Quick update on my life & First AAA trip.

As expected, school is just too busy for me to spare times for photography. Sometimes I do like to stop and relax and look at the Otonabee River, but I rarely have the time to take my camera out and take pictures. Also, time goes by so fast when in school that I rarely have time to record what I did each day. Am I continuing to seize my days? Let's see, I remembered attending the Avian Appreciation Association (AAA) meeting on Thursday, and we introduced ourselves and planned on where we would like to go for birding. On Friday, I was suppose to discuss my project with one of my supervisors, attend a seminar talk by Dr. Locke Rowe from U of T. There was also a Pow Wow at Curve Lake on Saturday, but I was so tired from the past few days that I decided to stay home and not go. Plus, my roommate and I got a couch for our living room. It looks much better now.

Now, onto today! Today I went on the first field trip with the AAA club to a town north of Peterborough called Lakefield. We went to a sewage pond and tried to spot some ducks. We didn't see many ducks (Mallards and American Black Duck - a lifer that I probably would identify as a Mallard without help), but did saw other birds too, including another lifer, the Chestnut-sided Warbler!

Lakefield's sewage lagoon

Some of the AAA members looking at Yellow-rumped Warblers.


The Chestnut-sided Warbler (Dendroica pensylvanica). Since I am not very good with small birds like these, I am glad everyone helps each other to see and ID the birds observed. Great group to join. [Edit: I uploaded a few more photos of this cute bird: 1, 2, 3, 4.]


Sewage lagoon and you can see the small morning moon near the top left corner.


Monarch among the goldenrods.

A Red-tailed Hawk soaring over our heads.


I found it funny when everyone was surprised at how good my blurry photos are...

Great Blue Heron flying by. We were later joined by a large group from Peterborough Field Naturalists, and someone from there said, "hey, is that a Green Heron?"


Unknown Damselfly

After the morning birding, we went to a local brunch restaurant called "Maple Moon" and had delicious brunch buffet.

Driving back to Peterborough, we stopped at an area by the river looking at Canada Geese and cormorants.

In the afternoon, I was still feeling a bit restless (because the weather is so nice out) that I decided to go for another walk to Jackson Park.

First I stopped at the Bonaccord Community Garden and took some photos of the pollinators

Saw this squirrel enjoying an apple on my way to the park. Photo taken directly against the sunlight.


Calm reflection

Jackson Park


One of the trio of Mallards resting next to the water.

That's all. Hope I am not as busy this coming week as last week.

PS - Thanks to the real birders, they actual try to remember all the birds they saw and record them. Here's the list from today's outing:
Mallard
American Black Duck
Ring-billed Gull
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped warbler
Black-throated green warbler
Turkey Vulture
Great Blue Heron
Philadelphia vireo
Downy woodpecker
Red-breasted merganser
Swamp sparrow
Canada Goose
Double crested cormorant
Belted kingfisher
American crow
European starling
Barn Swallow
Black-capped chickadee
Red tailed hawk
Blue jay
Rock dove