Wildlife at Mud Lake

Before checking out the blossoms at Lincoln Fields today, I was at Mud Lake watching birds.  One of the first birds I saw was this singing Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), which I think is a lifer for me.

International Migratory Bird Day (2016)

Today is the International Migratory Bird Day, and here in Ottawa, there was an event at Brewer Park that included bird banding, birds-of-prey show, and guided walks around the park.

I was there mostly for the birds-of-prey, which was presented by the same organization from the Science by Night ten days ago; therefore, I had already seen three of the four birds.  But at least this time the birds were outside and able to show off their flying skills.

The new bird was Fergus the Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus), a bird found in southern US and Mexico.

Mud Lake and Petrie Islands (Post #1,000)

Knowing that I will be very busy this coming school semester - teaching, taking one class, and working on my own research project, I doubt I will be spending a lot of time outside and enjoying nature.  So for the past few days, I have been going out and taking advantage of the last free days before school begins next Tuesday.  The places I went to were Mud Lake and Petrie Island, and I went to each place twice because there are so many things to see.

Mud Lake

A lot of Water lilies (Nymphaea odorata) floating on the lake.

June update - Herps and Birds

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

Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans)

Birds and bees at Sawmill Creek

Few days ago, somebody posted a photo on Facebook of several Black-crowned Night Herons at Sawmill Creek.  I decided to see if I could see them for myself this afternoon.

Once I got there, I unknowingly spooked one heron from its hiding place and it took off, but at least I saw it today.

Then I saw this Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius), which was the second time I had seen this species.  The last time was almost three years ago in Ivvavik.

Birds of Ivvavik National Park

Here are some of my better bird photos from this summer.

One of the first animals that we saw in the park once we arrived - a male Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in winter plumage.

Nunaluk Spit, northernmost point of mainland Yukon

Two days ago, the inner tube of the back bike tire completely blew out when I was on my way to the trail.

 While walking back home with the broken bike, I manged to get a few photos of a bumblebee visiting someone's Moonflowers.

I bought a replacement this morning.  Hopefully I will be back biking tomorrow.  But for now, here's what happened on one of the days during my field season.

On June 23, 2012, I had the rare opportunity to travel to the northernmost point of mainland Yukon called Nunaluk Spit, it is basically a gravel bar that extended along the coast and the Beaufort Sea.

On the spit is a cabin built by the descendants of the famous Arctic explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson.

Some of the birds in Ivvavik National Park

Life is still very busy right now - I have a final exam (on Statistics) on Sunday, a committee meeting on Monday, need to grade all the research reports for the Plant Ecology class, invigilate the Plant Ecology final exam on Wednesday, and fly back to BC on the same night. Phew!

I can't wait to go back to BC to relax (just a bit...still a lot of work to do back home) and do some birding - I have seen a lot of Snowy Owls photos by Lower Mainland photographers that I am feeling very jealous of. Birding is not particularly interesting here, or maybe I am just way too busy.

Here are some of the bird photos that I took this past summer in Ivvavik.

Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) - they were found in alpine tundra areas - grassy or rocky with very little vegetation.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park - Part 2

Besides searching for the warblers along the trails and in people's backyards, we also hiked along the beach to watch the shorebirds, as well as the gulls and ducks in the distance.

Owen Point Trail

Back in B.C. & new home & walking along Lake Ontario

I landed in Richmond early yesterday morning (just after midnight). My family bought a home in Richmond when I was away in Ontario, and so it was my first time seeing the new home. It's nice, still in Richmond, but now I live right across from a shopping centre and no longer within a easy biking distance to the dyke, so I will have to figure something out in the coming days to keep me from being deprived of my doses of nature-watching.

Yesterday, though, I drove my mom to Terra Nova and walked around the share farm. Lots of flowers!

Trip to Algonquin Provincial Park

I am currently sitting in a cafe in Bobcaygeon trying to sort out my photos, upload them, and write a blog (or two). Basically, a very time-consuming process.

There is one more week left here in our field site before we pack everything up and call this a season, and a week-and-half before I fly back to B.C. I'm definitely going to miss this place - the animals, the field site, the people, and more.

Anyways, here're some photos from my trip to Algonquin a couple of weeks ago. I am very glad my co-worker persuaded me to take this trip and allowed me to borrow her camping equipment to make this trip possible! Thanks!

From my campground - Tea Lake

Howdy - more photos to share

On my last off-days, I went to the Mariposa Folk Festival. It was quite an amazing experience - lots of interesting things to check out, great new bands and musicians to discover and the weather was just fantastic.

This was one of my favorite musicians at the festival - Catherine MacLellan.

After my off-days, it was back to work. Here are more photos from the field site.

Photos from many days ago...

Hi all. Work and life are good here in Ontario. For the past few days, the weather has been very summer-like and I am definitely experiencing the insect annoyance here, but overall, I am having fun and learning a lot.

Here are some of the photos that I took on my off-days on May 6 and 7, and during other working days.

The scenaries:

My new addition & Birding in Steveston

This is a rare mid-day post, but I want to show off my newest addition to my camera (Panasonic DMC-FZ18). I just purchased a SONY VCL-DH1758 Tele Converter Lens (seen on the left) and it gives me a 1.7x magnification to allow me to shoot from 856mm at 8 megapixels!

There are a other (better) teleconverters out there usable with this camera, but this is a relatively cheap purchase at $60CDN, and I can't wait to try it out. Sadly, I will need a special lens adapter ring at 58mm (about $10CDN) that can be bought from Asia so I will ask my mother to buy it for me. But I will have to wait for another few weeks or so before I can properly join them together. Nevertheless, here're what the whole thing will look like if combined (use your imagination to imagine an adapter between the camera and the teleconverter). Nice, eh?

I met the seller in Steveston this morning and we did a quick exchange, and I was on my way birding along Steveston again. Even though I don't have the proper set-up yet, I did a little experiment. These photos are straight off the camera (other than resizing and framing). The top left photo is 8 MP at 504mm, and the bottom left photo is the 100% cropped picture of the seagull. The top right photo is hand-helding the lens in front the camera, so 8MP at 856mm, and the photo below it is the 100% cropped. Not too bad, but it will get better.

Along the shores, I saw many shorebirds.

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)

I think this is a Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla). I am not too good with Family Scolopacidae, so any help is welcomed here (and everywhere). This is a lifer for me.

There were many of them around, poking and feeding in the mud.

Occasionally, there were a few Killdeers among them too.

I'll make another post today if I do go out biking in the afternoon. Cheers!
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