Merry Christmas!

The school semester ended this week and I almost near the end of my degree.  I have not been photographing or blogging as much as before, but hopefully I can resume once I am less busy.  Yesterday morning I went out for a walk to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden hoping to photograph some wildlife.  But it was too snowy, and not many creatures were out and about.  I saw one cute American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) crouching on top of a branch looking a bit cold.

Goodbye to my Four Thirds equipment & Hello to a new lens.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was that I recently sold my unused Four Thirds equipment (Olympus E-620 and three lenses) as a part of the Olympus trading promotion, and I bought a new Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 lens.  I really enjoyed using E-620 and the associated lenses, and hopefully the company receiving it will find it a good home.

I have been using my new lens for a while now, and it is versatile, sharp, and quick.  For example, I can shoot landscape and portrait with this lens.

Autumn colours along the canal at the beginning of the month.

Doing a bit of fieldwork at Gatineau Park

This morning, I helped my friend with her trout lily (Erythronium americanum) research at Gatineau Park (click here to read more about it from last year's post).  When we arrived at the park, the weather was not optimal to perform hand-pollination, so we grabbed coffee from the nearby Siberian Cat Café, where I took photos of these gorgeous cats.

Have a great 2017 - Clark and flowers

As 2016 comes to an end, it is time to focus on the positive things that had happened and look forward to the things that will arrive in the new year.

Nothing really exciting (or positive) happened during the first half of 2016, where I was pretty much waiting and planning for my third and final field season.  During my field season, I added several crucial components to my research and visited beautiful places such as Pikes Peak and Conundrum Hot Springs with my friend.  After coming back to Canada, I packed and moved to my own place in Ottawa and went on trips to Quebec City/Montreal and Toronto/Niagara Falls with my mother.  I was mostly busy during the school semester but still enriched my life by going to the Butterfly Show, Big Sky Ranch, and Museum of Nature exhibits.

In 2017, I will be attending a conference and defending my Ph.D dissertation (if everything goes to plan).  Aside from those, my future will once again enter a sea of uncertainties.  I will try to find jobs and think about what I want to do with my life.  I have been thinking about selling my photographs - either to stock photography and/or as prints to anyone interested in them, which means I should enter social media to promote my photos (hence the new changes to this blog).  We shall see if any of that come to fruition, but I will keep everyone posted if I do.

In the meantime, here are some more photos of Clark the cat.

Merry Christmas from Clark the cat

I am currently taking care of my labmate's cat while she goes home for Christmas break.  The cat's name is Clark (after Superman) and he is super adorable!

I made a paper Santa hat today and put it on his head.

Big Sky Ranch & Sarsaparilla Trail

This week is reading week at the university, so there are no classes for the undergrads and more free time for us grad students.  Today, I visited a place I have been hearing a lot about from my friend - the Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Kemptville.  Big Sky Ranch is a place where animals (abandoned or unable to care for by their previous humans) are able to be adopted by new humans or to live permanently at this no-kill sanctuary.  The sanctuary is open to visitors most times of the year and is free of charge, but donation is definitely appreciated especially during the colder months when there are little to no visitors.  While my friend and I were walking around the sanctuary and enjoying the presence of all the animals, I cannot help but feel sad and angry at the people who would abandon their care for these animals.  But I am glad places like Big Sky Ranch exist and there are nice people who invest their time and money to improve the lives of these animals.  During our visit, all of the animals seemed to be well-cared for and their living conditions were clean and comfortable.

Here were some of the interesting animals we saw:

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

Rideau Canal in January & Alan the cat

Rideau Canal is perhaps the most convenient/interesting place for me to photograph because it is so close to the university.  Here are the photos I took along the canal this month.

Long weekend at Windy Pine

This past long weekend, I returned to Peterborough and went back to Windy Pine to visit friends and tried mothing once again (just like last year).

Since I returned back to Ontario last week, I found this summer to be cooler and smoggier than I remembered.

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.

Happy holidays & Update from Peterborough

Happy holidays to everyone!  I returned to Peterborough last Wednesday to stay at a friend's house to take care of her pets while she's away for Christmas break.  The wifi access is limited at her place, so I walked to school almost everyday (with the dog) to use internet.  I am still taking photos everyday, but uploading them won't happen immediately, hence there are a lot of photos in this (and upcoming) posts spanning several days.

