Fall Wildlife

FALL WILDLIFE
Moralea Milne
Sept 15, 2008

I’ve got bears eating my apples and the butterflies feasting on my plums, to say nothing of the wasps eating anything and everything. There are miniscule baby garter snakes slithering away as I walk just about anywhere sunny and the western branded and woodland skippers are nectaring at the asters and pearly everlasting. Only a week ago at Camas Hill there was a mother cedar waxwing feeding three chicks, hiding within the dense branches of a Scouler’s willow. I found the dead carcass of a sculptured pine borer, looking like an exquisitely carved miniature ornament. What appear at first glance to be plain brown or grey moths, on closer inspection, are found to be richly patterned in a tapestry of nighttime hues. A trip to Esquimalt Lagoon on the weekend was a vision of golden yellow gumweed carpeting the spit with Lincoln sparrows chasing each other through the sparse shrubs and along the paths. Vultures soar effortlessly overhead, readying themselves for the long glide across the Strait. Small round puffballs have begun appearing near my workshop and the first fronds of licorice ferns are unfurling on a rocky knoll. A walk along Taylor Beach with my grandson uncovered a multitude of squirming black Blennies sheltering under some carefully lifted cobbles.
I had been lamenting the end of summer but upon reflection I realized that every season in this area holds treasures to be encountered and old friends to be rediscovered. Appreciate this coming season, there are myriad opportunities to enjoy the beauty of our natural world.