June update - Herps and Birds

Two snakes (of the same species) and birds I saw in June.

Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans)

Birds saw in Richmond

Aside from working from home most of this week, I went out twice to do some bird-watching and six times to dine out.  Here are the birds we saw on Thursday (at Terra Nova) and Saturday (at Richmond Nature Park).

Terra Nova

The only Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) I saw this trip.

Getting a taste of spring in BC

While most parts of Canada are under deep snow and freezing temperatures, the west coast has been experiencing springlike conditions.  My mother and I went for a drive/walk to West Dyke Trail this morning to do some bird-watching.

View from West Dyke Trail with Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) scattered across the land.  I took this image with my new phone (Xiaomi HM Note 1W) which has pretty good camera capability (13 megapixels).

Ecology lab - week 2

This gorgeous morning was the second section of the ecology lab.  We saw two more interesting trees that I thought was worth photographing.

Blue-Beech (Carpinus caroliniana) - the current existing trees on the drumlin are fairly small, the largest a student measured was 28 cm in circumference.  Some people call them "muscle trees" because of the muscle-like ridges on the trunks.  Even though it's call Blue-Beech, it is actually in the Birch family while the American Beech is a true beech belonging in the Beech family.  Confusing, I know.

AAA trip to Amherst Island, Ontario

Trent's Avian Appreciation Association (AAA) has been planning a birding trip to Amherst Island for quite a while now, and I was glad to take a break from sorting my insect collection and go outside for a much needed birding experience. Amherst Island is an island in Lake Ontario and accessible by ferry (or air) and is home to many species of owls during summer and winter.

Leaving Peterborough around 8am.

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

Insects from Iona Beach

I drove my mom to Iona Beach Regional Park to check out some wildlife before we went over to pick up my father from work.

Nice weather today. I am beginning to think that birding in the summer is not as exciting as spring or fall (when the birds are passing through during migration). We saw a lot of swallows, some gulls, and some ducks.

Hits (Eagle and Hawk) and Miss (Snake)

I didn't stay out too long this afternoon - only went for a short bike ride to the dyke, Finn Slough, then back home.

Weather today.

Bald Eagle watching & first experience with OM lens

Today I headed to Finn Slough first thing in the afternoon to meet up with a fellow birder, who is kindly giving me his lens adapter for adapting old Olympus film OM lens to 4/3 digital bodies, as well as lending me his Zuiko OM 50mm f1.4 lens to try it out.

Before I got to Finn Slough, I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk on top of the telephone pole just above me. From experience, I know they tend to be very shy and almost always fly away before I can take out my camera. So I biked past it and took photos from about 100-m away. Not the best photo but good enough to finally show that there are Red-tailed Hawks around in the area.

Away...Again

Sometimes life is just like today...one day, everything was going your way, and the next day, nothing is going your way. I am talking about wildlife watching, of course, although I can't really complain because I still saw quite a lot.

Today's weather was gorgeous!

Better day than expected

It was a better birding than I expected, given that it was spitting rain when I left the house and a few more times while outside.

Unstable weather.

Bird-watching in Terra Nova with mother

I drove my mother to the library this afternoon. Afterwards, we went to Terra Nova to watch the birds.

I first saw the female, but only this male was photograph-able. The head shape makes it look like a Lesser Scaup, but I can't be certain. [Edit: It's a Ring-necked Duck, thanks to Frank for the identification.]

Biking to Terra Nova

When I was pedaling towards the dyke this afternoon, for some reason, I felt so out of shape. Maybe it was because I was moving against the wind or maybe I just need to work out more regularly.

Anyways, today was relatively sunny with blue skies.

Good wildlife-watching day; Bad photography day

Life sometimes like to play funny tricks on you. For example, today is incredibly cloudy and a bad day for photography, but yet I saw so many cool critters, e.g. Muskrat, lots of raptors, Mink(! - no photo). Sigh, blurry photos will still serve as a good day.

First, I saw a Muskrat eating vegetation in the ditch. First Muskrat of the year!

Photographic post: Goldfinches arriving

As I was biking today I saw a crow chasing and harassing all the wigeons and Mallards.

I wish this Red-tailed Hawk would teach it a lesson about manners.

Witnessing Green-winged Teals' courtship

Such a great weather today!

Sky-watch of the day.

At the Terra Nova observation deck, I saw the Green-winged Teals performing their courtship rituals.

I took photos only (with FZ18). And now that I think about it, I should had taken a video like this one. Pretty neat!

Showing the RNPH to my mother

Today, my parents and I went to Richmond centre to run errands - buy myself a back-up CF memory card (on sale at Staples), eat lunch at Shanghai-style restaurant, buy groceries from Richmond Public Market.

