We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am
Last week we hiked very close to the meeting place for a change and with just yours truly and a couple of off island visitors from the Prairies it was a chance to see how the Gillies Bay Nature Trail had been affected by recent gales. Fallen trees were not too difficult to get around, but the extra growth of the understorey vegetation, especially bracken fern and Devil's Club, made it very difficult to follow the trail in some places. Eventually we reached School Road, but on a well used deer path and not on the eastern part of the flagged trail! For lunch we sat on logs beside Gillies Bay Creek and watched salmon and trout fry jumping for flying insects. One larger trout managed to swallow a large ant that had dropped into the water and could not make it to the shore in time. It was a delight to see so much creek flow, and an above average number of coho in many of the pools. Walking back towards the very busy ballpark, Sandcastle Days activities were in full swing, a very noisy robin alerted us to the presence of a Barred Owl on a low branch on one side of the road. Barred Owls can be very trusting of people and we spent quite some time watching while it scanned the forest floor for potential prey. We didn't seem to bother it at all, and it was still sitting in the same place on the branch as we quietly walked on our way.
JD
A Barred Owl on an Alder branch beside School Road.
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