2010/10/24

Bloedel Floral Conservatory - Part 1

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. Not much to say during my weekdays - working and taking photos during my lunch hours (whenever the weather was good). The rain started on Friday and should continue for the week or so.

Today, I decided to go to Bloedel Floral Conservatory to test out my new lens on the exotic birds there. As I already know before I bought the lens, it is a sunny lens, i.e. it works well in good lighting conditions but in indoor conditions, it struggles with the autofocus. Nevertheless, I think I did a good job despite the limitations being indoors in a cloudy day - by turning up the ISO and taking as many photos as possible.

Since I took way too many photos, this trip will be blogged in several parts - so that I have something to post during my weekdays.

Queen Elizabeth Park
Nice fall colours. And surprisingly, there were still many flowers around too.

Inside the Conservatory ($5.35 for an adult - a reasonable price, considering that I walked around at least four or five times to get my money's worth).

Flowers and Bokeh

Flowers and Bokeh
Unknown flower. I really like the bokeh through the palm tree leaves.

Orange Bishop Weaver Finch (Euplectes orix francisciana)

Orange Bishop Weaver Finch (Euplectes orix francisciana)
Orange Bishop Weaver Finch (Euplectes orix francisciana), I think.

According to Bloedel's blog (here), "..Orange Bishop Weaver is VERY similar to the Napoleon Weaver. The easiest way to tell the males apart is by their tail and forehead colour. The Orange Bishop has a black face AND forehead, while the Napoleon Weaver tends to only have black cheeks. The Orange Bishop is also a deeper orange with an orange tail. The Orange Bishop Weaver builds a hanging globe for a nest. The females will inspect all the nests and select the best architect as a mate. When you see them carrying strips of palm fronds, you know it’s nesting season. Orange Bishop finches are native to the grasslands of east Africa."

Too bad it doesn't have a molting description and I don't think I saw a Napoleon Weaver Finch for comparison, but since this bird seems to have a black forehead, I am going to say it is a E. orix francisciana. Awesome!
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