MY BACK YARD...Discovery Passage

"Ocean is more ancient than the mountains , and freighted with the memories and the dreams...." - H.P. Lovecraft

 

Discovery Passage is the strait between Vancouver Island and the islands of British Columbia. I have heard it called " the wild , blue yonder." It can be very wild, and very yonder. But it's my back yard.

"Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly..." - Van Morrison

"Take me to the ocean, Let me sail the open sea. To breathe the warm and salty air, and dream of things to be. " -Erica Billups

The eastern shore of the passage is Quadra Island, with Sonora Island at the northern end, where it sweeps into Johnstone Strait.

"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water..." -Rabindranath Tagore

It's long and deep. About 25 kilometres ( that's around 16 miles) .....

    "Meet me where sea touches sky." -Jennifer Donnelly

With some of the biggest and widest sunrises and far reaching sunsets.

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” - Mother Teresa

Ferries navigate between Quadra, Hornby, Denman islands, Bella Bella, Shearwater, Klemtu, Ocean Falls......

Where orcas play, salmon run, tourists  rent fish boats.....

and Cruise ships pass  like massive toys bobbing along  like tub toys.....

"My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pule through me..." -Longfellow

The Inside Passage tours Desolation sound,  Discovery Islands, and the Broughton Archipelago...wild, untamed, back yard of those of us who this home.

Campbell River to Port Hardy passes through Sayward, Telegraph Cove and Port McNeil....and blue, blue coast mountains rising out of the passage....

"The sea is an underwater museum still awaiting its visitors.." 

                                                                   -Phillipe Diole

 Photographs 2025 Campbell River, B.C.

BIRD BRAINS....

Over the past 19 years (gasp, YES, we've been in Campbell River, B.C. for that long!) these are some of the birds visiting my back yard.  I have a great view of the mountains, the rainforest, valley, and these birds ...

Black headed Grosbeak

"I would like to paint the way a bird sings...:" -Claude Monet

Nest gathering

"By coming and going , a bird weaves is nest.." -Ashanti

Mr. and Mrs. Finch

"You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams..." 

                                                                                                                 -Haruki Murakami

White crowned Sparrow

"Tomorrow the birds will sing. Be brave. Face life..."

                         - Charlie Chaplin

Dove grey, always together...

"After the sharp-eyed Jay and the roaring Lion, peace will come on dove's gentle wing..." -Erin Hunter

Stellar Jay

"Nothing but the silence of the tree, and then he is gone.." -Mary Oliver

Annas Hum Hum

"Powered by its own life and its own motivation..." -Abdul Kalam

Flicker

"The birds of heavens dwell in the trees.." - Psalm 104:12

Grackles "Cowbirds"

"If birds glide for long periods of time, then why can't I?"_Orville Wright

Pileated Woodpecker

"A woodpecker's drilling Echoes to the mountain clouds.."

                                                   -Dakotsu lida

Towhee

"I like the idea of taking off like a bird...." -Florence Welch

baby sparrow, I believe...

"Are you my mother?" -P.D. Eastman

Varied Thrush

"Every spring I hear the Thrush singing in the glowing woods...." - Mary Oliver

Robin red breast

"The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off." -F. Hodgson Burnett

American goldfinch

"Faith without works is like a bird without wings; though she may hop with her companions on earth, yet she will never fly with them to heaven."-Francis Beaumont

Cooper's Hawk

"Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, bright the hawk's flight on empty sky..." -Ursula K. LeGuin

                     FLY...............

Pine Siskins

"I wake up every morning, free as a bird..." - Ashley Cole

Rufous Hum Hum

"I'm youth. I'm Joy..." - James M. Barrie


                                                          Eagles

“The Eagle does not escape the storm. The Eagle simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It spreads its mighty wings and rises on the winds that bring the storm.” – Jack White

Photographs 2025 All photos taken in Campbell River, B.C.
 

OCEAN...

 “The waves of the sea, help me get back to me…” -Jill Davis

I remember those days, when  the ocean crackled over our feet,

pulling us down, down, down.....

Building castles along the shore.

Telling magical stories of imaginary sea monsters.....

..........splashing thru warm tide pools

Wondering where the mermaids were hiding.

Did they use sea urchins to comb their seaweed hair?

We sang silly  songs, standing on the edge of the abyss

Lapping at our bare feet.

Flinging froth at seagulls  flying languidly into the wind.

We breathed salt from the sea. Dreamed our childish dreams.

Skipped rocks. Chased surf bubbles along the sand.

Then collapsed  in a heap of kelp  

To watch the little  Sandpipers strut their stuff.

I remember sitting  quietly  on wind worn logs.

All those things...... 

when the sea calls my name again

And lo and behold, we’re children once more,

Wading in the water

Listening to it crackle like fire over the stones......

Photographs 2025  

  Tyee Spit, Discovery Passage, Quadra Island, Campbell River, B,C,