9131st Day = Snowing day

"The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination." - Terri Guillemets

Here are some B&W photos taken this afternoon when it was sleeting (frozen raindrops).

Pretty good birding afternoon at Garry Point

I thought it would be colder today, apparently not. Maybe because I had another sweater and a warmer pants on. Nonetheless, it was another beautiful day out.

The first birds I saw were four Killdeers in this field sticking their bills into the water.

Birding on this cold cold day

Brrr! Today's probably the coldest I felt so far this season. But it was sunny and beautiful, so outside I must go (plus I had a late and filling lunch, and need to work it off)!

Snow-capped on Mount Baker

Male Goldeneye & Female Buffleheads

A nice day today to go out for a bike ride - windy and chilly but sunny.

On the water, I spotted three companions traveling together - a male Common Goldeneye and two female Buffleheads.

Ranting

If you are visiting popular tourist attractions in downtown Vancouver, especially near Gastown, (next to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside a.k.a. "Canada's poorest postal code"), be prepared to have people involuntarily come up to you and want to tell about the history of the landmark and take your pictures. In the end, they will probably ask for donations.

Not that I am not compassion but it just leaves me with a disgusted feeling towards the neighborhood, the city, and the people.

Tourists (and naive locals), you have been warned.

AM: Vancouver, PM: Finn Slough

My mother and I won a couple of tickets to Vancouver's 19th Annual Wellness Show and it was our destination for the day (and Sunday, as it turned out). It was our first time attending this event, so it was quite new and we didn't know what to make out of it. However, given that we had free tickets and was given a bag with free goodies each and sampled lots of delicious food, I'd say we had a good time overall.

Afterwards, we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful views.

Not a cloud in the sky.

Making up for the cloudy days...

I totally forgot what I did for the last four days now. This is what happened when it's cloudy and I ended up staying indoors most of the times.

Well, I better make up for the missing days by going outside to enjoy this beautiful Friday.

Blue sky and white puffy clouds.

Birding at Finn Slough - Bird of the day: TUVU

Another bike ride to Finn Slough to get the much-needed exercise/birding.

Along the way, I saw lots of Mew Gulls and other gulls circling around in the sky.

Many Golden-crowned Sparrow feeding.

Gulls at low tide

Biking along the South Dyke Trail, I noticed this immature Bald Eagle on the tree.

It seemed to be perching awkwardly, so I looked at its talons and noticed it was only perching on one foot and withdraw its left foot. It was difficult to tell if it is injured or something because it looks alright. I hope I am just imagining it.

Bird-watching in Terra Nova with mother

I drove my mother to the library this afternoon. Afterwards, we went to Terra Nova to watch the birds.

I first saw the female, but only this male was photograph-able. The head shape makes it look like a Lesser Scaup, but I can't be certain. [Edit: It's a Ring-necked Duck, thanks to Frank for the identification.]

Another bike ride to Finn Slough

For the last few days, cloudy days tend to follow sunny days and so forth. I left home too late this afternoon, so I only went for a short bike ride.

I didn't see a lot of wildlife either, but I did see a few female Goldenfinches. First of the year.

Mt. Baker under a sheet of clouds.

Windy day so calmer waters on the wharf

Today was sunny but extremely windy, which made biking to the dyke quite a workout.

Blackie & Number Four

This afternoon, I officially met the two cats that I often come across while biking through Finn Slough.

This is Blackie on the left and Number Four on the right. They are brothers but with different fathers. Blackie is 19 years old and Number Four is 24 years old! Number Four is just as young as me! Amazing.

Biking to Terra Nova

When I was pedaling towards the dyke this afternoon, for some reason, I felt so out of shape. Maybe it was because I was moving against the wind or maybe I just need to work out more regularly.

Anyways, today was relatively sunny with blue skies.

Birding at RNP & Happy CNY

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year, and this morning, my mom and I went to Richmond Nature Park to see if we can find the Silver Pheasant again.

There were a lot of birds there, but no pheasants.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Good birding day to start off February

Another sunny day today for me to go out and enjoy the bike ride to the dyke. Even though I don't bike that often now to the West Dyke Trail, you can definitely see and hear the Red-winged Blackbirds coming back and getting ready to claim their territories.

All the bird feeders along the trail are dominated by these blackbirds, except when I get near and start to take pictures, then they flew away and the other smaller birds start to take over.

A couple of Downy Woodpeckers enjoy the food as well. Now that I looked at the feeder again, the drawing outside is quite beautiful.