Familiarizing with winter once again

Winter feels like it has arrived in Ottawa last week; and now, everyone (including myself and the animals) is getting used to the frigid temperature and icy/snowy road once again.  I have been very busy in November and December, mostly working on my research while maintaining some work-life balance.  Sadly, I have not taken as many pictures as I would like.

It was kind of sunny this afternoon, so I went out to the Arboretum and brought my camera with me.

One of the first birds I saw today - a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens).

Who is ready for Spring? Flowers, birds, and I.

Knowing that I was already two days behind in my "annual spring check-up at the Arboretum" (see my 2014 and 2015 posts) because of my busy work schedule, I decided to finish work earlier today so that I can go find the flowers afterwards.

The flowers seemed to bloom right on the calendar date (regardless of the type of winter we had) and when I got there this afternoon, most of the flowers appear pretty old already.  Sadly, there were no pollinators visiting the flowers.

This was the best image of the blooming Crocus sp. that I photographed.

Murmuration

Not something I usually post, but I recently came across this video that I thought was pretty spectacular. Nature never ceases to impress me.

Plus, murmuration is a cool word.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Quick post from Edmonton

Hello from Edmonton. I arrived at Edmonton about a hour ago and now waiting for another graduate student from Trent to arrive. We are planning to go to Elk Island National Park and then we will travel to Inuvik, NWT tomorrow morning.

Now, here are the photos from yesterday where I went to do a Grassland Bird Survey (GBS) with my supervisor's husband in the morning (woke up around 5:20am), then came back to their home and got ready to go to their cottage. Overall, it was a fulfilling but tiring day, considering I woke up early than usual and kayaked and canoed (not activities I do everyday).

In the morning.

Fly with cool eyes

Another fair weather day.

Very low tide. It was actually pretty steep walking from the 'dock' down to the floating platform.

Bird- and blossom-watching in Steveston.

In the afternoon, I drove my mother to Steveston to buy groceries. We went there via Dyke Road to see some wildlife along the way.

Common Mergansers resting on a floating log.

As if I never really left...

Well, the weather finally turned a bit better today for me to go out on my first bike ride of the season. Unfortunately, drizzles started to come down as I biked halfway. Maybe I should slowly ease back into the routine again...

But once I arrived....it all came back to me. The sights, the sounds, the wind, the temperature, the surroundings, everything! It was as if I never really left this place because everything looks and feels so familiar. And now my 5.5 months Taiwan trip seemed so dreamlike, as if it never happened.

Hello, starlings.

Hello, clouds!

Hello, Sun peeking from the clouds.

And yes, hello to you too, Seagull.

365 days ago (2008-10-26) ...
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Turtles/Tortoise Workshop in Taipei Zoo

This past weekend, my co-workers and I attended a special workshop hosted at Taipei Zoo titled "From the International Cooperation for the Conservation and Reproduction of the Burmese Star Tortoise (Geochelone platynota) - A Discussion of the Links Between In-situ and Ex-situ Conservation Activities for the Endangered Tortoise". Aside from the staff and researchers from Taipei Zoo, other special guests were from: Herpetological Associates, Inc., Kadorrie Farm & Botanic Garden, Behler Chelonian Center, and others.

Entrance sign.

The abstract booklet and other pamphlets that we received.

Mr. Paul Crow from Kadorrie Farm & Botanic Garden giving a presentation on the conservation of the critically endangered Cuora trifasciata in Hong Kong.

My co-workers paying attention to the lecturers.

Besides learning the different types of turtles and tortoises and the steps taken to conserve them, whether In-situ or Ex-situ, I also used the time to visit friends from last year's internship, as well as touring the zoo.

Visiting people at the Wildlife Rescue Center

Animals that I photographed this weekend:

Crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Black-winged Starling (Sturnus melanopterus)

Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)

Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber)

Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber)

Back to work tomorrow!

Bac.

Colors, Nature.

Nothing overly exciting was saw today. Although I saw a Northern Harrier today just when I was thinking that I haven't seen them in a long time.

Otherwise, today was mainly an exploration of colors in nature.

Many European Starlings against a gray cloudy sky.

Yellow Forsythia flower.

Yellow is my favorite color.

Yellow lichen on a broken branch.

Pretty Hyacinth hidden among thorns and prickles. Took me a while figuring how to take a picture of it. Ouch.

Red bark.

The return of the blue sky. A sigh of relief from me.

PS - Identification of the plants in this post would be greatly appreciated. As some of you may know, I am not a botanist or a gardener. But I'm trying to learn. Thanks.

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Turned 23...went birding again

What does turning 23 mean to me? For now, it's just a number halfway to 46 and one-third to hmm...69? I still have a long way to go to reach those numbers, but right now I'm at a stage in my life where I am proud of the person that I am and thankful for the life I have (except career-wise), and hopefully, I can continue to top that in the times to come. I am not a big fan of celebrating birthdays because annual celebrations are meaningless (to me). I rather enjoy each and every day (8401 days and counting) and make sure I did something meaningful or interesting today (no matter how small or big) so I won't regret this day when I look back.

Today, I first drove my parents to Steveston to buy groceries while I looked around. Then my mother and I walked along the West Dyke Trail from Garry Point Park to Williams Road where my father picked us up by car. Along the way, we saw many interesting things.