A festive photo from Ottawa two Sundays ago.

Cat and walk around neighbourhood

I am currently reading the blog posts by a Flickr photographer Crusade., who produces some of the most beautiful images I have ever seen.  This just makes me want to pick up my own camera and go outside and take photographs.  All the photos below were taken today with the OM 50 f1.4 lens.

My landlord's cat, or his nose to be more specific.

Honey Island Swamp Tour in Louisiana

On my second day in New Orleans (July 28), my lab-mate and I signed up for a swamp tour at Honey Island Swamp near Slidell, i.e., a chance to see American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in the "wild".

American alligator is endemic to southeastern US and is the official state reptile of Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.  It and the Chinese alligator are the only two living species in the genus Alligator.  Alligators belong to the family Alligatoridae, and crocodiles belong to the family Crocodylidae (and both families belong to the reptilian order Crocodylia).  They are real "living dinosaurs" because their lineage goes back to about 240 million years ago, and they are still surviving and thriving in the present (way beyond the extinct dinosaurs).

One common question from most people is what are the differences between alligators and crocodiles.  Basically, alligators have a wider snout and expose only the upper jaw teeth when the mouth is closed.  Meanwhile, crocodiles have a long and narrow snout, and upper and lower teeth are both exposed when the mouth is closed.

To get to Slidell from New Orleans, we drove across Lake Pontchartrain on the Causeway which is the second longest bridge in the world.  Pretty awesome.

Catching up on the days

I am finding that if I don't take any photos during the day then I can't remember anything I did that particular day, e.g., I didn't take any photos from Monday to Wednesday, and now I can't remember what I did during those days.  Luckily, I went back to taking photos two days ago.

Early Thursday morning when my landlord's cat was being silly.

Maytag the cat & Herps

My landlord got a cat on Monday and his name is Maytag (Tag for short).  This is my first time living with a cat (even though I like animals a lot, being responsible them is a completely different story), so it's going to be an interesting experience for sure.

Maytag on the sofa

Wild birds and captive mammals at the Peterborough Zoo

I unintentionally walked all the way to school today because I kept missing the buses at the stops that I want to get on.  Plus, I detoured a bit and went to the Peterborough Riverview Zoo to photograph the animals.

A Mourning Dove, one of the two "wild" animals that I photographed today.  I have heard many cardinals singing nowadays.  Must be getting closer to Spring.

Getting outside again

I finally did something outdoorsy this week.  Went to school on Sunday, but not before I went for a walk through the Lady Eaton drumlin next to the campus.

Unknown kill.  Pigeon feathers?

Riding the fixed bike to Finn Slough; Seeing snakes

Took my newly repaired bike to the dyke this afternoon.  Let's hope the inner tube is indeed puncture-resistant as it says on the package.

There was one Western Tiger Swallowtail flying around the trees at the end of the trail and defending its territory from other fliers.

Biking to school

Despite me wanting to exercise more by biking to school everyday, I only got the chance to do it this Thursday and today (Saturday) when the weather is decent.

The sunny bike ride to Trent.


Came across a (Downy?) woodpecker drumming on the dead part of a tree.


It feels strange being in a different part of the country in the spring, especially when encountering different kinds of birds. For example, it still takes a while to get use to hearing the cardinals, grackle, and doves singing and calling every morning.

This was the weather today, cloudy, but still nice enough to bike to school on a Saturday.

Came across a resting white cat.

Butterflies other than Whites

Today's a good Sunday.

Nice weather.

Quick post from Edmonton

Hello from Edmonton. I arrived at Edmonton about a hour ago and now waiting for another graduate student from Trent to arrive. We are planning to go to Elk Island National Park and then we will travel to Inuvik, NWT tomorrow morning.

Now, here are the photos from yesterday where I went to do a Grassland Bird Survey (GBS) with my supervisor's husband in the morning (woke up around 5:20am), then came back to their home and got ready to go to their cottage. Overall, it was a fulfilling but tiring day, considering I woke up early than usual and kayaked and canoed (not activities I do everyday).

In the morning.