Then my mother wanted to go to Terra Nova Sharing Farm to see the things people are planting now, as well as if she can see the Ring-necked Pheasant for herself - she really likes this bird and thinks it's just beautiful!

When we got there, it was very windy and I did not see the pheasant anywhere. However, far away (near the spot where I first saw the pheasant in Terra Nova), I spotted something moving on the ground. Using my binocular, it was the pheasant! I quickly called my mother and we slowly walked towards it. However, before we got there, a pair of walkers walked past it and a Red-tailed Hawk hovered above it - causing it to run and hide.

The Red-tailed Hawk.

When we got to the spot, the pheasant was nowhere to be found. But I told my mother to be patient and quiet and it should reveal itself soon.

Meanwhile, we sky-watched.

Thoughts about owning FZ18 for one year & Olympics Torch Run

Wow, I can't believe I owned my trusty Panasonic FZ18 for exactly 1 year today. It seemed just like yesterday that I just received one of the most expensive technologies I ever purchased. Despite feeling like it was yesterday, I indeed have learned a lot about photography and it has become an important part of my life and my blog. I love this camera - it is an excellent camera in terms of lightweight, relatively inexpensive (when I bought it), its superzoom ability (and ability to add a teleconversion lens), and the images it captures under the right conditions (good lighting and still subjects). Since it has a regular point-and-shoot digital camera sensor, its flaws include poor image under low light conditions and slow autofocusing speed - unable to capture fast moving animals (e.g. birds in flight). So what now? I will continue to use my FZ18 since I still need to save money in order to buy a DSLR with good lenses in the future. When? That I do not know. Maybe soon or maybe later when I make enough money to support myself and my family.

Anyways, I went out to the dyke again today, but I went too late in the afternoon and the sun was already setting when I got there.

Beautiful feathery clouds.

Red-tailed Hawk by the golf course. I saw a Red-tailed Hawk three times today - twice by thegolf course, and I think they are all the same individual.

Female Northern Flicker calling loudly and turning its head just as I clicked the camera.

A Red-tailed Hawk again.

Like Hugh of Rock Paper Lizard, I am also tracking the wiley VATH. Argh!

A Bald Eagle posed nicely in front of me, but the low light condition caused troubles for my camera. Argh! This eagle then took off and broke off a branch while it was flying through the trees. Moments later, it crashed between the trees again and threw the branch away. Strange behavior.

Here's the eagle again, this time gnawing on a branch. I am guessing it's filing it beak? This Bald Eagle is quite peculiar.

The airspace was quite busy today with helicopters, jet planes, float planes, and so forth.

In the late afternoon, my mother and I went out to our street and watched the Olympics torch run. It was quite interesting - a lot of people getting excited to see a person in track suit running with a torch for one or two seconds before s/he is gone. I was not overly excited but at least now I have experienced a (probably) once-in-a-lifetime event.

On the way to O-Zone. Who's that? I have no idea...

365 days ago (2009-02-09) - morning & afternoon ...
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Loose Gravel = Goose Rave?

Today's weather was nice with blue sky. Good day for a bike ride. I didn't see too much (2 Great Blue Herons, Mallards, and a Northern Harrier) before I reach Terra Nova.

Nice view from Terra Nova Slough.

Arrived just in time for a "Goose Rave".

Everyone is invited!

Party!

First come, first serve.

I watched the Snow Geese feast a bit before calling it a day.

Saw this cute Song Sparrow.

Handsome Red-tailed Hawk.

Good day overall.

366 days ago (2009-02-07) ...
365 days ago (2009-02-08) ...
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What's that pink cabbage called?

My mother accompanied me (halfway) in this relatively grey day out to the dyke.

Watching the harrier fly by.

Great Blue Heron (one of the many of them that I saw today). My mother headed home around this point while I continued on.

A Snow Goose adult protecting the juveniles around it.


Ring-billed Gulls seem to like hanging around in the same soggy areas as the Snow Geese.

Spotted Towhee. One of the birds that enjoy the easy food provided in this feeder.


Saw this Winter Kale in the Terra Nova Share Farm. Took me a couple of searches in Google before finding out what this pink cabbage is actually called. A few interesting information about kale here (not sure if accurate or not).


Droplet on kale leaf.


A Red-tailed Hawk. Probably the same one as yesterday.




A handsome heron standing close to me.

Snow Geese spooked by eagles (I think).

Bald Eagle again. My mother says it's more likely to see them later in the afternoon; hence, the reason why she didn't see them this afternoon (around 3-pm).
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