Touring Toronto and Niagara Falls

My mother is leaving Ottawa this coming Saturday.  This past weekend, we went on another two-day tour - this time to Thousand Islands, Toronto, and Niagara Falls.

Our first stop was seeing the islands at Rockport, Ontario.

St. Brendan's Church

Touring Quebec City and Montreal

I have been slowly getting settled in my new apartment for about two weeks now.  It is at a convenient location close to Dow's Lake, Arboretum, bike path to school, Ottawa River, and more.  Shortly after I moved in, my mother flew from Richmond for a month-long visit, so I have been hosting her since then and that explains why I have not been photographing or blogging as much.

This past weekend, we visited Quebec City and Montreal with a mostly-Asian tour group.  And like most tour groups, the schedule was packed and there was little free time to do anything else.

We left Ottawa early Saturday morning, and the first attraction was Château Frontenac in Quebec City.

July update - Research-related photos

This month I planned three road-trips measuring vegetative and reproductive traits of several Mertensia species in Colorado, Arizona, and Utah.  These road-trips brought me to many interesting places that I wouldn't otherwise have the chance to go to.

July 1st to 3rd (M. ciliata and M. bakeri)

Blue Mesa Lake, the largest lake in Colorado.

Wrapping up 2014

After the school semester ended in mid-December, I continue to stay in Ottawa to work on my research, as well as taking care of Mertensia seeds and bumble bees for myself and others in the lab, and helping another graduate student with her project on spiny lizards.  I did the same things even in Christmas and felt I needed to get out of Ottawa and take a break.  Thankfully, a friend from Trent kindly invited me back to Peterborough for a few days and I had a great time there (I just returned from there this afternoon).

I bought a tripod this Boxing Day and will use it to stabilize my moon and macro photos in the future.

Daily life in Colorado - Part 7

I departed RMBL last Wednesday and arrived back in Ottawa past midnight today.  Along the way, I made a couple of detours to visit Mertensia species that are important to another component of my project in the coming field seasons.

Before I share photos from the road-trip, I want to first post some of the photos I took on my last few days at RMBL.

Wild strawberries

Wild strawberries that are still too small to eat.  Sadly, I won't be around to feast on them.

Daily life in Colorado - Part 1

I am certain I will have many posts like this which are just random assortment of photos that I take on a daily basis.

Research

Collecting Mertensia fusiformis flowers.

Update for the week

I bought a bike at a garage sale on Sunday, so on Monday (12th), I attempted to bike to school.  There isn't a straight-forward path from where I live to the university, but there is a path along the canal that gets me to school in about 45 minutes (by biking through some neighbourhoods and parks first), which is not bad, especially when the weather is nice.

Biking past Hog's Back Falls - man-made waterfalls.

Windy Pines Conference Centre

Windy Pine Conference Centre on the shore of Lake Kushog consists of 6 cabins owned by the Canadian Studies Department of Trent University.  For more information, please visit the official site.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to help out with season-opening of the centre, as well as exploring this area for the first time.

Back of the main cabin.  The cabin has a very homely feel to it, with a functional kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, bedroom, and more.

Day trip to North and West Vancouver

Today, my family and some family friends went to North Vancouver to do some sight-seeing.

Our first stop was the Capilano Salmon Hatchery. We saw a lot of salmons trying to swimming upstream to get to their destinations. Definitely a group of species that deserves to be admired and protected.

My mother said the "fall" is quite loud. I said Niagara Falls is definitely a thousand times louder than this.

Mist over the Capilano River. The mist added a sense of mystique to the river.

Carden memories come to an end & Niagara Falls

My summer field season concluded yesterday. I am now in my friend's home in Ontario before I fly back to B.C. on Saturday. There are many memories, photos, thoughts, emotions, and experiences from the last 4.5 months that I would like to share, but now they remain unorganized in my head. Hopefully, I will be able to share them as time progresses.

Here are some photos from the last few days on the field site and last boat rides on Lake Dalrymple.

Orange Sulphurs enjoying the salts on the road.

A juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird posing for the camera.

Update post, inc. trip to Dyer's Bay

Hi all. I am back at the cafe using wireless internet. This might be the only post for the upcoming weeks/month as the birds are arriving next week, and after that everyone will be very busy and has less time for non-work related things.

While driving to the cafe this morning, my colleague and I saw an Eastern Meadowlark and 3 Wild Turkeys - both of which are lifers for me. I will share them next time.

Now, the usual views and creatures from the Fox Den (where we are currently housed). Once again, please click on the photos for more descriptions about each image.

Happy Taiwan Day & Sad Farewell Party

Today is Taiwan National Day (10/10), and my supervisor invited me and fellow co-workers and friends to her house for a party.

Dahu Park MRT Station

Dahu Park

My co-workers and I met at the MRT station first and strolled around in Dahu Park before we headed to the host's home.

Little Egret with an injured leg.

There were some fishermen in the fishing area. Near the fishermen were Intermediate and Little Egrets waiting for get little fishes that the fishermen do not want.

Intermediate Egret


Intermediate Egret preparing to take off when we got too close.

Afterwards, we walked to our supervisor's home, where we had a great feast and wonderful time together. They even presented me with a surprise gift. After a wonderful lunch and a satisfied belly, we hiked to a mountain trail behind the house and headed towards a waterfall promised to be a wonderful scenic view. And indeed it was.

Liyu Mountain

Pretty little stream along the trail


While crossing the (above) bridge, we saw a Formosan Gossamerwing.

Large banana flower!

Loyal dog guarding its owner's home.

Preparing to go into the mountain.




What a beautiful habitat!

The beautiful (unnamed) waterfall as promised! I think I will call it Waterfall of Good Memories!

365 Days ago (2008-10-10) ...
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Hiking up the Tianmu "Ancient" Trail

I don't like having such a long holiday because the natural places in Taipei City that I know of and can go to are quite limited. Nevertheless, I discovered another excellent place to visit just near where I live. It's a 2.8-km trail to the mountains in northern Taipei. At the end of the trail, there are other places to visit and trails to continue. Due to time limitation, I only hiked up the short trail, and with me being a shutter bug, a relatively short hike turned out to be more than five hours journey.

The entrance to the Tian-Mu Trail, and the tropical views along the trail. Plus, you can almost see the entire urban Taipei right below you.

One of the fascinating creatures that I encountered was this stick insect! So beautiful and well-camouflaged.

Thanks to some help, its scientific name is Phraortes illepidus.

There are plenty of crevices between the rocks and boulders that they provided excellent hiding places for this Indian Forest Skink.

Such a neat find of this Sphenomorphus indicus.

An unidentified insect that I am still working on. The only thing I know is that it belongs in the Family Pentatomidae. [Edit: I think this is a Dalader formosanus.]

Hiking up the stairs with humans was this puny Blister Beetle (Epicauta hirticornis). I picked it up with a leaf and put it where it won't get stepped on.

A japalura catching a nice fat meal of some sort of a larvae. Yum.

One of the animals that I hoped to encounter but didn't was the Formosan Macaque. Maybe next time.

Some of the prettiest sights along the trail were these beautiful Lepidopterans.

Clear Sailer (Neptis nata lutatia)

Neope muirheadi nagasawae

Nyctemera adversata

One of the side trails off the main trail leads to this 4-m tall waterfall named Chui-Fong Waterfall. Not too impressive but it makes a beautiful photographic moment, especially being surrounded by a serene tropical forest.

In the evening, a couple of friends (from the Botanical Garden) and I went out for dinner together. Afterwards, we headed to Danshui to enjoy the busy night market and the views across the river.

And before you know it, another day has passed.. Time sure goes fast when you are having fun.
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