Once I got to Queens Park I managed to get a good shot of a peacock without the fencing interfering too much. The enclosure has two adult males (peacock) and one juvenile male but it would seem the accommodations for these birds is too small for the number. The female is called a peahen, by the way. Enjoy! - V
Sunday I took a walk south of my place to Queens Park. On the way I noticed a flicker making a determined effort at getting at an ant colony, it lunch for the day, or snack! The Red-shafted Flicker is native to western North America while its related cousin, the Yellow-shafted Flicker is native to the eastern half of the continent. The call is the same and very distinctive. The rock you see in the photo was crawling with ants which the bird was busily eating at leisure! The weather was sunny and warm. - V
This is a litho image of a photo I took of a pigeon's imprint on the glass of a store near where I work. This happened in February and its taken me until now to edit it and post the image. The pigeon had an "oh-oh" moment while in flight and hit the glass leaving a dust imprint on it for all to see. Someone else had taken a photo earlier before the sun was way up and it looked like the image had a septre held by one of the feet. You can see the dust imprint of all the feathers and such. A one of a time moment. The bird survived I believe and lived to hit something else another day! - V
Capturing birds in flight has been a bit of a challenge for me but I think I'm getting the hang of it. To date the first photo is likely my best followed by the second. Then there are the Canada geese flying over some highrise condos along Beach Avenue in Vancouver. All these images were taken of birds flying above the seawall facing English Bay. There is the seagull (the first one), the crow (the second) and the Canada geese (the last two). You take your pick as to which one you like best. Each time I take these photos I realize that I need a better telephoto lense. What do you think? - V.
Saturday I decided to take another route to Stanley Park, one I hadn't taken in some time, and this is likely why I was able to see something new and unusual. You see the Great Blue Heron in the top photo with the gaggle of Canada Geese looking on but this is not unusual. There are plenty of herons to see about the park and area. What is unusual (for me at any rate) is in the next photo, a goose not at all like the geese around it. You can see this bird to the far left of the photo below.
Then I got a closer look and here it is. It took a bit to consult one of my bird books at home before I realized that it was a cross between a Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifons) and a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis, of which there are several subspecies). You can see traits of the former in its bill, head and neck plus its webbed feet (pinkish-orange). Details of the latter species of goose can be seen in the body and the plumage there. It appears to be an immature bird and will likely have its adult plumage by April of next year. Below are a few more photos of this bird. I've been interested in birds and their habitat since I was very young, so forgive my excitement! 
Swans are another interesting bird. There are a number of them in Stanley Park (Lost Lagoon). They have a robust feature to them, strong neck and big webbed feet! The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), native to Europe, is the one species to be found in the park. There there is the Douglas' Squirrel, native to this part of British Columbia. I have a special love for this little creature as well. So, if you happen to be in Stanley Park, take in the wonders of its flora and fauna when you do visit. You won't be disappointed! - V.
Saturday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. It was 23 degrees with a cloudless sky though you could see the mist off in the distance. This area is known for its temperate rainforests, so this shouldn't be surprising. I took a number of photos during my trip into Vancouver, the main destination being Stanley Park. The photo above was taken near the entrance to the park on West Georgia Street. Off in the distance (looking east) you can see the Coal Harbour development. A Canada goose (there were a few) is seen on the grassy boulevard on the northside of West Georgia Street.
The swallows are back at Lost Lagoon (above). Here are a few at a nesting box at the north end of the lagoon. 
Near the rose garden in the park you may spot a bee house-hive for the blue mason bee native to this part of the British Columbia coast (see pic above). The bees even have their own garden with flowers suited to their needs. The alliums (below) also keep them busy collecting nectar for making honey.
A couple of "lions" guard the entrance to the Lion's Gate Bridge crossing the first narrows on Burrard Inlet between Vancouver and North and West Vancouver on the northside of the inlet. The photo above shows one of the lions. Below is a view of part of the seawall as seen from the bridge.
Downtown Vancouver can be seen from the bridge just beyond Stanley Park. The view includes one of the tallest structures at West Georgia and Thurlow Streets. Then there is a view of the bridge looking up (below).
Another view of the bridge is shown above, this one from the Stanley Park side and a close-up view below.
Prospect Point, to the immediate west of the bridge, has an awesome view, this one looking to the northwest across to West Vancouver (Hollyburn Mountain in the background). There are all sorts of wild flowers to be seen on the walk between Prospect Point and Ferguson Point on English Bay (see below).
