June update - Everything

Since arriving in Colorado, my life has been incredibly busy and interesting, which is why I have not updated my blog until now.  This post is a quite poor in terms of topic organization, I apologize.

Researches

One of my many research projects is to examine if Mertensia plants with different floral orientation are influenced by rain differently, and one measure of this effect is the number of nutlets (seeds) each plant produce.  To test this, I constructed and placed a rain shelter over a plot with several Mertensia plants, manipulated floral orientation (upward or pendant) of haphazardly chosen plants, supplemented pollen to these plants, and waited until the end of the flowering season to collect the nutlets.

Birding at Richmond Nature Park

Yesterday I went to downtown Vancouver with my mother to get Compass Cards for public transportation.  While we were waiting to cross the street in Chinatown, I was shoved to the ground from behind by a random drunk/addict walking by.  I don't come to downtown Vancouver often, but for whatever reason, I always left with a bad taste for this part of the city whenever I do come.

After the incident, we took the sea bus to North Vancouver just to get away from Vancouver.

July update - Animals

Different types of animals I photographed this month.

Mammals

Least chipmunk (Tamias minimus)
 

July update - Trip through Four Corners, Grand Canyon, and Wyoming

Over a span of four days (July 12th to 16th), I traveled across five states and drove more than 2,400 km.

The trip began from Colorado and passed through Blue Mesa Lake again.

June update - Herps and Birds

Two snakes (of the same species) and birds I saw in June.

Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans)

May update - assorted topics

We are having several consecutive days of relatively nice weather throughout the day so I have been quite busy working (and taking photos) but not posting them.  Here are a lot of photos from the last week of May.

Snow day (May 25th, 2015)

Before the weather got better, it got worse on the 25th when it snowed and we lost power overnight and in the morning after (so no heat and no internet). I couldn't do any work except walking around Gothic and taking pictures.

Wildlife wonder at Gunnison National Forest

No, this is not another post about poor weather conditions forcing me to update my blog.  In fact, the weather was so decent yesterday and most of today (until late afternoon) that many wildlife seemed to come out of their shelter and enjoy the good weather.

Yesterday, we went to Kebler Pass which was still under at least a couple feet of snow, so I helped out with the bee nest-box checking again.  While walking to the site, I accidentally spooked a grouse and it flew high up onto a tree.

Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) high up on a tree.

Birds of Gunnison National Forest, Colorado

After posts of flowers and insects, here are finally the birds that I photographed last summer.

 Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

Birds saw in Richmond

Aside from working from home most of this week, I went out twice to do some bird-watching and six times to dine out.  Here are the birds we saw on Thursday (at Terra Nova) and Saturday (at Richmond Nature Park).

Terra Nova

The only Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) I saw this trip.

Went back to BC for 10 days

I went back to BC for reading week from Oct 11th to 20th.  Aside from going out twice nature-watching and five times for food, I spent most of my time indoors working.  Such is the life of a busy PhD student.

On the second day back, I went to Richmond's Sharing Farm for an hour or two with my mother.  The sky was cloudy and cool temperature - typical Vancouver.

Dew

August's Photographic Update

Sorry for not posting anything since my return from Windy Pine.  I have been working on my project either from home or school, plus I do not have a student bus pass so my destinations are limited to places I can walk and/or bike to.  I still went out a few times, and here are photos from most of those outings.

August 6 - Went for a walk to Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland, and I was surprised at how much vegetation have grown compared to the first time I was there.

There weren't many bird species that I saw - mostly just Mallards (and one heron in this image).

Photographic Post - Flowers at London Heritage Farm

Out at the London Heritage Farm on this hot afternoon looking for wildlife and photographing flowers.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Pollinators Drinking Nectar

Another day hanging around the community garden hoping to see and photograph the hummingbird.  The hummingbirds were nowhere to be found and so I decided to photograph the pollinators instead.  Looking through the photos made me realize how different the feeding methods are for all of these creatures.

Skipper with its long proboscis.

Hummingbird at GCCG

A warm and sunny Saturday - good day to be outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Bald Eagle perched on Shady Island, not very shady at all.

Back to biking in Richmond again

I patched up another puncture in my bike tire today so that I can finally go out and get some exercise.

My first stop was Garden City Community Garden.

Revisiting Paulik Park, Richmond

I arrived back in Richmond three days ago, and I have been just relaxing and not doing much outdoor stuff.  Today, after doing some errands for my parents, I drove my mother to Paulik Park to look for some wildlife.  I don't think I have been to this park during any of the summers, so I was surprised to see all the beautiful flowers and pollinators and hummingbirds that were hanging around the garden.

Almost like a secret garden.

Watching flicker excavating cavity

Blogger wasn't being cooperative last night and this morning, so I had to delay yesterday's post until now. Today's activities will be blogged at a later time today, hopefully, since I had just returned home. It was a very busy day today.

After months of riding my (parents') bike through gravel and sand and soil, I had worn out the back tire and it had several punctured holes and beyond repair. So today I had to ride my old bike (from elementary school) to the dyke to do some bird-watching. I saw a flycatcher at the entrance of the dog park, but couldn't find it again after it disappeared.

I went to watch the flicker cavity that I saw last week and initially there was no bird in sight.

Animals I saw when I slowed down...

Instead of biking from point to point, I decided to just take things slow and enjoy life and nature as they come to me.

As I sat on the bench watching the Fraser River, a Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) was flying from plant to plant hoping to find a place to rest. I slowly inched closer and closer and was able to get these pretty satisfying photos (using my 70-300 lens at closest focus of 0.96m. The Raynox 250 requires subjects to be about 10-15 cm away, which is way too close for skittish insects).

First (decent) photos of Barn Swallow of the year

Before I reached the dyke, I saw a crow on wire removing feathers from a mysterious dead small bird. Unfortunately, it flew away after I took out my camera, and changed the lens and settings. Moments later, two Barn Swallows landed on the same wire and started singing.

First day of May

Maybe it's just me but the last few days feel like summer - warm, somewhat humid, and sunny. Although it's suppose to change by tomorrow. Anyways, today's the second day of field equipment shopping where my mother and I went to MEC to get me a watch, pillow, natural toothpaste and body wash, and other items. I think everything is bought. Just need to start taking out the necessary clothes and packing them.

After shopping, coming back home, and eating lunch. I headed out again to enjoy the nice day.

Somewhat hazy day.