Waxwings in backyard & Photo updates

There was a large museum of waxwings (about 200 individuals - mostly Bohemian and some Cedar) hanging out in my backyard this morning.  I left my E-M1 camera at school yesterday so I had to use my phone and E-620 to document them eating the berries in the backyard.

Mostly Bohemian Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus).

Exploring the Lady Eaton Drumlin

Went out shopping in the morning to get a few more things that I still need for my new place, e.g. kettle, spatula, etc.

On the way to the store, I spotted this toad on the hot gravelly trail.  It's good to always bring my P&S camera with me.  You'll never know what you might encounter.

Baby animals at Minoru Park

My mother and I went to Minoru Lake Park after dropping my father off at work.  Walking towards the park, we saw many Japanese student-visitors taking photos of a Grey squirrel.  I guess I would act the same if I am in a new country seeing unfamiliar animals, although doesn't Japan have squirrels?

Lotus pads in Minoru Park.

Bees and birds and a wedding

Yesterday (20th), we learned about pollinator foraging behaviours and the techniques they used when visiting different type of flowers and inflorescence in order to maximize their gain and minimize the loss.  We also began brainstorming about our field projects, and another student and I were thinking of teaming up to study what are the effects of ants on stigma receptivity and pollen germination.

This morning was a lecture on abiotic pollination - wind and water.  In the afternoon, we were off to the botanical garden to bag some flowers and start on our project.

Carpenter bee stealing nectar from the columbines.

More Than Usual

Saw an unknown grasshopper at the Gilbert Road Community Garden today. It was sort of trapped between me and meshed fence, hence the closer-than-usual photos. Hopefully someone will help me identify it over at BugGuide.  [Edit: It may be a Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina), thanks to Tim for the help.]

Visiting Minoru Park

In the morning, I drove my mother to the Brighouse (Main) Library to return and borrow some books. Afterwards, we walked to Minoru Park to see the blossoms.

In addition to the cherry blossoms, there are several plants flowering too.

Unknown yellow flowers.

First nice weather of April

Yesterday's constant rain was probably Mother Nature's way of saying Happy April Fools. Regardless, today's nice weather made up for it.

Visiting Minoru Park - Junco, Mallards and Rabbits

I got a couple of errands done today at the city centre - returning library books, walking and photographing around Minoru Park (not really an errand), getting a haircut and buying tasty treats to celebrate my mom's birthday today (but we went out for dinner tonight and were too full for the treats - they'll have to wait tomorrow).

These photos below were taken from Minoru Park.

A Dark-eyed Junco calling loudly and looking around.


Most of the vegetation is bare, except for this. Are these petals...or leaves?

Biking along the railway tracks

The rain stopped and blue sky appeared today. Time to grab my bike, leave the computer, and go out for a much needed break.

I slowly biked to South Dyke. Once I got there, I headed towards Finn Slough and spotted a couple juvenile Cedar Waxwings eating the fruits (of what?).

Birding at Minoru Park & Sunset watching at the Dyke

My mother and I went grocery shopping in downtown Richmond today. Before that, we decided to do a little bit of birding around Minoru Park. It was the usual birds but they were preening a lot today.

Mallard preening.

Female Common Merganser.

The male.


Female merganser swimming by.

Can't forget one of the commonest creatures in the park nowadays - park bunny. You can sort of see my reflection in the bunny's eye - that's how I close I was to it and how unafraid it was of humans. Not good.


Some pretty colors to lighten the relatively gray and brown winter.


Another common creature of the park - Eastern Gray Squirrel (black morph).

In the afternoon, after we got back home, I quickly biked to the dyke to enjoy the sunset.

Getting darker.




Beautiful sunset.


Moon is entering into the sky now too.

365 days ago (2009-01-23) ... Interestingly, we are waiting for the manager to come and fix (or should I say replace) our kitchen sink again. Darn this stupid old appliance.
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Boxing Day in the foggy Minoru Park

Today, my mother and I went to Richmond Centre to check out the Boxing Day deals. We passed through Minoru Park along the way.