The above photos shows a fern frond unfurling and there are all sorts of stumps to be found, all put to good use as "nurse stumps" (below).
I did manage to see another couple of bald eagles. If you look carefully at the centre of the above photo, you can see an eagle. When I spotted them and took this photo, that one and its partner obscured by the trees took off westward. This was the best I could do with my telephoto lens and reason enough for me to get a bigger one! The clearing have all sorts of wild flowers, such as the buttercups below. I did want to get a close-up shot of a bumblebee but it took off rather quickly unlike the garden variety that are used to having people about.
The fruit of the blackberries are starting to form (above) and below you can see a view of one of the clearings. A number of clearings were created after the big wild storm of late 2006 (I have photos of before and after with dramatic changes).
Above is a view of English Bay as seen from Ferguson Point. Then below is a photo of rock art which can be seen along the seawall between the 2nd and 3rd beach on the English Bay side of the park.
People were braving the water at the 3rd beach (above) and there's another view of the beach from the lookout above the beach itself (note the fan palm).
A view of English Bay's main beach near Denman and Davie Streets can be seen below. Despite the warm temperatures, people are well clothed for the most part, even in the heat of the summer. Back east in southern Ontario, beaches there would display a lot more skin. This something that immediately struck me when I came here to stay in 2006 but a couple of factors come to mind that might account for this: an awareness of the damaging affects of the sun and perhaps, in part, a British prudishness to cover up, something that has been tossed away back east though sunscreen is well used there. The benefits of exposure to the air and the sun's rays is the body's ability to produce vitamin D plus drying out the skin (we all know what moist skin is the breeding ground for!). Anyway, that's my journey through the park for Saturday. I hope you've enjoyed the photos! Hope your weekend was a pleasant one too! As for today, I spent the day resting up after all the walking I did yesterday. My right foot and knee have not healed up enough yet, so both (especially the foot) were a bit sore after the end of the day. Take care!!! - V.
Today, Easter Sunday, I made a late start out but found myself in Vancouver once again. After completing a couple of errands plus getting some Blossom White Tea and a piece of Lemon Poppyseed Loaf, I began a walk along the seawall toward the 3rd beach on English Bay (Stanley Park). We had pouring rain all day but it let up by the time I got to Vancouver. It was at that time that I wished I had taken my Sony camera along, the larger, better one! I made due with the small camera (HP) and these are just some of the photos that resulted. The image above was taken from the main beach.
Part of the way along the main beach I had a following: a flock of mostly pigeons and a few crows! I managed to get a photo of one of the crows. Mind you, its at one end of the park bench and I'm at the other!!!
There is a view of the main beach above and a view taken from the 3rd beach. A clearing was developing and the weather only got better as the afternoon and evening progressed.
Looking at the last photo you wouldn't think we're just north of the 49th parallel would you? The fan palm at the 3rd beach is deceiving! Let's see what kind of weather comes our way on Easter Monday. - V.
One of my favourite past times is birdwatching, something I've done since my teenage years. I even raised some birds myself (Zebra Finches). That was in the late 1960s. In the early 1960s I had two pairs of colourful finches from India but they took off out the open window, this after managing to get themself out through the wire (gauge was more for larger birds like canaries). My mother had opened the window to air out the bedroom, so the temptation must have been too great. I can't say that I blame them much for that. Also, the fact that my father raised canaries probably had an influence but I enjoy observing nature and the life in it as well. Well, I took these photos on Sunday afternoon while at Vancouver's Stanley Park. Its hard to get birds like the chickadee to be still long enough to take a photo. You more or less have to anticipate their movements. That's a Black-capped Chickadee above (Poecile atricapilla) and a Chestnut-backed Chickadee below (Poecile rufescens).
Then there are the waterbirds like the ducks that frequent the Lost Lagoon in the park, such as the scaup above, but I don't know if that's a Lesser or Greater Scaup (Aythya affinis and Aythya marila respectively), so I'll have to check out my bird book more carefully.
Thats a pair of American Wigeons above (Anas americana) and a pair of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) below. In the bird world the male is usually the more colourful and this is certainly the case with the Wood Duck. Enjoy the pics! There'll be more to come as we get into spring!!!
Posts
All Comments
m.jpeg)
-3.jpg)
