V-V

This is getting rediculous, isn't it. I understand why you think this, but if I haven't sold you on Vancouver yet, this one should do it. Either way, this will be the last blog on Vancouver, with maybe a couple of mentions in future blogs.

In this one I will put a few more pics and discuss one of our jaunts out of Vancouver.

We decided to follow the advice of several of our friends that said something like, "If you go there, you have to visit Whistler." They also mentioned, for my sake, there was a place on the way that was called Eagle's Run, where the Bald Eagles nested. I heard stories of "...hundreds of Eagles..." and this was where they nested and even there were Golden Eagles there. Now, the Golden Eagle is one bird I am not sure exists outside captivity. I may have seen one or two, but making an identification in a fraction of a second at 70mph or so is difficult at best. There was that time we were walking on an Audubon hike and the leader pointed to a dot in the sky and said it was a Golden Eagle, and it may have been, but even with binoculars it was a dot, so it could have been a circling plane for all I know. I keep hearing people telling me they have seen a Golden Eagle, but I haven't seen one to know it, yet.

I digress. So with great anticipation we speed off northward toward Whistler, looking forward to seeing the Eagle Run along the way. We admire the beautiful scenery along the way, and watch for signs until we found one. We turned off and drove where it said, and ended up in a residential area. We turned down a street that looked likely to get us there, and found a sign saying we were entering private property that was not the Eagle Run. So we turned around and found a place for breakfast instead. After breakfast, we drove around and found the better road and ultimately found the Eagle Run. We parked our car one a gravel parking area on one side of the roadway, walked across the road and up an embankment that was a levee for a river that picturesquely flowed this cute little town. There were benches and an informational board posted that described the mating and nesting rituals of the Bald Eagle. Apparently the nesting area was across the river in the stand of trees that was thick over there.

This was a pretty place with brightly colored flowers, little cafe's, and people walking, but no eagles.

Poor Andi took a seat on one of the "viewing" benches, and read her book while I traipsed around looking for the eagles. I walked until I saw another of the signs saying this was Indian land and I would enter at my own risk. I walked the other way so I could get good views of the trees from as many angles as I could, but no eagles. I looked back across the roadway where there were some small farms and open fields surrounded by large trees, thinking they were sitting in these trees sniggering at me, but no eagles.

(The river and stand of trees with the mountains in the background, where the eagles were supposed to be).

(Andi reading her book while I am searching for the lost eagles.)
We finally decided to go on to Whistler and come back the next day to see if our luck changed. It didn't. We had a great time in Whistler and the surrounding area, but when we stopped again, (this time on the first try), there were still no eagles.

(I couldn't resist, a Canadian Cop. He was at Whistler and posing for pictures with his dog. He is a member of the RCMP, and apparently this was his assignment for the weekend we were there)>

(When there isn't snow, the mountain found another way of getting people to play. They made a mountain bike run. They lifted the people and bikes up the mountain, then they bombed down the trails of every level down the mountain).

So, no pictures of nesting eagles. However, I did get a couple shots back at Stanley Park of a couple other birds that were fun for me. When we got back from Whistler I was able to hike around the Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park and found several cool birds and a racoon, turtles and squirrels. This was a wonderful place, with several "rest areas" that one could stop and sit and watch people and animals move about. It was very peaceful and teeming with life just yards from a teeming cement metropolis.

So, here are some pictures of the Lost Lagoon and the things I saw there. Enjoy.

(This guy let me get close enough for this photo. A Northwestern Crow, Corvus caurinus).

(The Lost Lagoon, no Peter Pan and the Lost Boys were not seen here).

(Remember this guy? Mute Swan, Cygnus olor).

(Turtle log rolling contest. It isn't very fast but the drama was intense!).

(Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedorum. Look at the wing and see the little red area? It looks like little wax drops on the ends of the feathers, hence the name).

(Little racoon doing his thing in the water off the trail).

So, you might be a bird nerd if...you get terribly disappointed when something is named for a bird, and there are no birds!

V-IV

Andi did it again! She studied our maps and discovered another wildlife refuge called Swan Lake, (it is unclear if it was the one named in the ballet). It was a pretty cool little place.

We had to again drive through a residential neighborhood in order to find it, but we did find it. There was a little converted house that they used for the nature center, and the several acres around it were kept as wild as possible, while maintaining the trails and visibility for visitors. Inside the nature center we met this young lady that was very helpful and more than happy to show us all the exhibits they had inside. She showed us the bee-hive they had, with the queen marked with a red stripe, and told us about the hive history and activities.

