Between rain squalls I managed to get a paddle in every day.  On my first day, I spotted some lettuce lungwort growing on a Douglas fir.  I’d just read about lettuce lungwort, a lichen that grows on very old trees, in the book, “Wild Trees”, and here it was in Bottleneck Inlet.

 

The elderberries have started ripening.  Can the bears be far behind? 

I found this winter wren hopping all over some logs that had been exposed by the low tide.  This little guy is only about 4 inches overall, and is the color of the logs, so he’s very hard to spot.  Unfortunately, the winter wren never seems to stay in one place more than a second or two, so getting a decent shot is almost impossible.

 

While I was trying to get a shot of the winter wren, this river otter popped up just ahead of me.  I think he was as shocked as I was. 

 

 

He slid out of sight, only to re-surface just a few yards away.

Kingfishers have been really scarce this year, so I was excited when I spotted this lovely lady.

 

 

I discovered this beautiful waterfall high up on one of the granite outcroppings.

This lush elderberry bush caught my eye.

This devil’s club isn’t quite ripe, but it made a colorful subject.

While I was paddling in close to shore, looking for land birds one day, I got the fright of my life.  It sounded like a mountain lion growling, and it sounded like it was right overhead.  I immediately started backpaddling away from shore, looking up in the overhanging trees to see where it was lurking.  Nothing.  Well, I was glad I didn’t see anything, but what was that?  As I was sitting there, waiting for my heart to stop racing, I heard another growl.  This growl was not as fierce.  I looked around, and about that time I heard it again.  The growling was coming from this rock.  Apparently, when the tide is just right, and there is a surge, the water running in and out of this hole makes this rock growl.  Mystery solved.  

 

 

Low tide attracted this Steller’s jay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was shooting the Steller’s jay, this cute little mink popped his head out of a hole in the rocks. 

 

Like the river otter, he was curious also, but too timid to hang around long enough for me to get a decent shot.

While I was searching the shoreline looking for land birds, I spotted what I thought was a colorful fungus growing on a log.  I zoomed way in and took this shot. 

When I paddled to where I could get this closer shot, I discovered it wasn’t fungus at all;  It was a rock crab wedged in a split in a log.

 

I’m always looking for interesting rocks, like this “pyramid rock”.  The patterns etched by water, over time, have created what looks like an Egyptian relic.