Whale watching

Had written about Orcas Island earlier and one of the activities we had over there was Whale watching.

Even though we had booked on line, we were lucky to get the right type of boat, a small one, pretty fast and not very crowded. 

En route, we did see a Puffin floating but it was not easy to photograph the little bird from far.  
The guides were good enough to tell us some facts about the whales, like the oldest among them (known as the Granny) is 104 years old.

There was a particular area where the whales frolic around and the crew knew the exact spot where we could find them. 

It takes some time to train the camera on them to get some shots.

There were many other boats in the vicinity, all waiting for a chance to get a glimpse of our frolicking friends 

And a few colourful sail boats too. 

It was good to see that all the boats kept a respectable distance from the whales. 
You can see more pictures in the 6 min video that I made. 

When the boat was at a slower speed, I went on the upper deck and got to see the man at the helm (always good to know who the driver is)

One of the lighthouses on the way back (I presume it is a light house)

Some other scenes on the way back

The crew of our boat, answering questions.

Everyone was generous in tipping them for their good service. May be they read what was written in the boat, “you never want to tip the boat, but feel free to tip the guides”

Woodpecker

It is no wonder that one can easily spot birds and their nests at the Orcas Island. With an area of 57 square miles, it has only 4894 residents staying on it. Which means minimum disturbance from the human species.

I was walking down the path from Cherry Hill along the bay when I saw this tree with a black patch on it. 

Initially I thought it was a black patch, but was wondering how it could be a perfect round. 

I stopped and was intently gazing upon it when out popped a head of a young one. 

And therein started my saga with the young ones and their mother. 

Daily morning I used to be there with my camera to get some good shots/videos of the young one. 

Within the next four days I realised that there were three of them in that cavity though I could not get all three in a shot (managed to get them in the video) 

(I don’t know if there were more than three) At times they would lean out a lot waiting for their mother 

While scanning higher up on the same tree, I found another hole, probably occupied by another clutch from the earlier mating season. It is interesting to see the different marks and patterns on the bark. 

On the first day I did not see the mother. I could spend only about an hour daily as there were other places to be explored on the island, including whale watching (will write about that later)

On the second day I did spot the mother and captured (on video) how she signaled to the young ones to keep quiet, so as not to give away their hiding place.

After seeing the mother I realised that it’s a Northern Flicker Woodpecker, found mostly in the northern parts of America. They have got barred upper parts and spotted underparts. The “Black Bib” on the upper chest is very prominent with a red malar (moustache)  

The little guy sort of got used to me hanging around and did not mind

 All pictures and videos were captured from a distance (about 20 meters) Have put together all the interesting parts of the mother and the chicks to make a short video on it. 

I have kept the ambient sound as it is, so you will mostly hear the blue north western Pacific waters lapping away at the bay.