She showed us the nest-cam they had with young Violet Green Swallows, (Tachycineta thalassina), about to fledge. We watched as mom would return to the nest, feed the young ones and fly away. One or two would creep to the edge of the nest and look around as if they were going to try to fly, and we would run to the window where we could see the nest box and see the little one's head poking out. Then they would back into the nest and wait for mom.

During our trip we saw Violet Green Swallows and Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) often. We also saw Northwestern Crows (Corvus corinus) everywhere from our condo to Whistler. I am making that i.d. as the book shows their range from northern Washington to southern Alaska along the coastline. The American Crow, (Corvus brachyrinchos), shows ranges inland from that and covering the rest of the country. These were definitely crows, and possibly somewhat smaller, otherwise, there was no difference between the two. By range alone I decided to make the i.d. and count it as a lifer for me.

Swan Lake was a beautiful little place, with a wooden dock for viewing, a floating bridge to cross the lake to another little wooded area, with viewing areas along the way. From the viewing dock we saw Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), Mallard ducks with babies, but no swans. On the trail to the nature center we found a small Garter Snake.

(Common Yellowthroat talking to us as we walked out on the viewing deck).
Inside the nature center, the young lady told me of a nest or two the Marsh wrens (Cistothorus palustris)had built right next to the floating bridge. Andi gave her foot a rest while I braved the bridge.

(This is the Marsh Wren nest, look closely through the reeds to see the entrance hole)

(This is the little Marsh Wren making a spectacle of himself near a nest).

I found the nests pretty easily, seeing the little balls of weaved rushes swaying int the slight breeze at the top of the reeds next to the bridge. I also saw some pond turtles lined up on a nearly submerged log, as well as a mother Mallard with several babies lined up on their own log.

Across the bridge I found another nest, with the help of the Marsh Wren making quite a show of himself. He kept calling and flitting about gaining my attention that I began looking under him and found another little ball of weaved rushes. These little birds (about three and one-half to four inches long), are usually heard but difficult to see as they work their way into the reeds and stay there. This little guy was at the top of the reeds and singing loudly and often.

Just past this was a small backwater that had several napping Mallards in amongst the lily pads. I saw a couple at first, then as I continued to look, more appeared, like one of those Bev Doolittle paintings. (Luckily no wolves or bears came out of the scene).

(Momma Mallard and some babies resting on a nearly submerged log).

On the other side of the bridge the path opened into a small meadow surrounded by large trees with a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)sitting in a small tree next to the path singing away. There was a Spotted Towhee or two,(Pipilo maculatus), and Red-Winged Blackbirds, (Agilaius phoeniceus).

At the front of the nature center we saw a tall pine that was topped off, and on the top was a Northern Flicker, (Colptes auratus). This is a type of woodpecker that is brown-gold instead of the usual black and white configurations of other woodpeckers.

This was another calm and beautiful location with lots of wildlife that I wouldn't mind returning to. Another good find by my wife. The nature center had used books for sale, souvenirs, and lots of good information about the surrounding areas. They had the bird cam, and the live bee-hive that was a kick to see. There were pictures of birds and other creatures that visited or lived at the lake, as well as live frogs, lizards, snakes and salamanders in cages to see.

You might be a birdnerd if...you get a kick out of a small nature center, and it is one of the highlights of your vacation, and you are an adult, not a pre-teen.

Vancouver III

Ok, Andi studied the maps and after we explored much of Vancouver proper, we rented a car and began to explore north of the city. We took a ferry across English Bay to Vancouver Island to see the cities of Nanaimo and Victoria. We had friends who gave us a list of things we had to see and do, and one of the things was the Nanaimo Bar. Imagine the disappointment on the face of poor Andi when we discovered that meant the desert, Nanaimo Bar, not the bar with drinks.

At Nanaimo, we saw a smaller ferry that would take us to the little island that populated with the rabbits with floppy ears, but it was too cold for us, and Andi's foot was still hurting and everything indicated there was a bit of walking to do once we got there. So, we found a nice place to eat and spent the night at the hotel. (This was the hotel we were staying in when we took the pictures of us smoking cigars and drinking wine).

Andi found a place on the map called Esquimalt Lagoon, (pronounced Es-kwy-malt), so we drove to it. There we found a spot on the one side of a bridge that gave us a view of the lagoon, but the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic and we had to go quite a ways around to find the other side, (which of course looked better).




