eco trip @ nanaimo #1

the school term is so-called 99% over (I still had to submit final grades and fiddle with some course housekeeping stuff), and I was lucky to sneak out to get some fresh air! many thanks to gary for organizing this eco trip!

this eco trip was an extraordinary one.... not of the usual sightseeing nature. we actually paid an ecologist for taking us to look at the wildlife. we got to pick animals that we wanna check out, and our main targets were sea otters and beavers.

okay, the trip began!!!

it was a gorgeous saturday, weather not too cold and not too warm! we took the 3pm ferry to nanaimo from horseshoe bay....




pics @ horseshoe bay

once we arrived at nanaimo, we met up with the ecologist patrick...

patrick first took us to a beach, and on our way there were all nice big houses...





we walked down a trail and got to a rock beach....



wow, what are to be seen here???? the water looked very calm, and there seemed to be nothing moving closeby...

indeed, there were seals out in the sea, but they are too far to be seen! we had to do it through the binoculars! lucky that the ecologist brought a couple for us!

far far away........ we saw seals sticking out their heads, disappearing and appearing....



after that, we headed to the second destination....



we walked quite a long way to a river.... some shallow water habitat for beavers and otters!







patrick said the otters are staying near the dam.... in the day time, they all go out to the sea to catch fish, while in the evening they are back to the dam resting and playing....

unfortunately despite waiting for quite a long time, I didn't see any otters (there was one that swam by with the back sticking out, but it went too fast to be seen!)... we did see one beaver, and ducks and bald eagles~~~~








can you see the bald eagle? it's waiting to catch its prey~~~~


the eagles' net is huge!!!!

then last destination of the wildlife hunting -- the beavers' habitat!!



the sun started to come down by the time we got there.... patrick asked us not to make any noise and silently watched the beavers swimming in the pond~~~


patrick explained to us that beavers are very good at building dams along rivers. this is one, and if it is broken, they will notice from the change in water flowing pattern and come fix it.




watch the beavers swimming here!!!

wow, by the time it got all dark, it's already 9pm!! and we were all starving! ended up eating at a bar near the motel....

day 2 adventure .... to be continued!!!