Day: February 17, 2021

Our TV habits have changed over the last year.

For years we were heavily into all the NCISes, Hawaii Five 0s, etc. Haven’t watched any of those for a year or more.

Don’t miss them.

We’ve been watching a lot more nature shows over the last year. Many on TV Japan. Mind-blowing videography and research featuring weeks, months, and years spent observing species of wildlife.

We watch happy/goofy Japanese shows on multi-generational families. Not dramas, real families.

A washi papermaker who is the 13th generation at his craft. . . A potter who is in the seventh generation of trying over and over and over to replicate a long-lost style of pottery.

We watch slow-paced series on travel in Japan that focus on regional and local arts, and crafts, and food. Travel by train, travel by bicycle. . . And always amazing food, lovingly grown, cooked, and presented. . .

We watch “Somewhere Street,” a Japanese show in which a crew visits famous cities around the world and documents major historic and tourist attractions, food, music, nightlife. . .

It’s people. It’s nature. It’s life.

And it’s beautiful.

I took advantage of the sunny afternoon in Burnaby, BC, to walk Fraser Foreshore Park from the playground east to the meadow and back.

While I’ve seen Red-tailed Hawks there before, this is the first time I’ve seen one on one of the artificial perches in the meadow.

red-tailed hawk fraser foreshore burnaby bc
Red-tailed Hawk

It was interesting tracking the hawk. I first spotted it from the main trail that runs along the river. It was sitting in a tree near the entrance to the meadow loop. I walked in on a tiny trail, came out of the bush. . . and no hawk. Odd. Perhaps it had flown the coop?

I backtracked to the main trail and took another look, and there it was. I’d just mixed up trees. This time I kept the tree in my peripheral vision so that when I came out of the bush I was in front of the hawk.

I began shooting and moving in closer, and it took off over the hill. Knowing there were perches installed in the meadow, I slowly crested the rise, and sure enough it was perched on the southwestern pole.

I kept shooting, and slowly moving closer until I sensed it was getting antsy, so I backed away and left it in peace.

double-crested cormorant fraser foreshore burnaby bc
This Double-crested Cormorant popped up for a few seconds near the railway bridge and then disappeared.