That was alright, as when we drove through this residential district we were stunned to see a small herd of deer roaming the neighborhood. They were nonchalantly munching grass, scratching, and doing things that deer do, all in someone's front yard. I told Andi that was why none of the people there had lawnmowers, yet their lawns remained well manicured.
I (I didn't think they would let me get much closer than this so I snapped the shot, it shows the three of them together.)
(This is the Mute Swan posing nicely for us).
(This is the Trumpeter Swan giving us his best Clint Eastwood "Do you feel lucky..." look).

We moved past the deer and found the roadway to the other side of the lagoon, and Andi drove down to where I saw some Swans preening in the shallows near the road. She stopped and I hopped out with my camera and binoculars. I moved slowly and tried to get off the roadway and down the small embankment as quickly as possible without scaring the group away, then stealthily made my way toward the Swans, and Canada Geese milling about with them. It was kind of funny, because by the time I got down to the shoreline, it became very apparent the birds couldn't care less if I was there or not. They were busy preening and were not particularly concerned about my presence at all. They looked up from time to time, then blithely went back to doing their thing. So much for my skills.


They allowed me to get nice and close and I took a bunch of pictures of these large and beautiful birds. The day we were there, there were about five or six Swans. Three were in this group at this time, one Trumpeter Swan(Cygnus buccinator), and two Mute Swans, (Cygnus olor). Both "lifers" for me. As you can see from the photos, they are much larger than the Canada Geese, (Branta canadensis). This may give you an idea of their size, then you can extrapolate this to the size of an Andean Condor that my boys (Taylor and Austin) have seen in Patagonia. The Condor is the largest bird in the world with over a 12 foot wingspan and a body larger than even these swans. The boys said they saw several flying at a time each day they were in Patagonia. It must have looked like something pre-historic!

This was exciting enough for me, but as I got to explore the lagoon further, I saw over 20 Great Blue Herons, (Ardea herodias), Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus), many Mallard Ducks, (Anas platyrhyncos), Caspian Terns, (Sterna caspia), Barn Swallows, (Hirundo rustica), two Belted Kingfishers,(Ceryle alcyon), a couple Black Oystercatchers, (Haematopus bachmani), and of course, two Bald Eagles, (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).
(I just liked this view. I thought it would make a good painting.)
(At the top of these trees was a Bald Eagle calling to another that was soaring about the area.)
(This is the Black Oystercatcher. They use that chisel-like bill to open and eat mussels and other bivalves on the shoreline).
(As we were leaving we saw this pair of Mute Swans swimming with their babies across the lagoon.)

I had a great time there. There were shorebirds, waterbirds, sleeping birds, hunting birds, parenting birds, just birds everywhere. People came down to walk, walk their dogs, play with their kids on the rocky shore, have lunch or spend some quiet time in a beautiful setting. It was great!!

Oh, I also saw a small Garter Snake slithering through the grass on my way to the Swans.

Andi took advantage of the time and lovely setting to read one of her books, while I was snapping photos and talking to the birds, "Work with me baby, turn your head, get the glint of sunlight in your eye. That's it! Hold it!"

Tomorrow I will talk about Swan Lake and the little Nature Center we found there.

You might be a birdnerd if... you leave your significant other reading in the car on some lonely road, while you traipse around in the grass and mud trying to get a better picture of a bird.

Vancouver II

Ok, I have to go back a little to tell another adventure we had during our travels. Andi and I have never been to Vancouver before, and the last time I was in Canada was pre-9/11. So we were unfamiliar with many the heightened security rules which are slightly different than the U.S. (Luckily they speak a similar language, if you don't count the zed for 'z').

We had to fly in to Calgary, Canada where we had a an hour or so lay-over before flying to Vancouver. We had checked our large bags, so we assumed those bags would be placed onto the second flight as well. We noticed many of the other passengers picking up bags, but assumed this was their final destination. We stood in line and went through customs, blithely thinking all was well.

When the young lady at the counter asked where are bags were, we told her they were on the plane, of course. She told us, politely, that we had to recover our bags and bring them through the customs line to be checked. Who knew?

We followed her instructions and went to the customs office to meet a man who looked like he had been working there for quite some time and was bored with the whole thing. We explained our predicament, and with a huff, he escorted us to the baggage claim, where we recovered our lonely bags, stood in line again and finally were checked through customs.

One other thing we noticed, when you order a burger, they cook the meat well done. They don't even ask if you have a preference. It was explained to us that they want to make sure the meat doesn't make you sick, (Salmonella, Mad Cow, something).

