Burnaby Lake: Chip and Dale Squirrels

 We saw these two cute squirrels near Burnaby Lake during the long weekend.

They are so cute and feels like they are the cartoon character, Chip and Dale.

They can move their fingers just like humans and are so agile.

They have such big eyes with a cute face.  So adorable!

One likes to pop his head out of their house on the tree and peek at the surroundings.

Burnaby Lake: Cedar Waxwing

 We also discover another bird for the first time while walking:  Cedar Waxwing

They have wispy crest on the head, black bandit mask on the face and red tips on inner wings.

My pictures are not too clear, but you can check the link below for more info:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id

Burnaby Lake: Purple Finch

 We encounter purple finches far away in our sight while walking around Burnaby Lake.  

They are more pinkish then House Finch, and they sing a different tune.  (That is why I noticed them.)

Purple Finch in Burnaby Lake

I should get a clearer picture next time.

Burnaby Lake: Rufous Hummingbirds!

 As I mentioned, we have lots of Anna's Hummingbirds near our area, but I have yet to see a male Rufous Hummingbird.  So, for this May long weekend, we went to Burnaby Lake on a quest to find it.

...and...We found them!!

Rufous in Burnaby Lake

Rufous Hummingbirds are mostly orange in color.  The males are all in orange, but the females are mostly green with orange chests.  

They like to drink from flowers of berries and sit on branches when guarding their territories.  They have a different "humming" sound when moving.  It sounds like bugs singing.  This is very different than Anna's.  

Also, when guarding, they don't make the same kind of "tze-tze" sounds like Anna's Hummingbirds.

It is very interesting to see the variation in behaviors even among types of hummingbirds.

Walmart: Coca Cola with Coffee

 I saw this new interesting product at Walmart the other day:  Coca-Cola with Coffee.

Coca-Cola with Coffee

I bought one and tried it.  It taste good for me.  It does taste like Coca-Cola with thick scent of coffee.

First, you will taste the coke and the bubble, then a thick scent of coffee taste and smell will come along.

I know they have a lot of different variety of coke drinks in the USA, and I hope they sell more kinds of drinks here in Canada.

(We just don't have the varieties here for all kind of products....gets boring.)

Costco: Boba Milk Tea Mochi

 I saw this at Costco the other day:  Boba Milk Tea Mochi.

Boba Milk Tea Mochi

I love bubble tea, and I thought I would buy it and give it try!

It came with 60 mochis, and these taste great!!

These taste authentic and they were made in Taiwan.  I wished that Costco will keep these on the shelves permanently.

Costco: Popcorn M&M Minis

 I saw this in Costco the other day:  Popcorn M&M Minis

It looks very interesting and probably tastes good for kids.  It might be too sweet for me.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

 During the snowy times, I guess the birds are trying to look for any food that they can find.

Not only the chickadees are friendly, there were a few "Chestnut-backed Chickadees" around.

They are very cute!

Their pattern is different than the common Black-capped Chickadees in Canada.

Cute Duck Eating Sunflower Seeds with Cute Squirrel in Burnaby Lake

 We went to Burnaby Lake to feed the birds and to see nature on the 2nd day of January, 2022.

It is a cold day with lots of snow still on the ground.  We found good parking spot because of this.

Right beside our parking spot, there are lots of birds and squirrels already trying to find food.

There was this cute duck following us and a few squirrels:

Look at them sharing the space?  So cute!!

My son made a table for them to eat seeds.

They both ate off the table.  The squirrel waited till the duck was gone.

New Kumamon Country Ma'am Cookies in Suzuya

 

I saw this pack of this famous Japanese cookies "Country Ma'am" in Suzuya in Burnaby the other day.  In Japan, there are usually many kind of local food and manufacturers will make different taste of cookies in different regions.

Kumamon is a mascot from the Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu region, Japan.  This box's taste is "Yakimaron".  I supposed that it is chestnut flavor...

Kumamon Kumamoto Country Ma'am

I did not buy it as all import cookies are double or triple priced in Canada.  It is tough to live away from Japan when you love the food there.

Winter Birds in Burnaby Lake: Chickadees, Towhee, Junco, Golden Eagle

 The chickadees in the winter in Burnaby Lake are extra friendly because they know the only way to get food is from our hands:

So cute and soooo small.  They love sunflower seeds!

There are lots of dark eyed Juncos that day, more than summer.  They are not used to people and feed from the ground.

