Slowing Down With Finnegan — A Morning of Forests, Eagles, and River Life - May 9, 2026

Jennifer Dowd
May 9
4 min read

This morning, Finnegan and I headed out early for our very first visit to Morrell Nature Sanctuary.

The goal?

Continue Finn’s adventure-cat training somewhere quiet, peaceful, and not overloaded with humans.

Success.

Honestly, walking with a cat is completely different than walking with dogs.

Dogs are like: “LET’S GO. FORWARD. MUST COVER GROUND.”

Finnegan? Finnegan is more of a: “Excuse me, Mother, but have you considered appreciating this moss?” kind of traveler.

This cat makes me slow down.

Instead of charging down trails looking for birds like a caffeinated wildlife photographer with unresolved emotional issues, Finn forces me to stop and actually notice things.

The trees.

The bark textures.

The giant ferns.

The mushrooms.

The slugs.

A suspicious little bee den that I respectfully decided belonged entirely to the bees.

Everything smelled fresh and earthy and ridiculously green. It was tranquil, peaceful, and best of all… pretty people-free.

Which meant Finnegan felt confident enough to fully embrace his woodland goblin era.

He climbed trees.

Jumped over logs.

Strolled down the trail like he personally owned the sanctuary.

At one point during our forest wanderings, my Aunt spotted a tiny little Millipede crawling across a log. As she pointed it out, the little creature casually climbed right onto her hand like we had somehow become part of its daily travel plans. With its shiny black body and bright yellow markings, it honestly looked like a tiny armored tank wearing little caution lights down its sides. Naturally, I stopped everything to photograph it because apparently my adventures now include admiring fashionable forest millipedes.

Further down the trail, I suddenly heard a sound behind me.

I turned around and there was a woodpecker absolutely DESTROYING a stump.

Wood chips were flying dramatically over his shoulder while he pecked away like a tiny forest construction worker late on a deadline.

Honestly?

Iconic behavior.

He noticed us watching him and clearly decided we were being a little too nosy, so he moved over to a fallen tree and continued searching for bugs and grubs in peace.

And for once…

I didn’t grab my camera right away. I just stood there watching him with my soul instead of my lens.

Which sounds very poetic until you realize I was basically standing in the forest grinning at a bird throwing wood chunks like a maniac.

After our forest therapy session, we headed over to the Nanaimo River Estuary.

Immediately: JUVENILE EAGLES EVERYWHERE.

One perched high in a tree.

Another one in a tree....

Another down by the river arguing with a crow.

Another farther down the shoreline.

The ravens were absolutely outraged about it.

Full aerial protest committee energy.

As we slowly drove along the riverbank, we spotted a pair of mergansers sitting on shore preening themselves in the sunshine.

Did you know?

Male Common Merganser ducks aren’t just handsome with their glossy green heads — they’re expert fish hunters too! Their long, narrow bills actually have tiny serrated edges that help them grip slippery fish underwater. Basically… nature gave them built-in fishing tools. 🎣🦆

I nearly lost my mind.

I have photographed mergansers in the water before, but never just casually hanging out on land looking like retired river aristocrats.

And then I noticed something shocking.

Their feet.

BRIGHT.

ORANGE.

Not subtle orange.

Not tasteful orange.

Traffic-cone orange.

I was obsessed.

Then, deeper in the sanctuary, we spotted an entire little island covered in mergansers peacefully resting and preening in the sun like they were attending an exclusive spa retreat for waterfowl.

Absolutely incredible.

At one point along the river, I spotted what I believe was a little Savannah Sparrow perched amongst the greenery and immediately went into full wildlife photographer panic mode.

You know the mode.

Camera up.

Settings adjusted.

Breathing suspended.

Internal screaming activated.

For approximately 0.4 seconds, this tiny bird actually sat still long enough for me to believe I was about to capture a perfectly crisp masterpiece.

LIES.

Because the second I focused, the little feathered chaos goblin started twitching, hopping, turning its head, and generally behaving like it had consumed six espressos before sunrise.

The result?

A photo that is slightly blurry… but honestly still makes me smile because it perfectly captures the reality of bird photography.

Why don’t birds hold still?!

Just ONCE.

Just for two seconds.

That’s all I ask.

But I suppose if they calmly posed for us all day, wildlife photography wouldn’t come with the emotional rollercoaster that keeps us coming back for more.

And then there was the unexpected little surprise of the morning, two house finches suddenly zooming across the front of my car like tiny feathered missiles.

I literally had one of those: “WHOA… what was THAT?!” moments.

A split second later: “OMG. HOUSE FINCHES. AND THERE’S TWO OF THEM!! LOOK!!”

Sure enough, the pair landed perfectly on a cluster of branches sticking up from the middle of the river like they had intentionally chosen a premium photo perch just for me.

Tiny birds. Big personalities.

They sat there chattering away in the sunlight while I excitedly photographed them like I had just discovered a rare tropical species instead of two adorable little backyard celebrities.

Honestly though? That’s the magic of birding.

Even the common birds can completely electrify your day when they decide to show up at exactly the right moment.

As we were leaving the sanctuary, my Aunt suddenly spotted a bald eagle bathing in the river.

Naturally, JUST as I got ready to photograph him…he took off. Because wildlife photography is apparently just emotional damage with expensive camera equipment.

Luckily, I spotted where he landed in a nearby tree, so we drove around to another viewing spot and I managed to get photos of him sitting there afterward looking completely raggedy from his bath.