June 11, 2010

Mammals of Vancouver Island

We had a nice mix of mammals on our trip since we were spending a goodly chunk of time driving through the forest and a nice bit of time boating. These Stellar's Sea Lions are some of my all-time favorite animals and are always a delight to see. We found a small colony of them on an island while we were out on our boat tour and though we couldn't get as close as I would have liked (they are apparently skittish at the start of the tourist season and more docile at the end of it) they were still wonderful.
Contrasting somewhat, these Mule Deer were standing just by the roadside one evening as we were on a drive to get some forgotten groceries. They were nearly 'Pinawa-style' tame and didn't balk at the arrival of our car or our camera lenses. Kathryn is always a deer enthusiast and they were nice to see.
There were several mammals we saw but due to distance or hiding we were unable to get good pictures of, so this last one is a bit of a cheat. We passed by a bear on the drive back and saw several Harbor Porpoises and Dall's Porpoises on the boat. The problem with porpoises is that they breach maybe 2-3 times 200 yards out and in totally different spots before they disappear entirely, so I couldn't get a single picture of them. This harbor porpoise below still counts as a sighting though as it was a captive porpoise that Kathryn worked with at the MMR last summer and at least gives you an idea of what they look like.

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