My fav. kind of winter - cold and sunny; biking to the dyke

Today, my dad bought me a few things for me to prepare the harsh winters of Ontario - winter jacket, snow boots and a warm pair of jeans. Not the kind of things I usually use here in B.C.

In the afternoon, I biked to South Dyke Trail, almost to Finn Slough, then back home. Today's my favorite kind of winter - cold but sunny, and almost cloudless too. Great day for a photo outing, except that my digits get cold very quickly.

Beautiful day at the dyke trail. Many dogs and their humans out enjoying the nice weather.

Cloudless.


Mount Baker covered in snow. Gorgeous!


I saw many cormorant swimming and hunting in the Fraser River. Must eat to stay alive in this winter.

Then I spent a lot of time (maybe too much) photographing the chickadees at the feeder.

This was one of the chickadees on top of the branches. An out of focus shot, but you can see that they use gravity to do their work for them initially. Neat!

Here were some other birds hanging around the feeder.

American Robin


Red-winged Blackbird (female)

I spotted this Bald Eagle high up in the sky circling with a few gulls. Not fighting, but just gliding.

Pedaled around the building towards Finn Slough where I spotted a young Great Blue Heron (looks like the one I usually see around here).

Sun is setting.

After photographing the sunset, I turned around and a Cooper's Hawk flew off the ground to a tree near by. Lighting wasn't very good so I had to use ISO 3200. From the picture, I say it's a Cooper's because of the roundish tail, but I could (easily) be wrong.

Snapping a few more photos of the sunset before I put my gloves on and called it quits.

Branch Silhouette


Blurred vision (a.k.a. intentionally to achieve artistic style)


Alrighty, one last shot before my fingers fell off.
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