Canada Geese feeding on the foggy field.

The park is still overrun with many bunnies. I lost count of how many we saw - probably more than ten.

They sure are cute though.

A shy rabbit on the steps of Minoru Church.

A very handsome one.


I can't imagine why anyone would buy a beautiful animal such as this as a pet, then abandon it after a while.

A human looking at me!

Hey, mister, do you have food?

No? That's all right, I will just dig a hole in front of you then.

On Minoru Lake, there were many Mallards and American Wigeons. The must interesting animal must be these two male Common Mergansers resting in the center without any females.

An interesting hybridized male(?) Mallard. I can't even tell if it is a male or female anymore.


Male American Wigeon.

Peaceful and Foggy Minoru Lake.

Today is an excellent to come out and enjoy nature because almost everyone will be indoors fighting over deals.

I wanted to buy an DSLR this boxing day. But after much thinking and deciding, I decided to wait for a while before the one I wanted drops its price. I am likely to buy a Pentax K-X, although other cameras in my wishlist are Sony a-550 or Sony a-700 - all of them because of their in-body IS and their relatively inexpensive lenses compare to Canikons.

I still spent some money buying a sturdier tripod (Opus OPT-210) for myself this Boxing Day, and I am happy thinking of the money I saved.
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Richmond's Nature Scene

I was planning to go to UBC today. But with the heavy workload this past week, I kind of slept in and didn't woke up until around 10am. So I decided to check out the local nature scenes here in Richmond instead.

I encountered these two moths when I walked out of the apartment door. Beautiful creatures when you looked at them up close. I had asked for help at bugguide.

The first spot that I checked out was Minoru Park which homes many waterfowls this fall, such as these Canadian Geese, Mallards, and Wigeons.

One sad scene at the park was seeing this deceased duck lying on the surface of the water, a casualty of the not yet arrived harsh seasons ahead. Not sure what the cause of death is but I sure hope it is not due to some diseases and that the city people come remove it soon (so that it won't contaminate the water). R.I.P.

I saw about five rabbits in the park today, which was more than last time that I was here. I don't have a good feeling about this whole situation. Sure they are cute, but I don't think overpopulation of another species (besides humans here in Richmond) will be welcomed.

To take my mind off these depressing issues that I saw in the park, I decided to pay attention to the beautiful and cheerful colours in the park.

Then I saw this pretty ladybug, but it was hiding in the shade so I nudged it to get it to move to a brighter spot. I accidentally flipped too hard and it flipped over so I quickly returned it to the more comfortable position.

Afterwards, I walked from Minoru Park to the community park in Garden City to check out the Hooded Mergansers that Hugh of Rock Paper Lizard observed - which I don't think I have ever seen one before.

Before I get to the Hooded Mergansers, I did saw some interesting things there, such as: these horny flies; playful wren (?); a lady bug underneath the leaf litter that I almost stepped on; and these tired-looking Canada Geese.
There were also many fungi here in the community park. I never noticed them before, but Richmond does have many fungi in the fall.

There were also these mysterious cream puff look-alike fungi?

Now, I finally got to the Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus)! These birds are fish-eaters and nest in tree cavities just like the Wood Ducks. The male can be identified by its black and white crest while the female has a grayish brown and shorter crest. They dive underwater to find food, and they can do so because they can change the optical refractive properties to enhance their underwater vision, as well as having a third eyelid (called nictating membrane) to act as a pair of goggles for eye protection.

I saw two males and one female in the main body of the "lake" and they were so far away (with my camera) that I decided to walked around the park one last time before heading home. But then I observed two females in an isolated and smaller "pond" at the outer edge of the park (and right across from residential areas too). Being in a smaller space, I ran back and forth as they dive away from me so that I can take some up-close pictures - which didn't turn as good as I hoped. I noticed the crest falling whenever they came right out of the water but then the crest raised right back up, it must be cool to have waterproofed "hair". My mom says they look like Marge of The Simpsons, but I don't really see the similarity, perhaps when Marge is dressed up for Halloween.

And then it was time to go home.
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