Song Sparrow are shy, and they feed from the ground.

Towhee:  They also eat from the ground, far away from humans.

This humongous golden eagle caught a poor inmature crow and ate it in front of us (up on a tall tree).

Kind of yucky but the bones kept falling down in front of us.  Animals can be cruel but it is the food chain, and they all have to survive.

Golden Eagle eating a inmature crow

Kitchen Counter Re-Coating

 I redid my kitchen counter top (thin wood part) this winter.  I replace the varnish and coating because they were worn out like below:

I replaced it with a darker color and redid the waterproof coating:

More icicles from Cold Winter 2021 - 2022

 There has been a few days of snow during December 2021, and I saw more icicles, so I am uploading the pics:

I saw more icicles from my walk to the Korean grocery store nearby:

I saw a Robin in the snow, looking for fruits to eat.  Can you spot it below?

Happy New Year!! 2022!

 Happy New Year, Everyone!  It is already 2022....so fast.

Time passes by faster and faster in the Covid era, and everyday seems the same in Canada.  I really envy the people who live in Japan, Taiwan or the USA because they can still go somewhere fun or tropical.

This has been a long and cold winter in western Canada for the last 2 weeks and more.  The temerature has been -10 to -26 degrees most of the time with snow in somedays.  The moisture all turn into ice or icicles.

Here is a picture of the icicles on my balcony:

The huge icicles are from my dryer vent, so the warm air has become ice overnight.

(kind of scary when they dropped down.)

Canadian Tim Horton's New Tim Biebs

After our walk to Burnaby Lake today, we went to Tim Horton's for the new advertised "Tim Biebs", promoted by Justin Bieber.

Basically, it is the usual Tim Bits coated with different coatings with 3 flavors:  Birthday Cake, Chocolate Fudge and Sour Cream Chocolate.  They cost around 20 cents more per piece.

Tim Horton's Tim Biebs Box

Personally, I like Birthday Cake more because it have more impact taste wise.  However Chocolate Fudge is okay, too.  Actually, the other two chocolate taste are pretty similar.  Some people say they don't really feel too much difference.  

At least Tim Horton's exploring more ways to get new product on the market.  However, I think they should do it without inflating the price.  New products should not always mean expensive pricing...

In Asia, new products are constantly being introduced.  (Things move faster in Asia, and the menus change more often.)

Burnaby Lake, BC, Canada: American Coot

 Coot Family looks like ducks, but they have no webbed feet.  Their feet look like blueish large chicken feet.  They have black heads, white beaks and a "dot" on the forehead.

American Coot

The European (Eurasian) Coot looks very similar with no dot on the forehead.

Burnaby Lake, BC, Canada: Mandarin Duck? Foreign Visitor or Escape?

Lots of non-local species are often found in Burnaby, and some are extremely invasive.  Plants like water lilies multiplies and totally cover the whole lake with roots hard to take out.  Also, they have bass and carps inside the lake.

We saw a Mandarin Duck in Burnaby Lake.  It is the first time I saw it here, and it is very beautiful with upright wings, looking like a Maserati sports car.It is a very common duck in Asian ponds, but I can't believe it travelled all the way here.  It is more likely someone import and released it here, or it escaped...

The colors are very vibrant and looks different than other North American ducks.

It looks beautiful, but I hope it does not disturb the balance of life here.

Burnaby Lake, BC, Canada: Double-crested Cormorant

Today, we went to Burnaby Lake on a cold cloudy day near 0 degrees.  However, we saw so many kinds of birds near the lake.

We saw these majestic Double-crested Cormorant in the lake resting and stretching:

They have blue eyes, partly orange beak and large wings.

I am not sure there are a lot of these birds in BC.

I found a link for these birds, documenting their habitats and numbers:

BC Breeding Bird Atlas

Finch Couples Like My Branches

We have quiet a few finch families that comes to our place, but this pair comes more often:

They are liking our branches right now.

We have so much dark days in the winter here.  Very rainy...but looking at them is so peaceful.

Nice couple...and she saw my apple house:

Peaceful Co-existence Between Hummingbird and Finch

 Here is a picture of a hummingbird and a finch sitting peacefully together on the same branch.

So cute!!  So peaceful~~

Hummingbird is okay to stay with other types of bird, but not other hummingbirds.  Strange...

(Maybe it is a Canadian hummingbirds thing?)