Today, the Super Bowl took place. Two teams played, one team one, etc. I don’t have all the details, I didn’t watch the game. I’m not really into sports ball.
What I do have is this AI art of an eldritch Super Bowl. Enjoy!
Month: February 2024
Birding, February 10, 2024: Through the tunnel, to the harlequins
Where: Crescent Beach, Serpentine Fen, 1001 Steps (Surrey), Sapperton Landing (New Westminster) Weather: Cloudy, 8°C
The Outing
It was a gray, cloudy day, with generally mediocre light, but on the plus side, my camera behaved again1Except when it came to one robin. See below for the blurry details., and it didn’t rain until after we had wrapped up.
We ventured to south Surrey and 1001 Steps, on the promise of spotting Harlequin ducks and lo, they were there! They were not close to the shore (none of the waterfowl were, a recurring theme for most of the day), but we got shots that say, “This is a Harlequin duck!” (Nic fared better–this is where 400mm vs 250mm can make a real difference).
The 1001 Steps that winds down to the rocky beach is more like 250 or so, but it’s still a notable number when you’re climbing back up. This is where all that jogging finally paid off. The beach is quite rocky, so we had to step carefully, but the view was very pretty, even with the cloud cover, and there were many birds swimming off the shoreline. We saw some species I don’t see often, too, like surf scoters and grebes, so despite the so-so light and distance, it was spiffy to check out a new area and see a new bird in the bargain. After climbing back up the stairs, we walked a few blocks to Kwomais Point Park. Here, there were a lot of songbirds, including bushtits (hehe) and a brown creeper, but most were not nearby. There was one extremely chill robin and I took a bunch of photos, but my camera was more interested in the grass directly behind the robin for reasons. I vow to shoot in manual mode the next time I see a robin sitting still like that. I will learn how to do this, just like a real guy-with-a-camera.
We actually started the day at Crescent Beach and Blackie Spit. There were lots of mallards, pintails and wigeons, but cormorants were absent, songbirds were not very prevalent, but we did see some greater yellowlegs, including two that had a bit of drama along the shoreline. Something felt off about the area today, though, whether it was the weather, the mix of birds or maybe just the time of year.
After 1001 Steps, we moved on to Serpentine Fen and got all crazy, walking the trail in reverse. I don’t mean walking backward, which would have been awkward, but possibly entertaining for others, we simply walked the route opposite the way we normally do. Sometimes you see views or things you didn’t notice before.
What we did see were lots of goldeneyes, wigeons, more mallards and several brooding herons. A few songbirds showed themselves here and there, but perhaps the biggest congregation consisted of several giant flocks of starlings atop some tall trees and power pylons. For some reason, this place had a lot more people than I would have expected for such a dreary day. But maybe people go somewhere else on nicer days? Maybe nothing new is on Netflix?
We wrapped up with an impromptu stop at Sapperton Landing, because I was hoping to see some birds near the river’s edge. And we did see some goldeneyes and a few others, along with some sparrows and a crow that took off at the precise moment I took its photo. It was a fitting end to what was a day of not-great shots. For the most part, it was the conditions and not my own ineptitude, or camera problems, but I think, after three years with my camera, I am ready to step up and start learning more control over the hardware, so I can better blame myself when a shot doesn’t turn out, just like nature intended.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American bushtit
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Black-capped chickadee
- Dark-eyed junco
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Red-winged blackbird (heard)
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee (heard)
- White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl:
- American coot
- American wigeon
- Belted kingfisher
- Bufflehead duck
- Canada goose
- Common goldeneye
- Common merganser
- Cormorant
- Dunlin (?)
- Great blue heron
- Greater yellowlegs
- Green-winged teal
- Harlequin duck
- Horned grebe
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Scaup
- Surf scoter
Common:
- Crows
- Seagulls
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
Non-birds:
- A rabbit at Serpentine Fen with a weird-looking puffy cheek
A funny bunny
I haven’t posted a whole lot this month, so here, in place of the usual amusing cat, is a funny bunny.
Posts with more substance, but probably less cuteness, soon.
Run 850: More sun, more lake, more leashes not being used
Another sunny day! In February! Weird!
