5, 6 March

 I wakened to rain yesterday morning.  Not a downpour, but certainly steady enough to deter walks in the Estuary.

I'd been thinking of a trip up-Island to check on the swan population around the Comox Valley and to bring home a meal or two of oysters. 

There aren't many swans here--I think I've seen four flights over the Estuary.  And the oysters of Fanny Bay and Baynes Sound are simply unsurpassed.

Last December I'd made the trip north (it's not far--I guess I'm just getting lazy about driving) in search of swans and found one field with six of them.  I did find oysters.

Yesterday I found fields with about 200 swans.  Wonderful, magnificent birds.  Alas, I seem to have made a mess of photographing them. 

I think the problem is that swans are WHITE--very white--and for that reason hard to photograph.  Yesterday's oysters were scrumptious.  Yesterday's swans were simply white blobs in fields.  Bleagh.

I settled down yesterday evening to read up on white balance in photography, and I think I figured it out.  I decided to make my way north again today--the weather wasn't conducive to walking, anyhow.

And sure enough, I think I've got the idea.




They're still kind of tricky because they cluster when they feed but these seem at least to have feathers.  

I was content, and made my way home to Parksville.

I noticed that there are beginning to be an assortment of boats that look like they will take part in the herring fishery.




The spawn hasn't begun yet, but there are an increasing number of smallish craft gathering offshore.

I'll likely make my way up-Island once again when the spawn begins--it attracts an assortment of gulls and other critters.

Tomorrow promises rain and a threat of thunderstorms.  I'm thinking a day for domestic duties.




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