Checking to see if winter is gone yet

I did some bird-watching this and last weekend.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) at Fletcher Wildlife Garden last Sunday.

Got something stuck on its tongue.

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) singing for territory.


White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)


Dow's Lake still frozen.

On Wednesday, we had a workshop on flowering plants' terminologies, and one of the plants we looked at was Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum sp.) belonging to the family Asparagaceae.

Yesterday, I walked over to Strathcona Park during lunchtime to see if there were still snow remaining on the ground because of the latest snowfall on Thursday.

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) looking at me.

Interesting perspective of gull portrait.

Close-up on its head.

A flying gull with a piece of food (probably bread because someone was just feeding them in the park).

A yelling gull.


Squirrel hanging upside down to munch on food.

Male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Another male Mallard.

The temperature rose yesterday afternoon and remained warm this morning.  I decided to walk around Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland for the first time this year to see if the path was icy or not (and also hope to find some early flowers).

I only brought the 60mm macro lens with me.

While walking around the wetland, I realized there was a beaver lodge on the wetland.  It would be interesting to see how the habitat will change because of the beaver.  I already saw some beaver-cut trees.

Another view of the lodge.

The wetland is still not completely unfrozen, but most of the path is.

Among the gulls was this dark-looking duck that I believed to be an American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) x Mallard hybrid.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

I took a short video of the sparrow singing its beautiful melody.

Even though I did not see any flowers, I saw a Killdeer flying overhead and a groundhog - two good signs of Spring getting nearer.  Happy Easter!