I took a three-hour ramble this morning to Deer Lake, around the lake, and home this morning.
There were lots of Tree Swallows and a few Violet-Green Swallows
Anna’s Hummingbird
Common Merganser couple
On the way to the lake I saw this crow apparently carrying nest-building material
Northern Flicker
European Starling
American Wigeon
Bufflehead couples
American Coot
Skunk Cabbage
The large and the small : – )
A couple of Northern Flickers and max-bloom blossoms in SE Burnaby, BC, this afternoon.
Lots of blossoms and burgeoning foliage on a SE Burnaby, BC, walk today.
I came across a couple of gangs of kindergartners walking in Byrne Creek Ravine Park in SE Burnaby, BC, this morning. One bunch had seen a Pileated Woodpecker at close range and were amazed.
The woodpecker was still hanging about high up in a tree, and I got a few semi-OK shots with my Canon pocket zoom camera.
I love it when kids start getting engaged with nature from a young age!
I walked from our place near Edmonds Skytrain Station all the way to Fraser Foreshore Park and back. With nature photography included, it was a nearly three-hour ramble.
This Double-crested Cormorant was in Byrne Creek just upstream of the bridge into Riverway Golf Course.
There were several Great Blue Herons along the way, some fishing, some snoozing.
Male Hooded Merganser scratching an itch in the pond just west of the outfall of Byrne Creek.
Female Hooded Merganser
Eurasian Collared Dove
Male Wood Duck
Two female Wood Ducks having a spat over dating rights to the male pictured above 🙂
Ring-necked Ducks
Bald Eagle and nest
Bufflehead
We hadn’t been out to Iona Beach Regional Park near YVR for some time, so spent several hours there today.
This Great Blue Heron let us walk up to within three or four meters — we didn’t even see it until the last second. I took a dozen shots and then we backed away and left it in peace.
There were several other herons across the pond, and eventually they all took off one after another.
Red-winged Blackbirds were displaying their epaulettes.
Violet-green Swallow. Damn they’re fast!
CSI Iona Beach Regional Park. We have come across bones and even an entire gull wing beneath a Bald Eagle’s nest at the park.
Northern Flicker
Ring-necked Ducks
Spotted Towhee
More birds and blossoms on another south Burnaby, BC, walk.
Anna’s Hummingbird
Bald Eagle
Green-winged Teal
Song Sparrow
Bewick’s Wren
Western Skunk Cabbage
I walked around Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC, this morning, and had fun shooting photos along the way.
Bald Eagle
Anna’s Hummingbird scratching an itch
Another Anna’s Hummingbird stretching its wings
Common Merganser
American Coot
Great Blue Heron
Pied-billed Grebe
Gadwall
Female and male Bufflehead
Spotted Towhee
Eastern Grey Squirrel
Crappy shot on the wing at extreme range, but looks like a Violet-green Swallow
I love taking photos in a light rain, or after rain has fallen. Bejewelled flora in Byrne Creek Ravine Park and Taylor Park in SE Burnaby, BC.
It increasingly appears that Putin has lost the war he started. Nothing has gone as he thought it would.
Far from welcoming Russian forces with open arms, Ukrainian men and women have fought back with dedication, tenacity, and furiousness beyond anything he anticipated.
It is clear that Russian forces are not into the fight, abandoning tanks and equipment, and crying on camera when captured.
It is only those who do not see what’s happening on the ground who are still firing cruise missiles, rockets, and long-range artillery.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have picked up arms to defend their homeland. More thousands of diaspora Ukrainians are trying to get back to the “old country” to fight.
With bombing and missile attacks on Ukrainian schools and hospitals, even maternity wards, Putin has committed war crimes.
Putin is apparently now taking his frustrations out upon the FSB, the decendants of the KGB where Putin put his psychopathic talents to use in his younger years.
Unfortunately, thousands more will die and be injured in this madman’s quest — for what?
For a renewed empire?