Our feathered friends - birds

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!!!

Another mist-shrouded day

Time ran out for me yesterday but I made it a point to visit Vancouver's Stanley Park today (Sunday). It was sunny with a bright blue sky but near rivers, lakes and the ocean there was plenty of fog/mist. The small pond in the photo above is located just north of the Lost Lagoon. The mist you see is coming from English Bay via Lost Lagoon. The low-hanging mist obscured the sun near the water as you can see in the photo below (Lost Lagoon).

Lost Lagoon, a pond now that its long been land-locked, was frozen over for the most part and not as many birds were seen as would normally be the case. This will change as we get into February and March but there were swans, coots, mallard ducks and other fowl to be seen.

This grey squirrel looking for handouts was spotted in the shrubbery near a bridge about halfway between Coal Harbour and English Bay's 2nd beach. The photo below captured one of the many chickadees to be seen in the park. They travel in flocks and can be spotted by listening for their distinctive call which gives them their name. I hope you all had a lovely weekend what ever it is you chose to do. Have a great week!