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.

Spring is here because of flowers and pollinators

Last night, I was planning where to go today and considered taking the bus to Stony Swamp, a natural area southwest of Ottawa where photos of interesting animals are frequently shared on Facebook, such as Black-backed Woodpecker during the winter, porcupines, frogs, etc.  But the thought of the trip taking almost two hours, while it is located 15.6 km west of where I live, is kind of ridiculous (Ottawa transit system is quite poor compare to the Metro Vancouver transit system).  Anyways, I decided to walk to the bus station (via Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland) and visit the Arboretum in the end.

Little did I know I would see several interesting things today.

First was this pair of Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) - first of the year!

Bird-watching at Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland

I was debating where to spend some time outside this long weekend, especially because the public transit schedule is different every single day.  Looking at eBird, I realized there was a bird-watching spot very close to where I live called Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland, so I searched for instructions on how to get there this morning and walked there right after.

The main purposes of this man-made wetland are to collect run-off water and de-silt the water before it flows into Sawmill Creek.

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.

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!

Finally went outside - to Iona Beach too!

The weather was finally nice enough today for me to go out! I tried to bike out yesterday, but a sudden rainstorm drove me from the dyke back home. And when I arrived home, it turned sunny again! Not a funny trick that Mother Nature played on me.

Anyways, after being cooped up inside for a couple of days, I decided to do it big today and borrowed my parent's car to go to Iona Beach Regional Park. Along the way, I went to McDonalds Beach too, but it was full of dogs and dogwalkers that I gave up checking the place out, and went straight ahead to Iona Beach.

This is my second time going to Iona Beach, and my first time as an amateur naturalist, so I was pretty excited to see whatever I can observe. Spring has been here for two days now, but I need to be patient for the exciting spring birds to arrive as it takes time for them to slowly migrate northward again to wherever their breeding is. Nevertheless, today was full of firsts of 2009.

First, a sky-watch photo of the beach at low tide.

Two Lesser Scaups (Aythya affinis) and a Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris). Or so I think since I always have trouble differentiating the Lesser Scaups from the Greaters. Still, first Scaups and Ring-necked Duck of the year.

One of the trio of Coots observed.


American Robin singing and fluttering right in front of me.


Welcome back, Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata)!

Then I headed to the jetty to watch the birds on the water. (Over there, I ran into my ornithology & herpetology professor and his family from the university. He pointed out there were Canvasbacks along the jetty!)


Two of the eight Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) observed! They are such intersting ducks with their long and black bill. They are slighty larger than Northern Shovelers, but I wonder whose bill is larger (in terms of surface area). Birds of the genus Aythya have legs farther back on their body (than other diving ducks) and farther apart. Interestingly, they are a favourite of duck hunters because when they eat certain foods, e.g. wild celery, they supposedly tast delicious. More information about them here.

Another Scaups observed. This one kept tipping its head upward and opening its bill slightly (without any bird beside it). I wonder what's the explantion for this behavior? I don't think it's aggression. Perhaps it was drinking water?

Saw a large flock of Northern Pintails floating along the jetty today. This was one of the rare ones feeding along the tide.

Great Blue Heron and a shipwreck. Initially, from another angle, I thought the heron was standing on a sinking boat fishing. Turned out it was behind it, not on top of it.

As I was driving back home, I saw this juvenile Bald Eagle. Another photographer was standing right underneath the tree and told me that this eagle didn't seem to mind him standing below it. Not wanting to disturb the eagle, I quickly took this photo and left it to whatever it was doing.

Definitely a happy birding Saturday today.
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