Winter bird-watching at Fletcher Wildlife Garden

I went to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden today hoping to see some birds (especially this one recorded from two weeks ago).  I did not see the owl but ended up seeing many regular wintering species, and most of them were hanging around feeders or trees with fruits.

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Weekend activities - helping a friend & bird-watching

I really should take pictures every single day, otherwise I could not remember what I did each day (unless something really significant happened that day).  For example, I didn't take any photos last weekend and now I couldn't remember most of what I did then.

Well, I did bring my camera with me this weekend to record helping out a friend on Saturday and then bird-watching this morning.

Photograph of a staircase.  I really like patterns and lines when looking up/down stairways, such as these inspiration images (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) captured by one of my favorite photographers.  My image was taken inside one of the biology buildings on campus, but it wasn't very interesting so I replicated and flipped the image next to the original image.  Not too bad.  I need to find more interesting staircases in Ottawa.

Canadian Tulip Festival - Blast of colours (Part 2)

I biked to Commissioners Park this afternoon to check out the tulip festival once again.  Along the way, I saw many (crabapple?) blossoms in the Arboretum.

Beautiful.

Tulip Festival in downtown Ottawa and Gatineau

Today, I went to downtown Ottawa and Gatineau to check out the Tulip Festival in these parts of the cities.

The blossoms are here!

Canadian Tulip Festival - Blast of colours!

One of the things I have been looking forward to since I moved to Ottawa is the Canadian Tulip Festival.  It is apparently the largest tulip festival in the world and symbolizes the friendship between Netherlands and Canada (especially since WWII).  Tulips are also Ottawa's official flower, so it makes sense for National Capital Commission (NCC) to put a lot of effort into this festival.  There are 30 flower beds at Commissioners Park, which consists of 60 different varieties of tulips and almost 300,000 plants in total!  For more information, please visit the main website - http://tulipfestival.ca/site/home/en.

One of the main information boards about the establishment of the festival.

Frog-eating Mallard at Brewer Park

I took care of some business at the bank this morning at Billings Bridge Shopping Centre, and then I went to Brewer Park nearby (across from Carleton University) because the weather was nice.

Ice forming on the Rideau River.

(Long) walks around Peterborough and Trent

I have been very busy lately because I am working on my funding applications for my potential Ph.D. position due next week.  I took a little break on Thursday morning when I had to drive the lab vehicle to get serviced.  After dropping the truck off, I walked to Jackson Park to photograph the fall colours.

The colours were mostly here, although there were still some green leaves.

Wolf Lake, Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

A couple of friends and I went for a nice canoe paddle at Wolf Lake in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park today.  Our original destination was to portage to the adjacent Crab Lake, but we couldn't find the route so we ended up just paddling around the lake.

We launched our canoe at this spot.

Check up on the fall colours at Jackson Park... not yet

While I was working from home today, I could hear the winds blowing quite fiercely.  Worried that the wind might blow down all the leaves from Jackson Park, I biked to the park after work.  When I got there, it appeared that most of the leaves still had not turned their colours yet (even though most of the trees on the streets are red by now).  I did a quick walk around the lake and headed back home for dinner right after.

Still green.

Beautiful Fall Colours in Algonquin

We left for Algonquin Park early this morning hoping to be there before most of the visitors arrive, but due to construction and like-minded people, the park was packed when we arrived.  As we slowly drove north from Peterborough, the fall colours did not change very much (even outside the park), but as we entered the park itself, the changes became evident and there were some leaves falling already.

We started off with hiking along the Peck Lake Trail.

Assortment of vibrant colours (pretty much the theme of today) - green conifer trees, yellow/orange/red deciduous trees, and blue sky/lake.

No fall colours yet in Peterborough

I spent all morning and most of the afternoon yesterday at home working on data analyses.  Afterwards, I biked to Jackson Park to see if the fall colours have arrived or not, and then got some groceries on the way home.

Not yet, I'd say, compare to 2011 and 2012.

City Park, New Orleans - must visit!

In addition to doing a swamp tour, City Park in New Orleans is definitely a place I recommend visitors to check out, and riding the streetcars to City Park is definitely worth a try - for just $1.25 per trip!  After attending to a couple of presentations on Monday morning and making sure there weren't presentations in the afternoon that I was going to miss, I headed out to the City Park right afterwards.  Once again, this blogger also visited the City Park and she had a slightly different (positive) experience than mine.

City Park gate.

New Orleans, the Crescent City

This is going to be my first post from the New Orleans trip and it will a lengthy post with a lot of photos.

My accommodation during my stay was at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in downtown, so aside from attending to various talks during the Botany Conference, I had a lot of opportunities to explore the downtown area, especially the infamous Bourbon Street and French Quarter.  Therefore, this first post is a photographic collection of downtown New Orleans during my 5-day stay there.

Canal Street with palm trees and streetcar tracks.  Can't imagine being here when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Ivvavik National Park - last upload

This time last year, I was waiting for my flight to Ivvavik National Park so that I can get my second field season started.  I won't be going back this year, instead I will be here in Ontario trying to finish my degree and move on to another chapter of my life.  This will be the last batch of photos that I took last field season, and I am always reminiscing the time I spent at this beautiful place.

Worm-eating Warbler in Peterborough!

Yesterday morning/afternoon, there was a buzz within the Peterborough birding community about a Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum) here in Peterborough.  It is quite rare because Ontario is just beyond the northern limit of its range.

I am not very knowledgeable about warblers in general because they are always found near the treetops and move too fast for me to see/photograph.  However, this particular bird was actually foraging on the ground and not very shy about people watching it.

What a curious individual.  I wonder where it will go next in the season, back down south?

Since we were already at the Beavermead Park, we decided to look for other birds too, especially Fox Sparrows for someone's ebird list.

Ivvavik National Park - Views from Above

Some more photos from Ivvavik National Park from a high vantage point.

Sheep Slot of Ivvavik National Park, 2012

Here are some photos taken at Sheep Slot in Ivvavik National Park (compare to the photos taken last year).  No major caribou migration passed through this part of the park this year, unfortunately.

So gorgeous.

Second outing of 2013 - Boundary Bay revisited - Attempt 2

The past few days my mother and I have been paying close attention to the weather forecast and hoping for good weather so that we could go out to Boundary Bay again to look for Snowy Owls (since last time was unsuccessful).

Despite the 90% POP, the rain still did not show up in the morning, so my parents and I decided to take the chance and go out to Boundary Bay again right after lunch.  The rain did not come at all this afternoon and we even saw a bit of sunshine, so that was pretty much a success in itself.  The lighting wasn't that great today, so I had to set most of my minimal ISO to 800 for the birding shots, hence the "noisy" photos.

Lots of Northern Harriers flying around today.

First outing of 2013 - Boundary Bay revisited

It has been more than four years ago when I first visited Boundary Bay Park.  With another year's Snowy Owl migration, (fairly) good weather today, and recent news report about starving owls, my parents were intrigued to see these owls for themselves.  After some searching, I found out the best spot to see these owls is Boundary Bay, and that was where we headed to today.

Before I start on today's post, I strongly suggest people read this person's post about Snowy Owl photography or any wildlife photography in general - treat the owls (and other wildlife) with the same private space as you would with any other creatures and humans.  I personally would not like it if I know people are photographing me, especially from close distances.

Entrance

Collection of assorted photos in November

November had been extremely slow, photography and blogging-wise due to the combination of poor weather, thesis writing, and uninteresting things to blog about.

Here are some photos taken in the second half of November.

Found a bird nest on the ground on the 14th when the weather was nice and I walked from where I live to school (takes about 1 hour).