2011/04/07

Glowing Hummingbird and then Sunset

Another beautiful day today. First thing today was biking to Garden City/South Dyke Sharing Farm to see if I can find some critters. Unfortunately, only few of the gardens look like they are in use this year, so I couldn't find anything, except for a bee that flew by me real quick.

Pigeons on Wire
Pigeons on Wire. Some people like to feed these birds (and the gulls) by throwing their leftover breads in this area. Today, a patch of the ground was filled with dinner rolls! It's such a waste of food, plus bread aren't good for birds at all. It's hard to convince people otherwise.

This bird is no begger.

Then I turned around and slowly biked towards Finn Slough. In the wooded area next to the tracks, the leaves and flowers have all sprung and it's a nice place to walk through, and not too dense either. [Note: I saw my first swallows of the year, although they are still to quick for me to photograph. Nonetheless, it was good to see swallows here too.]

Most of the area is covered with Salmonberry shrubs.

There are a lot of birds there too, such as chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos, although they are extremely skittish and very hard to photograph.

I saw this (female?) junco at the end of the fallen branch, and it stayed there for a while.

Near the centre of the branch is this nest. I have seen it before although it seemed to be in poorer conditions before. Maybe the juncos patch it up and are using it. I looked at nest from a farther distance but didn't seem any activities around the nest. Definitely need to pay attention to it the next time I come by.

Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus)
Since I didn't have much luck taking photos of birds (so far) today, I decided to take photos of this Northwestern Crow. All-black birds (and objects) are a pain to get the correct exposure of the image.

Blue and White
Same with white objects, such as this puffy cloud.

The last time I biked past Finn Slough, there were a few Salmonberry flowers blooming. I decided to come and check it out again. And indeed most of the flowers are blooming now.


Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) flower
Salmonberry flower.

I suddenly hear quick buzzing sounds. I looked around and found this Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)!

Shiny gorget

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
It was exciting to see a hummingbird closer than normal (about 5, 6 metres away). It would perch on this tree for a short while. Then buzz away. Then came back later. I hope it will stay around here for a long period of time, so that I can come see it everytime.

Then it was time to bike home for dinner. After dinner, my mother wanted to go watch the sunset on this beautiful day and so I drove her to Garry Point Park.

Plus I can show her the blossoms that I photographed yesterday.

Sunset bokeh. The actual sun was half-blocked by the clouds.

Strange Sunset
After sunset. The clouds were strange over where the sun sets.

Sunset Silhouette
Silhouette

It was a new moon 3 nights ago. So a smiling moon!

A long, but fulfilling day.

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