I set off a little bit earlier for a run where conditions were similar to the previous in terms of weather (sunny) but a bit cooler by two degrees. This and going the “hard” way around Burnaby Lake meant my pace was a tad slower and my BPM a tad higher, but both were still fine.
I did something that made my right hip a bit sore yesterday (not a run day) and was concerned it might affect my run, but I think jogging actually helped it, because it wasn’t an issue and feels better (for now, at least).
The only off-note was another Off-leash Friday. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, it seems like people are more likely to have dogs off-leas on Fridays. At least they proved to not be problematic. The only one that approached me was post-run, and it was a tiny white furball.
Overall, it was nice to end the week with a full-deal run and to experience no issues. Here’s to getting slimmer, getting stronger and tackling 10Ks again, possibly as we shift over to spring next month.
Run 850 Average pace: 5:47/km Training status: Productive Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 120:58 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 29:07 Weather: Sunny Temp: 5-6ºC Humidity: 72-68% Wind: light BPM: 153 Weight: 172.0 Total distance to date: 6140 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (275/513/788 km)
Run 849: Sunny and productive
Quite often it happens this way: I don’t feel like running, I faff about doing other stuff, I finally convince myself to get out, then have a really good run.
That basically happened today. By the time I headed out, it was just past 11 a.m. But it was unexpectedly sunny, and the temperature had warmed to a relatively mild 7C, so conditions were good. In the interest of time, I ran the river trail, and it was fairly quiet, despite the later hour.
I came out of the gate a little hot with a pace of 5:38/km, which led to a bit of a sag for the next two km, but recovered for the final two and ended with a flourish, with my overall pace being 5:44/km, besting my last two runs. My BPM also edged down a little lower at 149. I was almost two pounds lighter than on Monday’s run, so I was slightly more aerodynamic, too.
With no issues to report, this was a perfectly fine mid-week run.
Run 849 Average pace: 5:44/km Training status: Productive Location: Brunette River Trail Start: 11:19 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 28:51 Weather: Sunny Temp: 7-8ºC Humidity: 70% Wind: light BPM: 149 Weight: 172.3 Total distance to date: 6135 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (270/500/770 km)
Birding, February 6, 2024: What does quack mean?
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, 8°C
The Outing
Today was a surprise edition of birding. The weather predicted some rare sunshine, so we took advantage with a trip to Piper Spit and Tlahutum Regional Park.
First, my camera: Closer examination revealed a lot of carbon build-up on the contacts of the lenses that my previously gentle cleaning had not touched. Using a brass brush and isopropyl alcohol, these were cleaned much more thoroughly. The contacts sparkled!
And the good news is it worked. The telephoto lens worked without any issues at all. It was nice to go back to blaming myself and not the equipment for lousy shots.
Fortunately, I got some good shots, with several chickadees and squirrels fighting for the “most adorable” award.
Piper Spit presented an unusual case of light that was at times too bright, but better still than rain. A woman teased us about a possible owl sighting, but we were not precisely sure of the location, and no owls were sighted. We were sad.
On the other hand, a bufflehead showed up in the mix, and we got some nice shots of his shiny iridescent head. The gulls seem to have taken up semi-permanent residence now, claiming the landmass off the pier as their kingdom. Or gulldom. It’s also the place where they gather and collect weird things like golf balls and other stuff we probably don’t really want to identify.
And a surprise appearance by barn swallows! We’ve seen them in March, but I don’t recall ever seeing them in February before, and especially not the first week of the month, so that was a neat treat. The albino pigeon was back, too, easily identified by, well, being pure white. But also by being banded. I’ve seen one other albino here, but it is not banded.
There was some avian drama to be had and the pecking order (heh) appears to be:
- Crows > coots
- Goose > crows
Coots, of course, mostly terrorize themselves.
Tlahutum presented a surprising number of birds, but they tended to be farther away, and by then the light was getting low and golden. Still, we saw some mergansers, gadwalls and yet more swallows (way up high). The fields of tall yellow grass did look rather pretty in the golden light of late afternoon.
