(Wild)life back in Ottawa

I have not done a lot of wildlife-watching since I returned from Baltimore - mainly because I do not have a valid bus pass yet and I only try to go to places within walk- and bike-able distances.  Besides where I live, the other places I go to for the past two weeks are: Sawmill Creek Wetland, the Arboretum, McCarthy Woods, and the university.  Here are some interesting things that I photographed.

Sawmill Creek Wetland

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle)

Exploring the Lady Eaton Drumlin

Went out shopping in the morning to get a few more things that I still need for my new place, e.g. kettle, spatula, etc.

On the way to the store, I spotted this toad on the hot gravelly trail.  It's good to always bring my P&S camera with me.  You'll never know what you might encounter.

Insects around where I live

It is still cloudy and humid here in Ontario. In the afternoon, I went out to look for and photograph any thing of interest - mostly insects today. Unfortunately, there are many unfamiliar insects (to me), so I will have to identify and learn all of them for the first time.

A paper wasp?

More photos - Awenda & Muskoka Wildlife Centre & others

Good evening everyone. I just spent the past two-and-half days camping in Algonquin Provincial Park and enjoying my long off-days. It was an amazing experience. Hopefully by next time I post, I will have sorted the photos to share, e.g. otters, moose, beautiful lakes, etc. But now, here are photos from the past two weeks and my last off-days.

A nice photo from Awenda Park

Rain and another death

In the morning, I went to the nest tree from last week to see if the fledgling is ready to leave its nest yet, especially after the rainy weekend which I suspect had flooded the nest cavity. We will be trying to catch, measure, and tag it if it does leave nest today.

The young fledgling shyly poking its head out of the nest hole.

Afterwards, I went back to the office and saw the bad news that our rescued barbet had just passed away a few minutes before I arrived the office. Sigh. Death seems to be quite common for these pretty birds. This young bird was not suppose to survive long with all of its injuries, but it had grow strongly during our care. It was sad to see it pass away.

RIP

While helping the volunteer observers, we caught this Swinhoe's Japalura and placed it near the a molted cicada shell.

In the afternoon, heavy rain and thunderstorm kept me in the office editing and translating papers. We went to check on the fledgling again, and we saw the (single) parent bird returning back to the nest and feeding its young. So, I guess we will be trying to catch the fledgling tomorrow again.

PS - The adapter for connecting my camera with the teleconverter lens has finally arrived! Can't wait to try it out when the weather gets better.
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Visiting Junjianyan Hill

I had a nice long sleep until late morning. After having breakfast and lunch at later times than usual, I decided to hike Junjianyan, a local hill with an elevation of 192-m that is a popular location among daily morning hikers and families during the weekend.

Sights along the hike. From here you can see most of the urban northern Taipei City.

Junjianyan means "Battleship Rock" in Chinese - because at the top of the hill, a large white rock resembles the front of a battleship.

Me standing at the highest point of the rock and enjoying the blue sunny day.

Afterwards, I hiked to the nearby Huang-Xi Shan (shan = mountain).

There are plenty of beautiful plants to photograph, including these colorful flowers.

The mountain is covered by mid-altitude shrubs, ferns, and trees and is very hot in the mid-day. Therefore, animals were very difficult to spot. Can you see the animals in the above pictures?

Other insects provided less problem in seeing them.

That's all for today. I am feeling quite sleepy after a nice cool beer after the shower, and need to arrive early for work tomorrow. Have a nice new week, everyone.
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