extended its range last century from Southern California thanks to the planting of exotic winter flowering shrubs…the migratory species had yet to arrive
Fisherman’s Wharf: the public can come close to Harbour Seals here and feed them..
It’s a good life to be a Victorian harbour seal…
..and there was even a River Otter…
River Otter…
Female bufflehead
Female bufflehead
Taking a picture of this pink form of Ribes sanguineum, I was unaware that I had also taken a picture of a Anna’s Hummingbird :) Magic happens if you let it!
Zoom to my magic hummingbird!
Common mergansers (goosanders in Europe)
Bewick’s Wren (from my room)
Bewick’s Wren (from my room) with invasive ivy
Western Gull
Western Gull
Common mergansers with the harbour ferry
Great Blue Heron and Goosander
Great Blue Heron and Hooded Merganser
Female goosanders looking for prey
Hooded merganser
Hooded merganser
Hooded merganser diving
Canada Geese
American wigeon
Black-tailed deer fertilising a Victoria garden
American wigeon at Beacon Hill
Nesting herons at Beacon Hill
Golden-crowned sparrow at Beacon Hill
Golden-crowned sparrow at Beacon Hill
Not sure of the ID of this one? Hairy woodpecker is the closest I’ve got……at Beacon Hill in Victoria
…and a deliberate shot of an an Anna’s hummingbird
Having a day and a half free in Vancouver before travelling to Quebec, I was keen to visit Stanley Park again! I first visited this remnant old growth forest right next to downtown Vancouver back in the late 80s and was so impressed that they had deliberately left dead trees standing and trees where they had fallen…this is what makes this place so special and rich in wildlife as these pictures taken in a 3 hour walk in the park show. I’ve also included some pictures taken in the UBC Botanical Garden (amazing to look up and see a pair of bald eagles sitting atop a tree in the middle of the garden) and also the Van Dusen botanical garden, both of which I visited on one day!
American Robin, female
Evidence of woodpeckers
..and there it was, a Pileated Woodpecker posing for me right next to the path!
Northern flicker
…a drumming Northern flicker on floodlights
American wigeons
Beaver pond
Beavers
Great blue heron
Mallard in skunk cabbage
Douglas’ squirrel
Canada goose
Wood duck
Wood duck, male
Wood duck, female
Spot the turtles and nesting Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Scaup
American coot
Scaup, female
Wood duck
Wood duck
Encounter with a raccoon
Northern flicker
Northern flicker
Now, a few pictures from the UBC Botanical Garden…here a brown creeper
Rufous-sided towhee
Bald Eagles in the middle of the UBC garden
American goldfinch, singing
White-crowned sparrow
The vegetation around the cattail beds were alive with birds
Red-winged blackbird in cattails
American robin
American robin
Canada goose at Vandusen garden
..and now some videos.
First, a drumming Northern flicker:
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