Back from OE3C (at Western University)

I just got back from London, Ontario for the OE3C conference.  Overall, I think it's went very well, especially for my first "actual" conference - the venue/school is beautiful, just the right size in terms of attendees, and the weather is pleasant for the past three days.

We resided at the "Guest House on the Mound" for the duration of the conference.  Nothing to complain about the location.

Many plants flowering around the campus.

The accommodation is next to the Thames River, which I enjoyed very much.

Red-winged Blackbird singing along the river.

The path along the river is very pretty as well.  I saw a few White Admirals (and maybe Black Swallowtails) while walking along this path.

Saw this bird on Friday afternoon, which I don't recognize at all.  It was fairly small (slightly larger than chickadees) and flying above the treetop.  I only brought the 40 - 150 lens (and 14 - 42) for this trip.  [Edit: It is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea), which is a lifer for me.  Awesome!]

Thames River

Crossing the bridge.

Western seems to have the right amount of nature, architecture, and city around it.  If it weren't for the lack of pollination researchers here, I might seriously consider it for my PhD degree.

Such a beautiful day.

My own presentation went well, same with the people from my lab, and I learned quite a lot of other people's presentations.  Time to improve my own thesis...