Close-up bees, Bittern, and Eagle Pair

A good day to go out and test my new 'lens'.

Not cloudy at all.

B's of the day: blossom, bumblebee, and bittern

A much nicer day compared to yesterday. Is spring break going on right now or something? I am out of school for so long that it such a surprise to see so many kids outside during school hours.

Sunny day.

American birds - Goldfinch and Bittern

While making lunch today, I found this spider on the floor in front of the fridge. I quickly scooped it up and moved it outside to save it from feeling the wrath of my mother's slipper. I also took these photos of it on the plant outside.

Bit of Bittern

I will have to separate today's post into two because as you know me by now, when I see something rare and/or interesting, I will take a lot of photos, and today's American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) was one of those things. The last time I saw a bittern was exactly one year from today, what a strange coincidence!

I think I first noticed this bird when I saw something flew from the marsh to the ditch while I was photographing a couple of Song Sparrows. However, when I got to where I think the bird landed, I only saw a couple of Mallards. But as I pedaled further along, I noticed this thing (below).

That's too bulky to be cattail reeds.

House Finch, Bittern, and more...

I would had like to go out yesterday, but it was raining when I wanted to go out and sunshine when I did not want to go out. In the end, I did not.

This morning, I went to my local bank branch to get myself a VISA card for my expenses during my times in Ontario. While heading back home, I saw my first Small Cabbage White butterfly on the year! Spring is definitely here! After lunch, my mother and I walked to the dyke to enjoy this nice Monday.

Nice blue sky.

I pointed out this handsome male House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) to my mother. She enjoys watching this pretty bird and listening to its songs!

Mother finding chickadee cavity and bittern

Seeing how the Spring-like conditions have brought some flowers to blossom, my mother and I went for an afternoon stroll in front of my old school today.

The Moon was also visible in the daytime, and I thought the flowers and branches framed the Moon nicely. Plus, I like the bokeh.


Close-up on the flowers.

While cutting through the neighborhoods, we spotted a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) flying in front of us. While I was hoping to photograph the bird, my mother (from another angle) saw it poked its head into a tree and came out. Examining it closely, I realized this is a cavity!

The hole is probably quite a bit larger than a loonie and about 2 meters above ground. You can't imagine how excited I was when I saw this - since I just spent the entire summer looking at nest cavities. I didn't spend too much looking at it since the chickadee was back and I did not want to disturb it. [Hugh of Rock Paper Lizard also saw the cavity excavation by chickadees last spring.]

Then we slowly walked to the dyke.

Not a happy duck to be photographed...

My mother seemed to be on a roll today and pointed out this bird to me when I didn't even see it. It's an American Bittern!

The bittern went into its usual stop-raise head-move again routine.


It has been a while since I last saw this bird. So gorgeous! And good to know it is still around.

We were hoping to see the Bald Eagle today but they were not around when we got there. However, shortly after we sat on the bench an eagle had arrived.

Thank you!


My mother also said hello to her friend, the heron.

Moon watch of the day.

Another Great Blue Heron as we slowly walked home. This one was on someone's roof.

Enjoying the sunset.

And pretty soon, the sun disappeared behind the island.

So grateful to have my mother with me on my walk, otherwise I wouldn't see so many new things today.

365 days ago (2009-02-21) ... My 100th post, and right now I am in my 362nd. Wow!

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A better Easter than expected

I was thinking about dividing this post up into two parts since I got too many pictures to share, but I don't like backing up posts so just bare with me and enjoy my Easter Saturday with me.

Cloudy and rainy weather. The rain stopped in the afternoon and was quite nice afterwards.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

As I approached the slough, several Wigeons flew up - exposing this lonely Killdeer by itself.

I found the Northern Shrike again today. But no good photos to share as I was looking at the Bumblebees nearby.

Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii). It was quite difficult getting the auto-focus to focus on the Bumblebee properly. Such a shame since they were quite close to me today.

While going back to a spot where I saw hummingbirds earlier, I saw this American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) hunting in the ditch. It made two small successful catches while I was looking at it.

Heading back, I saw this gruesome scene - a dead gull with a part of its body and head connecteed only by its guts. Yuck.

In the fields beside the community garden, they sheltered these small spiders that hid when I walked across the grasses.

The day was getting clearer when I was heading home.

A miniature giant forest of Common horsetails, Equisetum arvense. Imagine hundreds of millions years ago, when similar plants such as these were hundreds of feet tall. Amazing!

Trying to photograph an American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) through the branches again.


Meanwhile, a Black-capped Chickadee provided a much easier subject to photograph.

My hummingbird photo of the day. One of these days, I will/am bound to get a good shot of them.


I thought it was quite pretty for these rain droplets to be collected by the Lupine leaves.

View from above.

A worn-out, old-looking Bald Eagle.

Cherry blossoms are finally in full blooms. The blue sky appeared for a bit so I thought it was nice to capture the moment.

Sakura and my bike.

Right where I was photographing the flowers, a female Northern Flicker was digging in people's lawns.

Turned out it was hunting for food. Neat!

Beautiful Cherry Blossoms to end today's post. Hope you enjoy it.
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