I saw several Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) today, including seeing this female up-close. I suddenly realize how much it resembles Joker from Batman movie (R.I.P. Heath Ledger) with the black around the eyes, the red long bill, the whitish face, and the frazzle-looking hairstyle.

Why so serious?

I also observed something interesting performed by the male Red-breasted Merganser. When there was a female in front of this male (below). He lowered his head down and started to run and charge towards her! It happened in several short bursts before he arrived in front of her, then everything was fine again. Had anybody observe this kind of behavior before?

Male charging towards the female. Definitely an interesting sight to see.

Bufflehead preening.

Hate them or love them, European Starling is definitely a beautiful-looking bird.

Saw another pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. Such particular-looking birds sporting that punk rock hairstyle.


Trying to photograph a bird-in-flight. Merged two pictures together to get this gull. Pretty good.

Mount Baker in Washington State was clearly visible from Steveston this afternoon. Its magnificent presence posed a potential hazard for Rock Paper Lizard as he went shopping in US last weekend. That was a funny post.

The Great Blue Heron knew. Something and/or everything.

Another attempt of photographing bird-in-flight. This time, a Double-crested Cormorant.

Today, my mother picked up that sense when you know something (or someone) is looking at you, and she spotted this Raccoon before I did. Bravo! It was the first time I seen a Raccoon hanging around in Sturgeon Bank, although it was on its way to head to townhouses in Steveston.

There was something wrong with the right eye of this critter. Blind or cataract? Anyone know?

Our presence made it hesitant in crossing the trail. As soon as we gave it space, it headed into the water and swam across the ditch. Pretty soon, it disappeared into someone's front yard. (There is a wonderful post at The Marvelous In Nature about raccoons and some of her personal experiences with them. Great reading!)

This enormous Mute Swan was swimming among a group of Mallards and Wigeons, making its size seems even more impressive than usual. What a bird!

Then it was my time to impressive my mother by spotting a pair of Killdeer from several meters away. Second time seeing these funny creatures. Very cool.

Before we arrived at Williams Road, a different kind of mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, were observed. What a day!

Overall, today was just great for going out and watch birds. I wondered if I saw 23 species of animals today. Here's the list (number of individuals in bracket; ++ = more than 20 individuals).

1. Gulls (++)
2. Mallards (++)
3. American Wigeons (++)
4. Red-winged Blackbirds (++)
5. Eurepean Starlings (++)
6. Green-winged Teals (2)
7. Killdeer (2)
8. Mute Swan (1)
9. Bufflehead (1)
10. Great Blue Heron (1)
11. Red-breasted Merganser (7)
12. Hooded Merganser (3)
13. Northern Harrier (1)
14. Double-crested Cormorant (3)
15. American Robin (1)
16. Bald Eagles (2)
17. Raccoon (1)

So close, but I guess not.
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Visited by Bald Eagles again

I visited the dyke again today. It's a place (in this type of weather condition) where I can easily walk to to enjoy nature. Plus I have been seeing some excellent sightings, so why stop now?

The weather dramatically improved today, where the blue sky was definitely visible. However, it rained a little bit in the late afternoon as I was heading back home. Nevertheless, great weather condition that wasn't too cold or too windy.

The American Bittern was still here. In fact, as I was leaving I actually saw two bitterns fighting over something, and I even heard their calls and saw one flying. Neat!

One animal I saw a lot of today was the Northern Harriers. Two harriers kept flying back and forth trying to catch some preys. They must be really hungry. And I still didn't manage to get some good pictures. Such a shame.

As I approached the Quilchena Golf Course at Blundell Road, I heard eagle calls!

Looking ahead with my binocular, a Bald Eagle was visibly next to the large (but empty) eagle's nest.

There were two eagles instead of one. However, one doesn't have the white head so it's a juvenile, and it flew off as I approached. So all I got of it were shots of it flying away, too bad. It looked very large (wingspan-wise) as it flew above me.

The other eagle is an adult, and interestingly, it didn't flew off with the other eagle. It was patiently looking into the horizon, which gave plenty of time for all these photos.

Then, I continued on with my walk.

Along the ditch was a winterberry (I think) and there were many birds hiding in the thick branches and feeding on its red berries, such as towhee, robin, Varied Thrush (on the left), and Northern Flicker (on the right).

I saw the same Muskrat again today. It was near the same spot munching on some vegetation. This time I went further down the ditch to get better pictures. Didn't realize that the view looks very different from down there.

If we keep meeting like this, I think I'll be very sad if I don't run into the muskrat next I come here.

Up above, I heard some strange sounds. Looking up, there were four birds flying above me. They seemed like Snow Geese, very much larger and the call was different. So I know I was looking at swans, or more specifically Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator). Such magnificent animals!

Since my feet weren't freezing today (because I wore two pairs of socks), I decided to continue walking.

Reaching the Terra Nova Rural Area, the lake seemed to be frozen and so was the ditch, hence no waterfowls for me to see. So I decided to head back as a little bit of rain was falling down and the sun was setting soon.

The views walking back.

Saw this spider on top of the snow surface. I took this picture, but then wondering if it was dead, I took a stick and poked it. It rolled down the snow surface, so I assumed it was dead. But when I looked at it again moments later, I saw it moving. Ha, fooled by a spider.

Snow are interesting in its ability to emphasize outlines of objects by covering a soft white blanket over it.

Fallen logs.

Dimpled snow.

Snowy lookout.

High speed chase of a Northern Harrier.


Love today, love everything I saw, even these European Starlings.
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