Creatures along Rideau River

Sorry for not posting in a while.  Everything is going well, but I just haven't really had the time to be outside for extended periods of time (especially during the miserable winter weather) and photographing things.  Hopefully with the start of spring (yay!), I can start spending more time outside again.

Spring has begun in Ottawa, and the other day, I saw from ebird that a Harlequin Duck had been sighted along the Rideau River.  The weather was quite nice today, so this afternoon, my girlfriend and I walked over to Strathcona Park and did a little bit of bird-watching.  Along the way, we ran into a friend who mentioned that the water level was quite high and a Snapping Turtle was spotted feeding under a flooded swing set right next to the river recently.  

Once we arrived at the park, we immediately saw a Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus - a bird I haven't seen in six years) swimming with some Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula).

Checking for Spring around South Keys area

I went for a long walk around my neighbourhood this afternoon trying to document some of the organisms that are emerging and becoming more active/abundant with every passing day.

Hepatica (Anemone sp.) - always the first ephemeral to emerge in McCarthy Woods.

New birds of the year

I took the long route to the bus station (around Sawmill Creek Wetland) yesterday, and I was very glad that I did - because of the birds that I saw.

Female Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus).

Random photos from phone and camera

I'm departing for Colorado in less than a week, and life is too busy at the moment for me to post frequently.  Here are some of the photos I took since the last post (and also some photos before that taken with my phone that I didn't upload to my computer until yesterday).

April 22th - Sky-watching.

Looking at the dramatic clouds.

Quick photographic post from the past week

Life lately has been quite hectic with little time for other activities, such as blogging or photography, because the "official" deadline for thesis submission happened last Friday.  On top of that, I have teaching, marking assignments, doing my tax forms, writing abstracts for presentations/conferences, planning to meeting potential PhD supervisors, reading papers, and writing/editing my thesis.  Therefore, little time for anything else, I am afraid.

I still managed to take some photos here and there though.

Saw this hawk out in the backyard last Saturday.  I think it is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which I have seen around the neighbourhood before.

Early sunset

Daylight-saving took effect today. The sun set around 6PM yesterday and 5PM today. It was a weird experience to watch the sunset for two consecutive days and they are one hour apart. I guess this is what happens when you live your life according to clocks.

Biked to Little Lake again before I went to do a quick grocery run for the week.

Ganaraska Forest & Biked to Lakefield sewage lagoon

Another busy week gone by without any free time to take any photos or find anything interesting enough to blog about. Well, I tried Red Lobster for the first time yesterday, it was salty but I definitely had a good time.

This morning, I helped a lab-mate with her research project in Ganaraska Forest. It is a very nice forest - quiet and peaceful. I'd imagine it is livelier in the summer with all the birds and people, but I think I enjoy this time of the year more.

A small part of the forest.

Riverview Park and Zoo, Peterborough

One of the main attractions of Peterborough is probably Riverview Park and Zoo, operated by the Peterborough Utilities Group. It is quite an interesting place considering that it is completely free and actually has a fair number of animals to make it a good place to visit if you have a couple of hours to spend.

The first animal that I saw was a Monarch butterfly flying beside the playground. I didn't see a whole lot of them the limited number of days that I have been here.

The classic M on Monarch.

Signs of Spring, and then Supermoon!

What counts as signs of Spring?

Nice weather? Not really, but I'll take it over any rainy days.

Making up for the cloudy days...

I totally forgot what I did for the last four days now. This is what happened when it's cloudy and I ended up staying indoors most of the times.

Well, I better make up for the missing days by going outside to enjoy this beautiful Friday.

Blue sky and white puffy clouds.

Bird-watching in Terra Nova with mother

I drove my mother to the library this afternoon. Afterwards, we went to Terra Nova to watch the birds.

I first saw the female, but only this male was photograph-able. The head shape makes it look like a Lesser Scaup, but I can't be certain. [Edit: It's a Ring-necked Duck, thanks to Frank for the identification.]

Walk Around Deer Lake Park

While my mother was in Burnaby visiting family friends, I also tagged along and visited Deer Lake Park on my own. It's a nice park - pretty natural considering all the houses and roads around it. I believe the last time I was here was for my limnology course in my last year of university, collecting some water samples in the lake, which was at least four years ago. Wow, time sure goes by quick.

I was worried that it might rain here in Burnaby during my walk, but it only did briefly at the end of the walk.

Walking through the marshy area, I saw my first hummingbird of the year!

End of August

Took a couple of photos of the nature of TBG before I went to work today.

Sleepy duck

Water Lily

Black-crowned Night Heron through the lily leaves.

Took this shot while having a break in the office. Good-bye August!
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Wildlife viewing at Da Xing

Yesterday, I spent most of my day yesterday walking and biking at a more rural part of the town where my aunt works as the local kindergarten teacher. This was also the school that I went to when I was young, so it certaily brought back some precious memories. Of course, the wildlife was a bit more interesting since the surrounding areas are farms of green peppers, rice fields, poultry farms, etc.

On one of the abandoned lands, I saw many Chinese Bulbuls carrying praying mantises and other insects in their beaks.

Also observed were these bright Anomala expansa, also known as the Taiwanese Green Bronze Beetle (translated).

Beside the wild animals. Some include the domesticated free-range domesticated Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata). What a face!

Near the farms, there are also plant-rearing centers, which attracted some pretty lovely insects, including this Ceylon Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis similis).

Afterwards, I borrowed a bike from one of my aunt's friends, and I saw three lifer birds!

The first thing that I noticed about this particular bird was its harsh clucking sounds and its very long tail. It is a Gray Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae formosae), an endemic subspecies! Sadly, it waswary of my position and intention, and fly away whenever I got a little bit closer. The below photos were the best ones that I got. One was when it was perched far far away on a telephone pole, and one was when it was sheltering underneath the dark canopy and me hiding from being seen by the bird.

Along the narrow roads, I also saw a warbling Plain Prinia (Prinia inornata) - top photo. Another is the Nutmeg Mannikin (Lonchura punctulata) - bottom photo.

Overall, it was a very nice day with excellent birding results.
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Bike ride to the dyke.

Such a clear and beautiful day today, except that it was very chilly and windy near the dyke. Most of the ducks were huddling around and staying still to keep warm. But the Wood Ducks for some reason are quite active today and very approachable.

Twice today, two bald eagles were directly hovering on top of me. Being the clumsy and easily-wowed person that I am, I didn't pull out my camera fast enough to snap some pictures. Shoot!

I also came across this lightly-colored waterfowl. I am not sure if it's a variation of female mallard or not.

The most interesting sighting of the day was probably coming up close with a small group of Snow Geese. They are indeed truly beautiful and powerful birds. Spending time just admiring them made me think how stupid the city's plan is of getting rid of them. Perhaps we can collect the goose dung and use them as natural fertilizers or something. I am pretty sure a twice-in-a-year thing isn't too hard to handle for people.

Today is also just a great day of simply admiring the beautiful autumn season.

Mystery lineage of the day

I wonder what hybrid is this. Mallard x ??

Photo taken on 2008/10/19 beside Minoru Lake

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