Once in Vancouver, we again go to the carousel to recover our bags, and Andi has to step out for a cigarrette. We had planned to take the new monorail from the airport to the waterfront, then a short taxi ride to the condo.

Once the bags were recovered, Andi announced our problems were solved. She met a woman who wanted to share a taxi with us and did so. She became our unofficial tour guide and explained a few of the local customs and made some suggestions. She was a nice lady and the taxi ride was not expensive, and we got a guided tour with comments from our new friend, Wendy.

The taxi driver dropped Wendy off first, then took us to our condo on the West side. Many of the taxi's in Vancouver are Prius', by the way. Immediately we were impressed by the greenery that permeates the city. Large trees form a green tunnel over the streets, which are narrow with sidewalks bordered by grass or flowers. Very pretty. It was a lot cooler than our hometown of Palm Springs, and when we were able to see the weather we were seeing numbers of 20 degrees, and into the teens. We were only momentarily confused, as it was plain their measurement was in Centigrade (Celsius), while ours is Fahrenheit. The conversion is simple though, double the number given in Celsius, and add 30. Even so, 20 was 70F. We came from near triple digits in Palm Springs.

It was cloudy, drizzly rain, and to us, pretty cool. We were in our sweatshirts and jeans, while the locals were wearing shorts and maybe a light sweater. There were lots of people walking through the neighborhoods. While there wasn't a dedicated downtown, Robison was the main thoroughfare for shopping and restaurants. The scene reminded me a lot of New York City, in the layout, (easily defined blocks), and that people lived in their neighborhoods and could walk to anything they needed. Restaurants, cleaners, corner grocery stores, bakeries, all were within easy walking distances.
(See!! I do take pictures of people!)

After we unpacked and walked around to get our bearings, looking all touristy with our maps, camera and bino's hanging around my neck. Andi was told, but it was something to experience,the sun doesn't go down until around 10:00PM, or later. So the first few days we were very tired trying to stay up until dark.



(These are the views we had from out small balcony outside the condo. Also, a shot of the street with the tree canopy and lush greenery).

There was no television, so we got some very needed peace and quiet, and rest. We also read several books as well as the local newspapers and magazines.

This was our first couple days, and we soon acclimated. I've told you about Stanley Park, but we walked all around the city portion looking for recommended restaurants, entertainment spots and the like. The Vancouver Jazz Festival was in progress while we were there, so we were able to take in a night of good food, jazz and good company. Their Jazz Festival was not set up like a concert like I was expecting. They had several venues such as restaurants that hosted certain bands throughout the city and onto Vancouver Island, as we found out later. They gave out pamphlets that showed dates and times bands would play and where. The bar or restaurant would fill up with Jazz fans and the concert would go on. Very low-key and enjoyable. It went on for several days.

Not much birding information in this blog but I promise their is a lot coming. I will end this one with some observations; my bino's worked extremely well. Like I said, we came from very warm temperatures to very mild temperatures and I pulled them out of the bag and walked outside to use them. There was no fogging or blurring at all, they worked admirably. I have a pair of Brunton 10x32, Lite Tech series. They are rubber coated which makes them waterproof, and have argon gas inside the tubes to help the lenses adjust to the changes in temperatures. I know that they were always there for me when I needed them.

My camera on the other hand...Well, the telephoto lens to be specific. The camera was fine, and the smaller lens was fine. But the telephoto is a Vivitar 70-300mm zoom lens, and I have added a "doubler" which roughly doubles the magnification of the lens it is attached to. This decreases the amount of light that it draws in, and does not allow the lens to work with the camera for auto focus. I could only use the telephoto on manual focus, and when you are trying to take a picture of a small flitting bird, this can be frustrating. I did get a couple of pics of a brown blur leaving the right hand side of the picture, (I won't show you those).

So, that is something I will put on my Christmas list, a 600mm telephoto lens for my Minolta camera. Then I won't suffer from lens envy anymore:)

Next time I will include a lot more birding and some of the pics I was able to get.

Back from Vancouver

We are back from Vancouver, British Columbia, and we had a terrific time. I was planning to keep the blog going every day we were on the trip to keep a running log of our adventures, but we had technical difficulties with all our electronic equipment. We took our laptop computer in to a repair shop, and the little girl behind the counter was so nice and polite, telling us they would send the computer to their shop and we would probably have it in a week or two. We respectively declined and had to resort to old school pen and paper to keep notes.

I have decided to share an adventure we had early on in the trip, which reminded me of a trip I took with my good friend Nancy Carr a few years ago. (You will see why in a minute or two).

