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 
.
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
I’ve tried to sell my Nikon D5200 a couple of times, with nobody coming near my asking price. It’s not a bad camera, in fact the sensor is damn good, it’s just that it doesn’t have as quick and easy control over certain parameters as my semi-pro D7100 and D7200.
You have to delve into the on-screen menus to set stuff that you can quickly set with dedicated buttons on the higher-end machines.
But yes, the sensor is the same, or very close, so I’ve decided to make it my ultrawide machine, and just leave the Sigma 10-20mm ultrawide mounted on it.
All of these shots taken today were with the D5200 and Sigma 10-20, aside from the birds.
And no, this does not mean that I have stopped lusting after a D500, and a D850 :-).
I took a pre-dinner walk around Byrne Creek ravine in south Burnaby, and though the rain had slowed to a drizzle the amount of water roaring through the creek was impressive.
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
I’d like to add a few observations and experiences to the recent conversation about pedestrian deaths and dangerous driving. More people are driving badly in BC’s lower mainland, and we need significantly stepped-up education and enforcement to modify behaviour.
In the last year or two I’ve experienced the following:
Some time ago I noted in a FB post that I used to enjoy driving, but it’s becoming stressful. I’ve driven Canada from coast to coast, I’ve driven much of the US, I’ve driven in major metropolises like Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Madrid, Barcelona, Sydney, Melbourne. . . And never felt as unsafe as I now do here at home.
I wish folks would wake up, wise up, take responsibility, and realize that driving is a privilege that requires practice, skill, and concentration.
Some time ago several of us were chatting on FB about fashion, and its potentially hugely negative impact on the environment. I mentioned that in our little family, I wear stuff until it’s threadbare, and my wife does most of her clothes shopping at thrift stores.
As I was working in my home office today, it occurred to me that what I’m wearing at the moment is an excellent example. It’s a Russell Athletics sweatshirt that I bought at Oshman’s Harajuku in Tokyo over 20 years ago. This has been one tough sweatshirt!
Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 update has bricked my main computer twice. I am fortunate to keep regular images of my C: drive, but still, each time it’s taken hours to swap drives and restore everything.
I keep clicking on the postpone update message, hoping they’ll get their act together and release something stable. I’ve gone into update preferences and attempted to shut down updates. Yet it appears that the second time MS went ahead and overrode my preferences.
This is extremely aggravating, time-consuming, and costly. And I’m not the only one. Sharing my experiences on social media has turned up plenty of folks, some in major institutions complete with IT departments, who have had the same problem.
Yes, I have Mac and Linux boxes, too, but my workflow has been Windows based for decades, with various utilities and such that I’m loath to give up, or find equivalents for on other OSes.
Meanwhile, today I bought another HD, so that I can keep multiple images of my C: drive. At least having imaged drives reduces the aggravation somewhat, in addition to regular data backups on NAS devices for additional insurance.
I took advantage of a day off and sunny skies to head up the Sea to Sky a ways north of Vancouver today. One of my favourite places to stop is Porteau Cove Provincial Park.
After we got back from birding on Boundary Bay today, we decided we still needed a bit more exercise, so we did a Byrne Creek Ravine loop in the fog.
