It's amazing how, even after 22 years of living here, I still have days where I say "wow, I can't believe I live in such a beautiful city!".  I think people know about Victoria and it's "small city" feel and the ocean and the greenery and the tourists -- but it really is neat for us locals to still be awed by the natural beauty that surronds us here in the capital.

Heron in Beacon Hill ParkI was so lucky to capture this heron flying out of his tree in Beacon Hill Park for 5pm meal somewhere.

This past month, our little DDS club picked "Animals" as our topic to work on our photography skills (I tried to get Don to narrow it down to birds, mammals or something but in the end we stuck with "animals").  When I started thinking about where and what animals I would try to photograph, I realized we actually have so many options here.  From the abundance of deer (some say too many but I figure they have as much right to be here as we do!), to the vast variety of birds, the small critters in our parks, and ocean life that surrounds us (Darcy got a great photo of something he wasn't sure of and we finally figured out it was the stomach of a starfish - yes, when starfish eat they push their whole stomach out of their body and into the water...looks like a big blob of pink bubble-gum!!).  Anyway, I went out to Beacon Hill Park one evening with my pal Joe who lives right across the street from the park (what a front yard he has!) and managed to get a shot of a heron flying out of a tree and the two park residents below.

Squirrel in Beacon Hill ParkWhat you looking at??? Peacock in Beacon Hill Park

It's wonderful that we still have so much green space in and around the city - and I'm glad that places, like my golf club Cordova Bay, are committed to the environment and nature.  Cordova Bay Golf Course is certified as an Audubon Society enivornment - a place dedicated to maintaining and restoring natural ecosystems for birds and wildlife.  That's one reason it was the next place I decided to go photograph animals.

Female Red Winged Blackbird at Cordova Bay Male Red Winged Blackbird at Cordova Bay Golf Course

Of course, there's one animal that loves to come out and see how us amateurs are doing duffing our golf balls around their habitat...and he has a lot of friends out there :)

Deer at Cordova Bay Golf Course

To see the full size version of these photos, check out the "Victoria" gallery on my website.  Enjoy the summer!