Museum of Nature - Reptiles and others

Museum of Nature's current special exhibition is "Reptiles", and I have been there twice already (three weeks ago and yesterday) because reptiles are a group of animals that I interact with the least and I am fascinated by them.

The first animal that you will see in the exhibit is a fierce-looking Alligator snapping turtle (Macroclemys temmincki).  It is sad to see this large animal in a very small display area and is submerged in water all the time. 

Alligator snapping turtle (Macroclemys temmincki)

Holiday season update #2 from Peterborough

Hope everyone had a spectacular Christmas day.  This is another photographic update from the past few days.  I was busy cooking a turkey (for the first time) yesterday so I didn't get any chance to sort through yesterday's photos.

December 22nd (Sunday) - I shoveled snow in the driveway and was exhausted in the end to walk to school just for using internet.  I took the dog out for few short walks and that was about it.

Kami the cat.

Holiday season in downtown Ottawa

People who have followed my blog for a while will know that I like to photograph Christmas decorations and lights during this time of the year.  In previous years, I usually fly back to BC at this time of the year, but this year, I will be spending my time here in Ontario and getting ready for my Ph.D and working on my manuscripts.

Nonetheless, I still keep an eye out for place with interesting Christmas decorations and lights, and this particular blog provides excellent information and images for such a thing.  I left my office this afternoon and headed towards Parliament Hill to take some photos.

I was a bit early so it was not dark yet.

Trip to Ottawa

I just returned from a five-day trip in Ottawa where I looked for a place to move into next week, visited the professor whom I will be working for, and took care of some administrative stuff for my admission to the University of Ottawa.

I arrived on Friday evening and I spent the entire Saturday looking at (three) different places and decided on one later that day.  Then I headed over to the chosen place on Sunday morning to hand in a deposit for the place.  Afterwards, I bused to downtown to take a break and took some photos.

National Gallery of Canada.  As you can probably tell, the weather was kind of crappy that day.  Definitely visiting this place at least a few times for the next few years.

Last lifer of 2010 - Silver Pheasant

Quarter to 12am and 2011! Probably be 2011 by the time I finishes this post.

Originally I wanted to use my month bus pass for one final long birding day-trip (i.e. Stanley Park). In the end, I ended up going to Richmond Nature Park with my mother, and boy, did I glad I did - because I got lots of good photos as well as a final lifer of 2010!

Overall, 2010 has been a memorable year - working with and meeting new people, learning new things, absorbing new information, spending a lot time with wildlife in the outdoors and more. I hope 2011 can be just as exciting.

Now, some photos from Richmond Nature Park. First, some non-bird photos.

Just like the feeling this image provokes.


Frost on wooden fence. Wish I captured it better, but it was really neat to look at the frost close-up.

My fav. kind of winter - cold and sunny; biking to the dyke

Today, my dad bought me a few things for me to prepare the harsh winters of Ontario - winter jacket, snow boots and a warm pair of jeans. Not the kind of things I usually use here in B.C.

In the afternoon, I biked to South Dyke Trail, almost to Finn Slough, then back home. Today's my favorite kind of winter - cold but sunny, and almost cloudless too. Great day for a photo outing, except that my digits get cold very quickly.

Beautiful day at the dyke trail. Many dogs and their humans out enjoying the nice weather.

Cloudless.

Flock of Coots, Ho Ho Ho House and Moon watch

I had quite a busy afternoon today. First up, biking to the dyke.

Nice weather today.

Resting heron.

Wandering around the parks in Richmond...

The surprising but much anticipated snow finally arrived last night. This morning, the entire region is covered in the good white stuff.

After procrastinating about going out and do some wildlife-watching, I hopped on the bus in the afternoon and headed towards Richmond Nature Park. When I approached the second bus stop for the transfer to RNP, the bus drove away from me. So I slowly walked along No. 5 Road and took out my camera just in case.

Long behold, there was something walking in the snow covered field. It was a Coyote!

Haven't seen these beautiful animals in the longest time. This one looks in good condition - no mangy furs. I watched it hunt unsuccessfully a couple of times before it disappeared behind the trees.

First and last images of the day

Image taken while waiting for the bus in the morning. The sunrise was behind me and the sky was partly clear and the clouds were painted with a beautiful glow. Brought the medium lens with me so not everything was captured.

Image taken while walking from hotel to the SkyTrain station. Too much colorful lights to not to try out a bokeh shot. Not the best, but still worth a try.

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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.

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).

New lens (70-300) & testing it out at Yaletown and UBC

Today, I completed a deal with a seller on craiglist and got a birding-lens for my Olympus E-620, the Zuiko Digital ED 70-300 f4.0-5.6. It's a dream come true, because it can reach 600mm so I can take much closer photos now. It's a much bigger, heavier, and beautiful than I thought but it's definitely going to make my photos better.

The seller is at Yaletown so I met him there this morning. Before he arrived, I took some photos of the people and dogs walking by.

This was the cutest dog.

Another of its own.

After the deal, I couldn't wait to put it on and try it out by walking along the Granville Seawalk! Even though it is not a macro lens, it takes pretty good close-up photos of flowers too.

Birding on the dyke & Christmas Houses watching

This afternoon, I biked to the dyke again. And there was the Northern Harrier far far away.

A female Northern Flicker perched on the branch among crows.

Sky-watch. These were taken as I biked southward first towards Steveston.

Then it was time to turn around and head for Terra Nova.

I spotted an unusual bird hiding in the bushes on the borders of the golf course. It was a Wilson's Snipe! It was feeding at first, but after it saw me watching it, it went into a freezing and hiding mode. Not effective, but I got the idea that it doesn't like to be watched. So I leave it alone.

The view as the sun slowly sets

A female Mallard crossed the trail looking for her friends and partner on the other side of the ditch. It then flew, jumped, tumbled, and walked in front of me to get to her friends.

Watching the sun set.


Watching the moon rise.

In the evening, my parents and I walked (and drove) to several houses in west Richmond enjoying the Christmas displays people set up in front of their houses.

This "Ho Ho Ho" house (on Garry Street) is probably the most impressive one.

Christmas lights also give me a change to practice one of the photography techniques I always wanted to try out - bokeh.

Original.

Bokeh style!

Merry Christmas, everyone!
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