| Photojournal
- 10 July
2004
Spending
time at Piper Spit
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I'm back with a little
report from a short visit to Piper Spit on Burnaby Lake on Saturday,
the 10th.
When I got to the parking
lot, I noticed that the Nature House there was open; I think that
is the first time I've ever seen it open. There was a group of
small children and their parents behind the Nature House getting
ready for a guided nature tour. I went towards the front of the
house and one of the tour-takers came towards me, with parents
in tow, from the direction of the little butterfly garden.
I proceeded whence
they had came, and was surprised to find, about six or seven paces
later, a bunny out chomping on the clover.
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that he must have been in the nearby underbrush when the child went
by, because I don't think all three of them could have missed seeing
the rabbit, and the rabbit certainly wouldn't have missed the three
of them (and therefore would have bolted). I spent a few minutes
taking bunny photos - I seem to be seeing lots of bunnies lately.
With the rabbit on
my right, the butterfly garden was on my left, but I spotted no
butterflies. However, the butterfly-attracting flowers were pretty
and I took some photos of them. I don't what this flower is, but
it's one of my favorites. Perhaps it's a Hoya.
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And this I believe
is a Verbena of some sort.
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Going out on the boardwalk
to the platform in the lake yielded the regular ducks and geese.
There were a few young Wood Ducks around. I know that I've included
a photo of one of these guys recently, but I like them so much
that I took a bunch more photos and couldn't help but include
one here.
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Getting back on solid
footing, I started taking photos of the Rock Doves (a.k.a. Feral
Pigeons) gathered at the start of the boadwalk. This one struck
me as unusual, as it has a yellow eye.
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I don't know how
unusual that is, but most of the Rock Doves that I've photographed
have red eyes; those with some yellow in their eye usually have
red there, too, like the following guy.
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more unusual was the following one, which is a brown morph
of the Rock Dove. According to my field guide, the brown morph is
scarce. I guess scarce is more plentiful than rare, but I'm not
completely sure. All I know is that I haven't seen a brown pigeon
since I've gotten my current camera. By the way, this brown one
has a dark brown eye. |
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I checked my watch
after getting these shots, and it was time for me to go. I had
friends to meet for brunch, so I packed it in for the morning,
and didn't get out later in the day.
Until next time, which
will probably be awful darned soon,
Tom
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