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.
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.
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 : -).
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.
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.
You know you’re sliding toward fall and winter when you make your first batch of oden. It’s a bit late to dig in now (9:30pm) but it’ll be great with a side dish of genmai brown rice in the morning.
Anyway it’s often better when you let it sit for awhile and let all the flavors mingle…
Yumi’s Mom in Aomori (northern Japan) makes wonderful nishime in the fall & winter — I get the impression that her stock simmers for months and she just keeps replenishing veggies and seafood.
