See Mother Nature at work as salmon life cycle unfolds at Victoria-area park

Dirk Meissner, Monday, October 22, 2012 12:00 AM

LANGFORD, B.C. - A great blue heron glides overhead, effortlessly spreading its massive wings before gracefully landing on a nearby treetop high above the Goldstream River.

A bald eagle looks down at the shimmering river from its perch on a moss-covered branch of a western red cedar.

In the river, which in some parts is — maybe — 18 centimetres deep and two metres wide, salmon, 10 kilograms and larger, with their dorsal fins poking out of the water, wriggle, scoot and splash with all their might as they struggle against the current to spawning grounds upstream.

It's early fall and Mother Nature is putting on its annual West Coast salmon life cycle show ........