Lynn Canyon

I went to Lynn Canyon today because it's supposed to be a good nature hike. I was not overly impressed as I have seen better trails many a time in Washington. Nothing terribly special or unique except for the one stream violet I found. Hopefully Grouse Grind will be more exciting on Friday.

Viola glabella aka Stream Violet

Adiantum pedantum aka maidenhair fern

a curious fungus growing next to the trail

Vaccinium ovalifolium aka oval-leaved blueberry

and there's a pretty waterfall

Grouse Mountain (sort of)

So today I went over to North Vancouver with the intention of hiking Grouse Grind, a very challenging uphill hike nicknamed "nature's stairmaster."
Well it was closed due to winter conditions. Needless to say I was fairly disappointed. I did manage however, to find some cool birds and wildlife on the long walk back to Lonsdale Quay where I caught the Seabus back downtown.
I managed to get some cool recordings of a Northern Flicker and a House Finch, which I may share when I get back to my pc at home. I also got a recording of Violet-green Swallows.

A wolf in a wolf reserve on Grouse Mountain...just chillin

A Varied Thrush. There were so many of them!

Definitely one of my favorite birds

Favorite pic of the day: a Northern Flicker

Second favorite pic today: Violet-green Swallows

Close up of a swallow

Don't know

Don't know

Claytonia sibirica

Don't know

And the butterfly I chased down on a riverbank

UBC Botanical Garden

Just one thing I was super disappointed about: I've mentioned Kirengeshoma koreana before and how it's a really cool endemic of South Korea...well at the garden there was a little metal tag on a pole sticking out of the ground that said "Kirengeshoma koreana" and I looked for it everywhere but it was nowhere. UBC, you need to take better care of your plants because your Wollemia also died. Also, I saw a Hutton's Vireo for the first time (and I recorded it and it's not a Ruby Crowned Kinglet this time!) I also saw a Northern Flicker and heard some drumming from a woodpecker. Also recorded a Winter Wren song, so I may have some recordings to post when I get back to my pc if I'm not too lazy.

Rubus spectabilis

Song Sparrow

Ribes sanguineum

or, Red flowering Currant

Lonicera sp.

Polystichum polyblepharum

Spider on a Rhododendron

Cotoneaster sp. similar to Cotoneaster wilsonii which is endemic to Ulleungdo

there were just Rhododendrons everywhere

interesting mutations on Camellia japonica leaves

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home" but seriously it was basically a Rhodie garden with a few other plants sprinkled in

Petasites japonicus...the leaves are awesome and huge

Flowers of Petasites

Sorbus commixta

Rhododendron yedoense, endemic to Ulleungdo, apparently found rarely in the wild but is in a botanical garden in Canada

R. yedoense buds

Aucuba japonica

Mill Creek Wetlands

Today I went on a walk to the wetlands in Mill Creek to see some birds and some plants
Plants: mostly grasses, cat tails, large thickets of Physocarpus (ninebark), Salix spp, and some other shrubs, trees and herbs scattered around
Birds: American robins, crows, ruby-crowned kinglets (in chase with their little ruby crowns sticking up!), 2 red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, mallards, song sparrows, marsh wrens (they were everywhere singing and chattering), a flock of about 20 tree swallows, and a great blue heron

Physocarpus, or ninebark

Close up of dried Physocarpus flowers

Cascara

Indian plum

Closeup of Indian plum flowers

Bitter cherry (I think)

Some shrubbery in the wetlands with a tree swallow in the bottom right

The wetlands with a tree swallow on the right side - note the iridescent greenish blue back

A really nice picture of the sky I happened to get as I was waving my camera around wildly trying to get a picture of a tree swallow

Equisetum Strobilus

Reproductive organ of a horsetail

Bird Calls

Along with pictures, illustrations and updates about my trip, I will be recording bird calls. I won't be able to properly edit them until I get back from my trip, so all of them will be posted sometime in September.

Here are a few just for fun:
Varied Thrush (not found on Ulleungdo) *my photo and audio
Japanese Wood Pigeon (found on Ulleungdo) *not mine
Scops Owl (found on Ulleungdo) *not mine

Illustration of a Silverfish I found in my house

Lepisma saccharina

A Description of Ulleungdo (Dagelet)

In the spring, the brilliant red of the camellia blossoms shines out of their dark green foliage. As one goes higher, the thickets become dense virgin forests of deciduous trees, and they form a thick blanket which softens the sharp outlines of the higher ridges. If one climbs up to the highest peak in mid-summer through the almost impenetrable undergrowth, the climbing plants, and the bamboo bushes, one may look down on all sides on the rounded treetops of the virgin forest, the even green of which is pleasantly by white umbellate flowers. Suddenly these waves of primeval forest fall away on all sides, and beyond a yawning void the light blue of the Japanese Sea shines up from unfathomable depths. If one glances upward in winter, however, the individual gray and leafless trees are clearly distinguished from the dazzling whiteness of the ground. Toward the sea, this blanket of white is often broken, and it finally gives way to the brown and gray of the bare fields and rocks. Patches of evergreen vegetation now stand out with increased clarity against this brown and gray background. 

Hermann Lautensach 1935. Quelpart and Dagelet Islands.

Akebia quinata (aka 으름덩굴)

One of my Akebia quinata vines growing on the stairs to my house

The first flower buds of the season on the "Silver Bells" variety