Merlin
the two first-year birds hung around their nest the first few weeks after they fledged. They chased each other and a crow for some times before they rested in some shades at noon. The adults were still around, but not watching them anymore.
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| Merlins |
I spent three nights in a ski lodge on Mt. Apex and for the first time in many years was I able to see the night sky in little light pollution. The Milky Way galaxy was clearly visible from the door of the lodge.
We visisted Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory or DRAO for short during one of the afternoons. This observatory captures some waves outside of our visible spectrum and process them into informations scientists can study. They chose the valley around White Lake in mid 1900s because there is relatively little precipitation and ground interferance, yet it is not in the middle of nowhere. The mountains nearby isolate the site from waves from the cities, but the families of the people who work there can move to towns within an hour of drive. They are continuing to build new radio telescopes in this valley.
At the entrance, there are severas signs, with drawings of cell phones, that instructs visitors to ''turn off'' their electronics. So I turned off my cellphone and never got any photos of the antennae. I did, however, bring my 400 along and did not regret it.
A few hundred meters down the road, there are signs that indicate the area is an IBA, Importan Bird Area, that means there are birds around.
Eastern Kingbird
probably saw a hundred of them in Osoyoos during the three days.
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| Eastern Kingbird |
Say's Phoebe
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| Say's Phoebe |
Osprey
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| Ospreys |
I almost always bring my camera with me when I leave the door, even if it's just a walk in the neighborhood. Sometimes the insects on other people's front lawns are just more cooperative.
Guessing this is an European Skipper.
Lots of shorebirds are arriving, but I only got decent photos of a few species
Lesser Yellowlegs
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| Lesser Yellowlegs |
Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs
The Solitary Sandpiper, a lifer for me, flew into my view finder when I was photo graphing the Lesser Yellowlegs.
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| Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs |
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| Garter Snakes |
It had been a few months since I went out looking for non-birds or humans, and I was a bit rusty at handling the flashes and micro lens, but the photos turned out alright.
Pacific Tree Frog
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| Pacific Tree Frog |
jumping spiders
are called ''flytiger蠅虎'' in Chinese and it is not difficult to agree with the name. These spiders look for their preys with their keen eyes and jump on to them. Few spider genera have very developed eyes; most of them just weave a web and wait.
This other spider has much smaller eyes even though it is about 3 times as big as the jumping spider.
Wandering Tattler
the only other time that I have seen tattlers was last year on St. Paul island, so I was excited to see the two tattlers today.
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| Wandering Tattler |
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| Wandering Tattler |
River Otter
other animals also use the man-made jetties.
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