July update - Places & Happenings

In two days, I will be on my way back to Ottawa once again.  Overall, this has been a great field season and I am saddened to see it coming to an end.  After returning from Grand Canyon, I have been working on my data analyses and other research-related things, but I still tried to do some outdoor activities and fieldwork just to keep my mind sharp.

July 21st - Rainbow

Saw a rainbow after poor weather prevented me from staying out and taking photos of hummingbirds visiting flowers. 

Alderville Black Oak Savanna - Control burning

Fire is a critical ecosystem process that has the ability to create new habitats for species and lead to the regeneration of forests and grasslands.  This process occurs both naturally and anthropogenically, and how it triggers the sprouting of dormant seeds is not very well understood (Edit: until just this Tuesday when another piece of knowledge is added to the puzzle.  Read this article and follow the link below for more information.).  Today, I volunteered to help out with managed burn of some sites at the Alderville Black Oak Savanna.  This area supports unique and important habitats (i.e., long-grass prairie and black oak savanna) here in Ontario, and you can find out more about this location at the official website. 

Before the actual burn took place, we went for a short walk around the site.

Algonquin Weekend

I arrived back in Peterborough yesterday afternoon. The Algonquin trip was fun despite the rain and the absence of wildlife, such as moose, otters, etc.

The weather was actually nice on Saturday morning. Photo taken while waiting to get picked up.

(Great) Blue (Heron) Sunday...

While it was still a cloudy Sunday, the good news was that the rain had finally stopped (for a while); thus, giving me the chance to finally go outside and do some biking and wildlife watching.

While there was a thick blanket of clouds northward in Vancouver and the North Shore mountains, there was actually some clear breaks in the clouds over at Steveston and the islands.

Immediately arriving at the dyke, I saw this Juvenile Great Blue Heron doing some catching.

There were many harriers flying over the marsh today. I also saw my first Red-tailed Hawk (and possibly two) first time this season.

Then over in the distance was an adult Great Blue Heron standing on top of the "giant skull" (which is actually just a large piece of wood) and watching the field and the horizon. Quite a beautiful but lonely scene, I think.

Watching.

Zooming out.

The complete scenery.

Then a few meters away in the ditch stood another adult heron. Again posing beautifully.

Such a handsome creature, no?

By the time I was done, I had saw 5 Great Blue Herons, some harriers, many sparrows and blackbirds, a wigeon, and two coots. Not a great day, but I'll take whatever I get from this long-desired outing.

While heading home, the sun was slowly setting and the clouds blocked the view, but at the same time creating this beautiful warm orange color.

This was a panoramic shot of the scenary. I wish my camera did a better job capturing the colors. Nevertheless, today was better than I expected. Hooray!

365 days ago (2008-11-22) - Forest & Ocean. ... How I wish the weather right now is just as good as last year's.
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River tracing adventure to Golden Gorge - Part 1

On July 31, 2009, a group of us hikers met up after work in Taipei to head southeast to Hualien County to get an early start of our weekend trip to Golden Gorge.

In less than four hours (past midnight on August 1st), we arrived at the town next to the Sanjhan South River where we will begin our hike when dawn arrives. We parked our cars in the local elementary school and camped along the hallways of the empty school. It is a pretty common thing-to-do, especially for a small town in the mountains.

Sanjhan Elementary School

Waking up the next morning by barking stray dogs and chanting buddists.

An elementary school surrounded by mountains...

And a river

First light of August 1, 2009

Since this was my first time taking up river tracing, I wasn't quite sure of the safest techniques or routes, so I didn't take my camera out to take the beautiful scenaries along the way. Thankfully, my co-worker Genie (an experienced climber) had her camera and graciously allowed my use some of her photos. Thank you, Genie!!!

The starting point of our incredible journey

Time to start walking and walking and walking...

Along the way, we saw some pretty interesting wildlife.

Especially this mysterious monkey skull placed on a boulder. RIP.

The beautiful views of Sanjhan South River
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