Overall, this was a fine shorter outing, and I was pleased that my camera is back to behaving normally again.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Black-capped chickadee
- Dark-eyed junco
- Fox sparrow
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Red-winged blackbird
- Ruby-crowned kinglet
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl:
- American coot
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead duck
- Canada goose
- Dowitcher
- Green-winged teal
- Hooded merganser
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Ring-necked duck
- Scaup
- Wood duck
Common:
- Crows (multiple murders)
- Rock pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Northern harrier
Non-birds:
- Several Douglas squirrels
Run 848: Cool and dry
Today’s run was weird and a bit contradictory, but in a good sort of way.
First, it was cooler–only 5C. I wore two layers up top, and it was a little chilly walking to the lake, but tolerable, and I was fine for the run. I did try my windbreaker before heading out, but it’s a little too snug due to my current blimp-like shape. But I’ll be able to wear it again, probably by the time the weather warms up and I won’t need it.
Normally cooler weather means I need to work harder, yet my BPM of 150 was actually lower than Friday’s run, when it was a balmy 9C. Yet it felt like I was working harder, as if my heart rate and stamina have someone become disassociated from each other. Like I said, weird.
Once again, no issues on the run, though I started lagging a lot on the 4th km, with my pace drooping to 5:59/km. This surprised me, so I put in a little more effort on the final km (5:33/km) and ended up matching Friday’s pace of 5:48/km. I’m happy with that.
The trail was pretty empty for the most part, with only a few other joggers and a couple others out walking. The only doggo was on a leash and jogging alongside its owner (who I’ve seen several times now, possibly a new regular).
Overall, a good way to start the week.
Run 848 Average pace: 5:48/km Training status: Strained Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop) Start: 9:45 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 29:10 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 5ºC Humidity: 75% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 174.2 Total distance to date: 6130 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (265/496/761 km)
An airplane up in the sky
Right where you expect to see them, unless they are ingesting or burping out passengers. This one was flying so low overhead that I had to actually pull back with my telephoto lens to get the whole thing in.
This was taken at Sapperton Landing on another unusually balmy midwinter day, as part of an experiment to find out what’s up with my camera.
(I think I found out. More test results soon.)
Birding, February 3, 2024: The return of berserk geese, plus a bad camera
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Cloudy, 6-7°C
The Outing
We expected cloudy skies today and that’s what we got, though it started to brighten just as we were winding up. But at least it didn’t rain.
For the first half hour or so at Reifel, things seemed about normal. It was cooler than the previous visit, and a bit of wind made it feel cooler, still, but nothing like the deep freeze of mid-January. I forgot my gloves, but while my hands got cold, they didn’t get numb or fall off or anything.
We saw a million mallards near the entrance, and the blackbirds and sparrows near the entrance were being much chattier than usual. Maybe they’re excited about spring coming next month. I am!
We continued down to the bird blinds (nothing to see there, boo) and made our way up the west dyke trail. It was there that I first had a glitch with my camera.
The first of what would be too many to count. If I had to put a number on it, though, I’d say at least dozens. It got progressively worse, persisted through two batteries and by the time we were wrapping up at Reifel, I was pretty relieved that I wouldn’t have to continue doing battle with the camera.
We made a short trip to Piper spit after. Good news: the light was better! There were shorebirds! Bad news: My camera was still being dumb.
I missed a lot of shots. Not one-in-a-million shots, but good shots all the same.
But when the camera was not testing my patience, we noted that Reifel was pretty waterlogged, maybe the worst we’ve seen it. The downside of this was we saw no shorebirds there. On the plus side, we did see wood ducks again, and most of the other species were well-represented. Raptors were present, but tended to be farther away, but we did get to see a Sandhill crane shove its head in a Rona bucket again. It loves that bucket.
While we saw juncos, their numbers weren’t as insane as they were at the Richmond Nature House last week. And we saw buffleheads! They moved to the other side of the pond when we got close enough to shoot. Coincidence, or were they toying with us humans?
And the Canada geese were back, subtly cluing us in to their presence through prolonged and loud honking. A collared goose approached me, not to hiss and dominate, but apparently hoping I had pockets of seed. It stood there so mournfully, I couldn’t bear to take its picture. Also, my camera wasn’t working.
Piper Spit offered a nice contrast, as we not only got brighter skies, but also a few species we didn’t see at Reifel, like green-winged teals and dowitchers. The gulls seem to be here semi-permanently now, and several were bathing, as they also seem to do a lot. And of course, there was coot drama.