We decide to drive to the Salton Sea to see what we could see. (Too many see's?)Anyway, Nancy is driving, as at the time I had a police car as my vehicle and the City of Palm Springs was tired of getting calls to see if their officer was alright. People saw a Palm Springs police vehicle in some out of the way place and just assumed the officer had been kidnapped and was tied to a tree or something. I digress, so we are in Nancy's little Honda hatchback and driving down two lane, (barely) farm roads looking for birds.

We saw a pair of Burrowing Owls,(Athene cunicularia), on a sandy embankment near their burrow. We pulled over to the side of the road, careful not to pull all the way onto the sandy shoulder and get stuck. We were looking closely and resting our elbows on the parts of the car most readily available and decided the car was vibrating too much to get a good clear look through the binos. So she turned off the engine and we sat for a couple minutes watching the antics of this cute pair of birds.

Then we heard a very loud airhorn. We looke up and there was a large eighteen wheeler coming toward us through the rippling heat waves. A glance in the mirror showed us there was another coming up behind us at a good clip. In an instant we saw there wasn't going to be enough room for the two trucks to pass us and each other, something had to give, and we knew it was going to be us. Nancy became a blur of action as she started the car, put it in gear and sped off in record time.

Talk about adrenaline rush!

Now, I tell you that story to segue into this one.

Andi and I were in Vancouver, in the West End, for those who know the place. One of the great attractions there is Stanley Park. This is a lot like Central Park in New York City, in that it is surrounded by big city living, such as high rise condos, busy streets, people walking, biking, skateboarding, rollerblading etc. Like Central Park, Stanley Park is a beautiful thickly wooded area, with ponds and lakes, criss-crossed with trails and roads. There are grassy areas where people lay out in the sun, play frisbee, or do yoga. At Stanley Park, it is bordered on three sides by English Bay and Burrard Inlet, with its point part of the First Narrows that connects to two. It has a trail that is paved that goes all the way around the park, which they call the Seawall walk. So, visitors can walk along this pathway with the woods on one side, and the ocean with beaches broken up by rocky outcroppings with tide pools on the other. Absolutely beautiful.
(This is just outside Stanley Park, but this was remarkable to us. That is huge tree on the patio of a penthouse apartment on top of a large building.)

We decided to rent a couple bicycles to go along the Seawall walk. This was a marvelous way to cruise leisurely around the park and soak up the ambience. Some used it as an exercise path, but we were on vacation and took it slowly.

I was having a great time. I had my binoculars hanging on chest on these elastic bands I bought from the Audubon Society some years ago, and my camera in a pouch the rental company supplied for the bike. I was as nerdy and touristy as you could get, (with the exception of shorts with black socks). We rode blissfully around until I saw a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), but nearby was a duck I thought may
be a Eurasian Widgeon, (Anas penelope).

I stop and grab my camera and start to stalk the bird across the path, dodging other bicyclists whizzing by, and rollerbladers rushing past. Andi stops and waits patiently while I try to 1) make the identification which would have been a lifer for me, and 2) get a picture.

As I approached and started to search through the binoculars for the elusive beast, I heard the crash of a bicycle and Andi's distinctive voice cry out. I turned and saw her on all fours off the side of the path and the bike tangled up with her legs and feet.

I abandoned the quest, and ran to Andi, and helped extricate her from her entanglement. She injured her foot as it got tangled with the pedal and when she fell it landed on her foot. We got her to a standing position, and she gamely went on with the bike ride. I have to tell, she really did injure herself, but she continued on with the bike ride, then in the following days on long walks without a complaint.

As a side light, it turned out the fall was my fault. I told Andi to raise the seat so that pedaling would be easier. She took the opportunity to raise the seat and got tangled up, and fell down. So, see, it was my fault.

So, you might be a birdnerd if...you are so distracted by watching a bird you risk life and limb.

P.S. Nancy saw a special on the world's most dangerous road, somewhere in Sout America. She said the announcer stated that while there had been several injuries, and the road was very treacherous, being very narrow and very high up a mountain, there was only one fatality. It was a birder, who was trying to get a better view of a bird he saw off the roadway and fell off.

Birding is a dangerous hobby!



(These are two views of the Narrows connecting English Bay to Burrard Inlet at the tip of Stanley Park. The second one is just under the Burrard bridge. Those are Pelagic Cormorants, (Phalacrocorax pelagicus).


(This is a statue that is in all the travel books discussing Vancouver. The water was way too cold to snorkel or even think of swimming! However, the Canucks did.)