According to the Travel British Columbia website, Hornby Island can be depended upon to provide wildlife sightings, which always adds excitement to any trip. I was looking forward to promised “eagles, seals, and sealions” (well, maybe not so much the eagles and seals, as they’re everyday here at home. But who’d say no to a good sea lion* sighting?)
On our very first hike, in Denman Island Provincial Park, we came across several wild creatures (though not yet the promised ones). The caterpillar below left was one of dozens littering our trail, and the one below right doesn’t quite look like a caterpillar because it rolled up into a ball when we got too close. Apparently Denman is working hard at preserving the Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly, and this park constitutes one of its two remaining habitats in BC.
Sadly, neither of these caterpillars is going to become a Taylor’s Checkerspot, or any kind of butterfly for that matter. The black and orange “woolly bear” pictured above will become the rather mundane Isabella Tiger moth, and although it has a reputation for predicting the severity of winter weather (the wider the orange band, the more severe the winter), it’s far more likely that it actually shows the severity of the winter just past, which would be more of a postdiction). And their seemingly suicidal tendency to crawl across roads and sidewalks everywhere is due to the need to find some bark or cavities in rocks or logs to overwinter in.
The caterpillar above right is a Lophocampa roseata, also a moth, but this one’s apparently rather rare, so that’s something, anyway. (The things you can learn from Professor Google!) We also saw several large slugs (one pictured at the top of this post).
Less disgustingly, we saw three piliated woodpeckers doing woodpecker things as we passed them by. No need to spot carefully for these, as the furious rat-a-tat announced their presence a mile off. Apologies for the poor quality of the photos. I obeyed the signs that said don’t step off the trail.
Of course, I had hoped for a whale or maybe dolphin sighting, even though I’d found no evidence to suggest that might happen. Hope springs eternal and all that. And indeed, on our first day (after the wet trek to the co-op for groceries, then getting nearly blown away clambering over slippery rocks on our beach), while looking out at the wind-swept waves from our living room, I did spot something just below the horizon that resembled the fins of several sea creatures. Could have been whales. Or maybe dolphins. Definitely cavorting in and above the water. I excitedly pointed them out to Mr. Fluffster, but he couldn’t see anything. I blame his poor eyesight. I saw what I saw. Of course, those binoculars I got as a retirement gift from my employer would have clarified things nicely, but they weren’t much help sitting in their drawer back at home.
On day three, the highlight was sea lions. Real ones. Unfortunately, they were on a faraway island, so we couldn’t get near them. Nor could I get a proper picture. All I can offer is some splashing about if you squint closely and the sea lion sounds you might hear if you crank the volume all the way up on this video:
There was also life of the domestic variety to be found on Hornby. Below left is our only visitor (if you don’t count spiders. I don’t). He marched up to the patio door, looked at me and loudly demanded to be let in. I did not comply. He sulked on the railing for a while, then wandered off. That evening, as we were sitting down to our only dinner out at the lodge restaurant, he reappeared, stalked by, and gave us the stink-eye. Probably because I hadn’t let him in. According to our server, he's the Seabreeze Cat, which explains his assumption that he can gain entrance to any outbuildings on the property.
On the right is a dog who stopped by for a quick pat as we were braving the gale on Tribune Bay Beach. His ears are back because of the wind, not displeasure.
Aside from the large number of ravens we saw (and heard) everywhere and (a few) assorted other birds, that was it for wildlife. Some of our hikes were surprisingly quiet. I think the wildlife was hiding from us. They’re probably all out there partying it up now that we’re gone.
* Misspelling of sea lion as all one word courtesy of the Travel BC website. I know better.
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