I came across this Northern Flicker in Taylor Park on my pre-dinner walk late this afternoon. It was drumming on this metal can on a pole. If the guys are making noise, does that mean spring must be around the corner? : -)
Category Archives: Nature
Walk on the Wild Side — Species at Risk Seminar in Port Coquitlam
We enjoyed Walk on the Wild Side, a species at risk in the Tri-Cities seminar put on by the South Coast Conservation Program today.
Interesting and informative, and the nature walk along the Coquitlam River was fun!
Botanist Dr. Terry McIntosh out in the field
Tamsin collected some snail shells
My boots checking out the salmon trail
Checking out some wee wigglies
Part of Pamela’s snail shell collection
Yumi found this wee baby slug
Nice to see this hawk near the Coquitlam River
South Burnaby Snow Day = Sledding Action
Ron McLean Park in SE Burnaby, BC. had lots of happy people out sledding in the sun.
Gates to sledding paradise : -)
Sunny South Burnaby Snow Day
An inch of two of snow is enough to transform the glorious outdoors — without really getting in your face because you know it’s not going to last long : -). And if you want serious snow, the north shore mountains are close.
Byrne Creek Ravine walk was lovely today.
Snow pants on a snowy slide!
Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Park Wildlife
We took a walk along Fraser Foreshore Park from Byrne Road west and into the bend conservation area, and then back east as far as Sussex Creek.
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Junco
There were dozens of American Robins
Sleeping Great Blue Heron
Squirrel
Getting Warmed Up for Valentines Day
We went for a walk on the Stanley Park seawall, and along a few of the park trails. Love was in the air . . . : -)
The sign at the Vancouver Police stables says please don’t feed the horses, but you can pat them on the tops of their noses.
We also enjoyed spotting some water life:
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Merganser
Seal
Long Burnaby Walk on Glorious Sunny Day
Yumi and I took a 3 hour and 40 minute walk starting from SE Burnaby all the way to Deer Lake, around the lake and home again. We capped the glorious afternoon with delicious Japanese food at the Nikkei Seniors Centre restaurant.
For the photographers out there, all of these were shot with a Sigma 10-20mm ultrawide zoom on a Nikon D5200 body.
And if you want to be let in on a secret, for the first half of the walk or so, somehow the autofocus got turned off on the lens. But with a lens that wide, set at F8 with aperture priority, depth of field is massive so pretty much everything is in focus anyway, eh?
Deer Lake dock
Gull soaring over the beach with Metrotown on the horizon
Deer Lake Brook
Over two hours into the walk and Yumi’s still got lots of energy : -)
Nikkei Place
Super Moon Over South Burnaby
Shot with a Canon SX730 HS at max 40X optical zoom, handheld out the car window on my way to work at 4:40 am this morning in south Burnaby, BC. I ran out when I first got up at 3:45 to see if there was anything to shoot with Big Bertha (Tamron 150-600mm zoom) mounted on a DSLR and a tripod, but the moon was clouded over.
Happy to get this modest shot with the pocket cam a few minutes later .
Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Birding Bonanza
For a cold, gray day, there were a lot of birds out and about along the river in south Burnaby between the east lookout, and west to Byrne Creek and Sussex Creek.
There were several Great Blue Herons
Hawk
Hooded Mergansers in one of the ponds just west of Byrne Creek
Common Merganser?
Spotted Towhee
White-Crowned Sparrow?
Canada Goose double trouble
Chickadee
Tugs booming logs on the working river
Fishing vessel
You want to race?
Busy beavers
Rainy Sojourn up the Sea to Sky
I took advantage of a day off to head up the Sea to Sky highway to the Squamish, BC, area to shoot some photos despite the overcast, rainy weather.
Juggling umbrella and camera before leaving the car
Cheakaumus River high and dirty
Lush rain forest flanking the Paradise Valley Road
A stop at Porteau Cove on the way home
Harlequin ducks at Porteau Cove