I put this folded sleeping-bag liner beneath the basement window in my office, to soften Choco’s landings after spells of outside gazing.
As I was working this morning, the little ninja crept in, curled up and went to sleep on it, and I didn’t even notice!
I’m still kicking myself for missing the blood moon last night — can you believe I simply forgot until it was too late?
But she’s still looking good tonight. From south Burnaby, BC.
Took Choco out on her harness. She’s an indoor cat, but she does like to get out to graze now and then. Unfortunately the drought this summer resulted in even less grass than our sparse little patch usually gets.
It’s the time of year when lots of spiders festoon themselves around our front door. Entering or exiting requires a careful scan of the situation, and much ducking and, er, weaving, to get through without creating too much disturbance.
It was a brisk, sunny day today, and my wife and I celebrated her taking the final exam in one of her accounting classes yesterday by taking a three- or four-hour ramble around the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC.
It was my second time there in a week, and I came away pleased with my photographic efforts for the day.
Sandhill crane. At one point Yumi counted 12 of them, Â a wonderful sight to see. I can remember a decade or so ago, folks would get excited to see even a pair!
Ah am a handsome devil, ain’t I? Spectacular male wood duck.
Not positive about this one. A dowitcher?
Love the cool footsies on this American Coot.
A red-winged blackbird in the hand means soon no more seeds in the hand!
I’m thinking this may be what Stokes calls a “1st winter” Golden-Crowned Sparrow.
Just noticed that one of my Nikons “cycled” today on my Reifel Sanctuary shoot. Image 9999, and back to 0001 again.
I’ve got one camera which, if I recall, is on its fourth set of 9999, one on its third, and this one on its second.
Keep shooting folks!
A few shots from today’s ramble.
Folks more knowledgeable than moi were proclaiming this an egret
Great Blue Heron
Northern Flicker
I’m not that great on identifying wasps, but I think this is a Yellow Jacket.
I was dive-bombed by several of these on my walk today. I held my peace, kept calm, and closed my eyes when one went so far as to get trapped in my glasses for a second or two.
They kept the peace, too. Whew! 🙂
Spent a couple of hours at Piper Spit on Burnaby Lake today. It went from blue skies to threatening clouds while I was there.
I’m thinking pied-billed grebe.
It appeared to be bath time, as many of the waterfowl were splashing about.
Here’s a wood duck churning away.
I was doing some baking and couldn’t find one of our glass loaf baking dishes so I used a square one.
As I returned to my basement office, I passed Yumi’s seasonal display in the foyer, and silly me, there was the dish, full of salmon coming back to spawn in a colourful bed of glass beads : -).
Wee fishies give  young biologists joy : -).
Byrne Creek Streamkeepers volunteers and Wild Research members enjoyed a fish ID workshop this morning, and then we went out and retrieved traps from Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby.
Thanks to biologist Jim Roberts of Hemmera, who gave an excellent presentation on the complexities of identifying salmonids and other BC freshwater fish.
Note all fish are released unharmed.
And thanks to Burnaby-Edmonds MLA Raj Chouhan for hosting the morning in-class session in his community office.
It was a lovely sunny day today at the Alta Vista Park Community Picnic in south Burnaby. This event has been happening annually for, I believe, over 25 years. Just local folks, mostly women, organizing this small fundraiser to keep the park equipment updated and in good shape.
Volunteers from the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society have been attending this event for around ten years or more. We love this event because it’s NOT an environmental event, it’s truly a local community party, and it’s a great chance to talk to folks about their local watersheds and streams.
Here are a few photos from today:
Local faves Rainshadow perform
City of Burnaby Parks and Rec crafts table
Clowning around…
Burnaby Task Force on Homelessness
Hot dogs!
Air guitar contest
Byrne Creek Streamkeepers display
Folks checking out 3D watershed map – cool!