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Outdoors

TheReview Wednesday, February 26,1992 — A24

Herring draw eagles and sea lions

Ron Townsend of Sandover
Crescent telephoned earlier this
week, “Ever checked in with the
sealions at Nanaimo this time of
year, Cy?”

“No, Ron. Snowed under most
of the time, it seems.”

“Then you haven’t lived. The
family went up there last week and
we went out with Bastion Cruises,
run by the Littlejohn family. They
say that it has never been better,
but you may not be that interested
at the moment.”

“Are you kidding?” Ron passed
along the directions, time, etc. and
Mary and I set out on our first free
day.

We boarded the tall Bastion City
alongside the Moby Dick Hotel
and were soon on the water headed
for the Eagle Bluffs on Gabnola
and the sealions near the Harmac
Mill.

The waters were dotted with
glaucous-winged gulls, smaller
common gulls, large concentra-
tions of superb westem grebes in
brilliant breeding plumage, scores
and scores of red-breasted mergan-
sers with their swift straight-line
flight and snowy wing patches.

Common loons (mostly imma-
tures), golden eyes, pigeon guille-
mots and marbled murrelets were
also present.

But the bird show was certainly
stolen by the numbers of bald
eagles. They were everywhere.

Perched on trees with as many
as six per tree, huddled upright on
logs, wheeling overhead and over
herring concentrations by the
score, moving along the shoreline
from copse to copse by the dozens.
I wouldn’t have believed that one
could see them by the hundreds in

a single day.

The vertical rocky cliffs of
Gabriola were something else to
behold. Fascinating patterns and
intricate, intriguing designs
wrought by the master artist, ero-
sion. We must return with cameras
for a full week.

On approaching the rendezvous
with sealions, we encountered
goodly numbers of all three of our
cormorants, also interested in the
herring: harvest.

Double crested cormorants with
naked throat pouch and orange-
yellow skin around and in front of
the eye, Brandt’s cormorant with
bluish pouch and hair-like feathers
on the sides of the head, pelagics
with bare, red skin on face and
throat. The latter, also with conspi-
cuous white patches on the flanks.

Finally the icing on the cake, the
sealions. Hordes of them occupy-
ing the logs or fishing in groups
with fish-like tails breaking the
surface like large triangular tatters
of rubbery black plastic.

SEA LIONS

Jewelry missing
intwo break-ins

A Brentwood Bay homeowner
flagged down a passing police

constable to report a residential -

break-in that was discovered when
the man returned home about 5:09
p.m. Feb. 13.

A quantity of jewelry, including
rings and necklaces, were taken
after a rear sliding door was pulled
open in the 6900-block Wallace
Drive.

x Kk *

Forgetting to lock the front door
resulted in the theft of about
$2,000 worth of jewelry from the
master bedroom of a home in the
7900-block Larkvale Road,
between 1-4:30 p.m. Valentines
Day, Feb. 14.

Central Saanich police said all
the rooms in the Saanichton house
were searched by the culprits.

Persons with information about

these crimes are asked to call

Crime Stoppers or Central Saanich
police.

CY HAMPSON photo

@Sands

Funeral Chapels
656-2932 or 388-5155

Offer a complete choice of
Professional Service.

—TRADITIONAL

—MEMORIAL

—DIRECT CREMATION

—FULL
PRE-ARRANGEMENTS
SERVICES

Services from your church or
in either of our chapels at

1803 QUADRA STREET
VICTORIA

Or
317 GOLDSTREAM AVE.
COLWOOD

Huge northern or Steller’s sea-
lions from Alaska and the Pribilofs
with bulls weighing up to a ton.

The head is rounded, without

crest and the fur when dried varies .

in shade from light to dark brown.
Though heavy and ponderous on
land, they bound into the water
with a great splash and swim with
grace and speed.

It was interesting to see these
great fellows groom their fur or
scratch an itchy chin with the
gentleness of a human beautician,
apprehensive before her honest
mUuror

Dark, sleek and smaller Califor-
nia sealions vying noisily for pre-
ferred positions on the logs, leap-
ing smoothly into the sea, swim-
ming swiftly for open water.

These winter visitors from the
State of California and the coast of
Mexico have much darker bodies
and higher, more pointed heads.
While the California species has a
honking bark, the more northern
form either growls or roars.

Both species feed upon a variety

Though heavy
and ponderous on
land, they bound
into the water with
a great splash and

swim with grace
and speed’

of sealife including schooling her-

ring, salmon, halibut, squid and

pollack. Both species are exceed-

ingly gregarious and very exciting

when viewed from a few feet.
Thanks, Ron.

Leave donations at Sanscha trailer
to help the needy in unified state

A semi-trailer parked in the
Sanscha Hall lot in Sidney needs
to be filled by Peninsula residents,
according to World Vision Can-
ada.

Donations of non-perishable
food, cash and medical supplies
are being collected for shipment to
the former Soviet Union.

The donations are to help the
800,000 children suffering from
illnesses spawned by the Cherno-
byl nuclear tragedy.

Cancer, leukemia, thyroid gland
disorders, sarcoma and mental dis-
orders are among the diseases
which followed contamination of
the area by the nuclear reactor
failure on April 26, 1986.

This winter, many of the hospi-
tals and orphanages are experienc-
ing problems feeding and caring
for the children.

Donations have been collected
throughout the region this month
for shipment to St. Petersburg and
the Byelorussia Children’s Fund.

Peninsula residents can make
contributions at the semi-trailer
between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mon-
day to Saturday. Tax deductible
receipts are available.

Volunteers willing to work at the
trailer for a few hours are also
welcome. For more information,

Second smashed
window ai siation

The Brentwood Chevron station
on West Saanich Road at Wallace
Drive was broken into sometime
overnight Feb. 17-18 in the second
such incident in recent weeks.

About 20 cartons of cigarettes
were stolen in the latest incident,
police said.

call’ 361-8607.

The project is working in coop- :
eration with World Vision, the
Christian Children’s Fund and
Byelorussia Children’s Fund.

St. Patrick’s Day at the
Stonehouse
The Les McAdam Band
from Ireland
7:30 p.m: No cover charge.
Open 7 Days a Week
Gall for reservations or directions ‘

656-3498
Canoe Cove Marina

Glen Meadows
- Country Club

Newly Renovated
Banquet Hall
and
Dining room.
Perfect for Weddings,
Luncheons. Open daily for

Lunch. Beautiful View,
Reasonable Prices

1050 McTavish Rd. 656-3136

656-3339

swim club.

2323 Bevan Ave.

Anne-Mette is 11
years old. She is a
student at North
Saanich School.

Her interests are
needlepoint, art-
work, reading and
is a member of a

She has been a
carrier since 1990.

with

The

3

O

5 - 2475 Mt. Newton X Rd.
105 - 2506 Beacon Ave.

Review
Carrier of the Week

Anne-Mette Jackobsen has been selected
as Carrier of the Week.

ys