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.)