Overall, a shorter but still productive bird outing, but I was very cross with my camera by the end. I am researching to see what the issue might be (cold? some mechanical defect? karma?), but would settle for winning the lottery and just buying a replacement.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Black-capped chickadee
- Dark-eyed junco
- Fox sparrow
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- House sparrow
- Marsh wren (heard, not seen)
- Northern flicker
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
Waterfowl:
- American coot
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead duck
- Dowitcher
- Great blue heron
- Hooded merganser
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Northern shoveler
- Ring-necked duck
- Sandhill crane
- Scaup
- Trumpeter swan
Common:
- Rock pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
- Northern harrier
Non-birds:
- One very robust squirrel
This blog hatched 19 years ago today (February 2, 2005)
Yes, I have been rambling on, making lists and dissing Apple on this blog for 19 years. My blog can now legally drink in BC.
Here’s the original post in image form:
You can see the actual post here: Bloggity blog blog
As a first post, it’s not exactly riveting. I’m still using WordPress, though.
Some fun facts from 2005:
- Twitter did not exist (just like today)
- Facebook did not exist1Actually, it did, it launched in 2004, but it didn’t open up to the general public until 2006
- Instagram did not exist
- Spotify did not exist
- Social media did exist, but it was stuff like Friendster and Myspace
- YouTube launched
- Steve Jobs still existed, but we were still two years away from the iPhone
- Donald Trump being president was still just a joke on The Simpsons, a cruel, cruel joke
- People were using Windows XP because it was actually current
- The most popular song of 2005 was Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together”, which I have no recollection of
- The top movie was Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- An actual comedy was in the top 10. Like, a movie you see in theatres (Wedding Crashers, at #6)
For the 20th anniversary, I will get my blog a cake and then eat all of it.
Run 847: Passing polite people
Overdressed alert: I actually came back in after stepping outside and put on a second layer. It turned out I didn’t need it, though it was probably nice to have for the walk to the lake. It had started to lightly sprinkle, and I was thinking of cold rain, but the shower eased up and it stayed dry for the run.
My original plan was to do a quick one-hour workout by running the river trail. I managed to talk myself into doing a short loop at the lake and then, while running, talked myself into going all the way around the lake.
When I finished the run, my watch declared my training status as Productive. Yay! When I completed the 5K walk around the lake, it declared my training status Overreaching. Whoopsie!
The run went fine, with no issues other than me just slowly getting back into shape. Unlike Wednesday, there was no danger of me coming in over 6:00/km, and my overall pace of 5:48/km was a seven-second improvement. My BPM was even slightly lower. The only complication was a dry catch in my throat around the 3 km mark. As this point in a run I am breathing through my mouth (insert joke here), which means I was pulling in air onto this dry patch in my throat, which made it worse. It settled down after a few minutes, but was a bit annoying in the interim.
What wasn’t annoying were the people and dogs on the trail. Every dog was leashed, and all the owners saw me coming and made room for me to pass. Everyone was so friendly and polite! It almost threw me off. I almost expected a dragon or something to appear later to compensate.
But no dragons appeared.
And then on the river trail coming back I spotted extremely early blooms. We’re only halfway through winter. This is weird, but pleasant.
Overall, I’m pleased with my first full week back running. Here’s hoping my knees and other assorted body parts cooperate as I rebuild my stamina for an eventual return to 10K outings.
Stats:
Run 847 Average pace: 5:48/km Training status: Overreaching (oops) Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:44 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 29:11 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 9ºC Humidity: 88-89% Wind: light BPM: 153 Weight: 175.4 Total distance to date: 6125 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (260/488/748 km)
I tried Spotify again
It’s the free version, since I’m still paying for Apple Music. And this is the first thing I saw:
First, I was terrified. Then I wondered if maybe McDonald’s had some kind of playlist (the song “Grease” immediately comes to mind), then I realized it’s just an ad, because you get ads in the free version.
I don’t like ads, I no longer like McRibs (I did when I was 14, proof that teens think they know everything while knowing very little), but I am curious to try out alternatives to Big Daddy Apple these days, so I’ll see how it goes.
EDIT: Mobile Syrup’s newsletter the following day had this:
