February 2013
I swear, I am not a birder...
Boundary Bay
I'll admit it, Boundary Bay is my new
favorite place in Vancouver. There are lots of birds I
haven't seen before and lots of crazy photographers with big
lenses that make me look downright "amateur" compared their
gear. The parking is good (and free) and Nara isn't bored of
it.
Helen kindly joined me this time, bringing
a stroller for the kids and letting me walk around a bit while
Nara had her lunch. I didn't go far, but not having a kid on
your shoulders sure makes taking photos easier.
After walking along the dike, we went to
visit the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. We took
the short tour (it was getting to be nap time) but it was a nice
tour - the birds seem happy and not so sad (most of the
can't fly so a tall enclosure isn't really needed).
Stanley Park Nature House
The real attraction for Nara is feeding
the birds. Helen thoughtfully remembered to bring our left
over bird seed from previous outings so we stood on the shore and
fed the birds. Both Helen and I were impressed with the
number of different species of birds in Lost Lagoon.
While we were waiting for Nara to finish
her snack, we noticed the crows mobbing a bird in the tree.
The bird turned out to be a Coopers Hawk and the Hawk was giving
as good as it was getting - the Hawk would climb higher into the
tree and then chase the crows out, only to be out numbered when
they got to open space.
I was surprised how fast a crow could move when it wanted
to evade a Hawk.
Granville Island (Chinese New Years)
Last year we went to the
Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden for
Chinese New Years. It's a nice garden and they put up
lots of decorations, but it is rather sedate. This year we
thought it would be fun to catch the lion dancing at Granville
Island. We headed down for the 10:30 start and it was
obvious pretty quickly that Nara wasn't having a good time.
The Lions came with loud drumming and it was too much for
Nara. We headed outside to the courtyard to calm down.
There is never a shortage of birds to feed
on Granville Island and Nara seems to enjoy throwing seed.
One of the vendors sells seed by the small bag so quickly Nara was
right as rain.
We decided to try again and see the Lions
when they got to rail spur alley. Various merchants had put
out lettuce and red packet offerings for the lions. Helen
describes the offering as "sounds like good fortune" so the lion
eating the lettuce (and taking the red packet) is a means to get
good luck at New Years.
Soon enough the lions came again and "ate"
the lettuce.
It was still a little loud for Nara, but Claira had a good time!
Grandma Comes for a Visit
Grandma is making a point of trying to
visit at least once a month. This trip Nara and Grandma did
a traditional trip down to Granville Island to feed the birds and
swing on the swings.
Chinese New Years at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden
Helen's Aunt kindly sent us Chinese New
Years outfits for the Nara and Claira. Chinatown did their
parade a week later than some other locations and as part of that
the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden has an "open house" day where admission
is by donation. If you arrive early, there is often good
views and games for the kids.
This is the year of the snake and the
garden has an enormous snake built in water feature. Water
in my mind really makes a park special so it is nice when it gets
into a photo.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
We had a beautiful weekend day and I know
Nara likes to feed the ducks. We decided to see the Reifel
Bird sanctuary. I read online that there are terrific
sightings (I'm always on the look out for owls), the most exotic
thing I saw was a night heron and it was far away in a bunch of
branches so difficult to photograph. Nara had a good time
feeding the birds though!
Tylers Birthday Party
Nara really likes birthdays (there is
usually cake!) so she was excited to be invited to Tylers
birthday. Tyler is the son of a friend of Helen's and he has
had some really nice birthday parties. This party was down
on Granville Island in the kids zone play area. The parents
rented one of the eating areas (comes with long tables) and self
catered a health (but yummy) lunch. The rental includes a
number of admissions into the play zone so Nara could go climbing
and play in the ball pit.
The room turned out to have really nice
light so I put Claira on a ledge and took some photos. I'm
really falling behind taking photos of Claira compared to
Nara. Claira is beautiful, but she doesn't have as
much interaction as Nara. I endeavor to have a month when I
take more photos of Claira than Nara.
The play zone was quite fun. Nara at two and half really
isn't big enough to take advantage of the features. She just
isn't tall/strong enough to climb up the stages to get to the big
slide, but she did enjoy the time in the ball pit. This is
actually my first time in a ball pit - Nara did seem to have a
good time.
A big thank you to Tyler's parents Linda and Mike and the rest of
their family for including us. We had a great time.
Tags: bird(11), Stanley Park(10), Boundary Bay(7), bird feeder(3), lion dance(3), Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden(3)
People: Nara(19), Claira(8), Helen(2)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > February 2013
Last Modified Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 21:04:14 Edit
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