Passage View Motel

04/12/2022

Beautiful image from northern Vancouver Island, as the mist from the blow of a Humpback whale rains down while trap feeding. 📷by A Bucci • Wildlife Photography Tours and Printing

03/07/2022

02/25/2022

Watching the sunrise over the Discovery Pier. 🌄⁠
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Did you know the ’s Discovery Pier is Canada’s first saltwater fishing pier? It extends 150 ft from shore and is 600 ft long allowing for unobstructed views of the Discovery Passage. A favourite spot with local anglers the pier provides easy access to recreational fishing. ⁠
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🔵 ƛəmataxʷ, Campbell River, is nestled within the territory of the Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ peoples; the WeWaiKai, WeiWaiKum, and Kwikiah Nations⁠
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01/15/2022

Wow!

Wonderful to see the interest in my post from yesterday showing a hatched Big Skate egg case / mermaid's purse.

So I am sharing this compilation again showing the other mermaid's purses you might find on our coast.

The only species here that has more than one embryo developing in an egg case is the Big Skate (Beringraja binoculata). It's reported to have up to SEVEN embryos in one egg case. More often there are three to four embryos in one Big Skate egg case. Each embryo has its own yolk sac providing the nutrition for growth AND they can have different fathers!

For those who read my blog you will recognize the following text.

"What is also so interesting about the reproduction of the Big Skate too is that research (Jang, 2019) supports that the embryos in one case can have different fathers (multiple paternity). Say what? Yep, research conducted on Big Skates in captivity have found that the females can store s***m for up to 3 months and then fertilize the eggs prior to laying the egg cases (they are oviparous).

And how long will the babies grow inside the egg case? For the Big Skate, it is around 9 months. At that time, they will “hatch” by releasing an enzyme that breaks down the binding of the case. They swim away and that’s when we more often find the egg cases, when they have done their job and are dried up on the beach.

You can imagine that it should not be common to find egg cases with young developing inside floating or washed up on the beach. That would not offer the best chance of survival. The various egg cases of rays, skates and sharks are “designed” to hopefully hook onto substrate / remain on the ocean bottom." If you find one and think that there may be a baby or babies inside, YES put it back in the ocean.

Blog is at: https://themarinedetective.com/2020/04/11/big-skate-egg-case-mermaids-purse/

All photos from northeast Vancouver Island.

01/10/2022

Whiskey jack photobombing the snow covered view ❄

Photo by Ashley - instagram.com/ashley.ensor/

01/06/2022

BC Transit suspends bus service in Greater Victoria until further notice

12/15/2021

Three generations of Humpback Whales documented! This is such an indication of the great collaborative effort in studying the fortunate return of Humpbacks off British Columbia's coast, and its importance.
Calf: Alethea Leddy was the first to document Apollo with a calf, now nicknamed Nova. Alethea's photos from June 18th near Race Rocks even allowed us to determine that the calf is male. The calf had been lying on his back tail-lobbing whereby the pelvic area could be seen.
Mother: We know that Apollo was born in 2010 to Horizon but did not know her gender before now.
Grandmother: We first documented Horizon in 2004 when she was already at least subadult. Apollo is her first known calf. We documented a second calf in 2013 and have not had re-sightings of this whale.
Importance: Calves only stay with their mothers for a year. Having these solid ID photos allows us to ID them in future. Because the calves often lose a lot of the white pigmentation in their tails as they age, It is particularly helpful to also have photos showing both sides of the dorsal fin and the trailing edge of the tail. Being able to study whales as individuals allows us to have data informing everything from age of first calving (varies per population), to life expectancy, to social associations, to how the whales use the coast / importance of specific areas.
The nicknames: Humpbacks are nicknamed for distinctive features so that it is easier to recognize them as individuals. Horizon has horizontal lines on her tail. The markings on Apollo's tail suggest planets. And, while some of the white will likely disappear on the calf's tail, there is a distinctive line and a moon-shaped bump that will likely stay. Thereby, Alethea suggested Nova, also keeping with the celestial theme of these 3 generations of whales.
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To make the point again that it takes a dedicated community to study giants, below are the names of all those who have contributed sightings of these 3 whales (outside of our direct MERS team).
Jarret Morton, Alexandra Morton, Marilia Olio, Tasli Shaw, Mark Malleson, Gary Sutton, Jos Krynen, Amber Stroeder, Kaitlin Paquette, Johanna Ferrie, Eiko Jones, Peter Hamilton, Leif Nordman, Shea Majbroda, Michelle Mercer, Chloé Warren, Jennie Leaver, Jeff Aoki, Carmen Pen, Alison Ogilvie, Geoff Dunstan, Roger McDonell, Franz Plangger, April Macleod, Jim Borrowman, Jess Fargher, Maureen Towers, Dave Towers, Sophia Merritt, Kyle Kermode, Inge van der Wulp, Shea Majbroda, Jan Kees, Humpbacks of the Salish Sea, Keta Coastal Conservation. This includes naturalists, captains and guest of at least 9 ecotourism companies as well as our research colleagues.

11/26/2021

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Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The biggest trees in the Grove are about 800 years old and measure 75 m (250 ft) in height and 9 m (29 ft) in circumference.

11/21/2021

Oh, that face! Northern pygmy owl, northern Vancouver Island, by A Bucci • Wildlife Photography Tours and Printing

11/19/2021

So much fun! Goes right past the Passage View!

Mark your calendar, another Campbell River holiday tradition is returning. The Downtown BIA is gearing up for the 2021 Big Truck Parade. It’s set for Friday, Dec. 3. At 5 pm, fifty or so trucks decorated in lights will start cruising the Island Highway, from just north of Willow Point to Tyee Plaz...

10/21/2021

What a shot by Josh Ghory! This Comox Valley eagle certainly scored a tasty catch!