September 2023
A busy month
Saanich Fair
The
Saanich Fair had it's first year in 1868 which makes this the 155th
year. Surprisingly, this is my year attending. This fair
is somewhat similar to the PNE - a mix of an agricultural fair and
carnival rides. My kids made a bee line for the rides.
The first ride the kids found is
called Yoyo - it's basically a circle of flying chairs that spins
above the crowd. Being first thing in the morning, the line up
was short and minutes later the kids were swinging around in the
air.
Big smiles from that, the kids trying a few more rides - a smaller
flying car ride and then the zipper - a flipping seat on a track
that would make me barf. Lots of smiles.
The crowds were getting thicker so the line ups were longer.
The kids next choice was a music themed ride called Rock Star (You
get off where you get on). This was a more adult ride - the
ride goes really high and has a lot of dropping sensations.
By this time the kids have survey the whole event and figured out
that the biggest ride is called just "Speed" and it's basically a
crane with two long arms where you are at the ends of the
arms. This ride has the longest line up so the kids were able
to get a ride in on the carousel while Helen and I held their spots
in the line.
Eventually it was time for a ride on the big ride so the kids go
themselves ready (no natives) and tried to manage their
expectations.
Sure enough - it was a big ride and they were all smiles by the
end of it.
We did visit the agricultural fair. There are a number of
halls - one for smaller animals (rabbits, chickens etc) and
another hall for larger animals (Alpaca, sheep etc).
The treats at the fair are also a big attraction. There was
a bit of a food truck food court with nothing resembling a
vegetable.
The kids had one last ride on the Yoyo and we headed home for
dinner. The kids had a great day. I kind of wished I
could stay for sunset because all of these rides have lights but
dinner was too appealing.
Uplands Park
I quite like Uplands Park, but I usually
visit in April when the spring flowers come out. I decided
to take a walk in the fall to see what is out. Apparently
this park is also know for it's butterflies but September is not
the season to see them.
While walking around I managed to surprise a hawk in the trees - I
didn't see it until it was flying away. A few minutes later,
I spotted a Downy Woodpecker climbing on a lichen encrusted oak
tree. I already had my big lens out so a little tripod work
later I was watching this animal inspect the tree to rid it of
insects.
I didn't have much luck finding other things to see but
sometimes a single good sighting is all you need to make your day.
Science World
Claira wanted to go Science World
and it was a beautiful day so we decided to ride our bikes over and
see the latest exhibit.
The ride isn't very far (perhaps half an hour) so we locked up our
bikes and paid the entrance fare.
The big exhibit was on the
submarines used for filming the titanic and about James Cameron and
his films. It was a good exhibit, but quite dark.
Science world has a number of permanent exhibits and we attend so
infrequently that Claira wanted to visit them all.
Thankfully the crowds were pretty
thin so Claira got a play with a lot of the equipment by
herself. Keeping a science Museum up to date is quite
tricky. They had on large exhibit on cell phone signals, but
it picked up 3G signals and most phones today are on 4G or 5G
frequencies and didn't work with the display. Another display
was a cool computer graphics demo of persistent vision, but most
iPad's have the same effect in the built in apps. Other
exhibits like the plasma ball were new to us so Claira really
enjoyed it.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Reifel bird sanctuary is probably
the best birding hotspot in the lower mainland - it combines many
ocean birds with fresh water ponds and some open forest. There
are birds you will see routinely here (Black Crown Night Herons,
Sandhill Cranes, Northern Shovelers) that are quite rare anywhere
else in the lower mainland.
There are often mixed flocks of Yellow Legs, Dowichers and
Sandpipers that are worth looking though for potentially birds you
don't recognized.
On the out dikes you can see birds finding food in the seemingly
endless bulrush wetlands where the ocean meets lands. Being fall,
there a lot of birds out here looking for food before they migrate
somewhere warmer or looking for food to get them through the colder
months.
I have seen the Pied Avocet in Hong Kong on previous trips so seeing
the American version of this species was quite a treat. Both
birds have a similar way of feeding - the slightly upturned bill
that they skim back and forth through the water to pick out
food. At Mai Po Marshes in Hong Kong you can see a hundred
plus birds in a flock. Apparently this years visitor to Reifle
number just 3, but that is better than last years single bird.
I do keep track of how many species I've seen and I have says Reifle
bird sanctuary is always worth a visit.
Tags: Uplands Park(3), Science World(3), chicken(2), carousel(2), horse(2), biking(2)
People: Claira(14), Nara(8), Lloyd(2), Helen(2), Janet(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > September 2023
Last Modified Tuesday, February 20th, 2024 at 21:03:47 Edit
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