New Batch of Finch Babies...Parents Feeding Kids

The Finches has been quiet through spring this year.  (quiet April and May) 

I assumed that they are raising kids.

Few days ago, they started coming back with their babies!!

I think they breed twice a year, each time with 1 to 6 eggs.  This time, after they taught the kids how to fly, they brought them to my place.

The parents will feed the kids.

cute moment: finches feeding kids

I got to see lots of these cute moments.  Kids wanting food from parents even though they can fly and come eat their own food.  I guess we all want to be take care of! haha.

Baby Finch

The baby finch will have fresh white hair still popping out from the head.  They act just like babies...very cute.
 

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: 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.

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.

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

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.)

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?)

BC Flood, Panic Buy and Food Shortage 2021 (Part 2)

 Today is November 25th, 2021, and it is already quite a few days after BC flood.  There is still nothing in Walmart in my area:

They say there is no supply shortage...not so sure..

There is still absolutely no meat:

There is no yogurt:

There is no milk and cheese:

There is no fries...but you see...lots of toilet paper in the reflections:

No meat still:

No chips....some chips I guess:

My favorite sauces are gone:

Even drano and cleaning supplies are out....

How long is it gonna take to restock these shelves?

Cute Squirrel Following Me Near Park

 There is a very friendly silver squirrel nearby my building near a park.  Everytime, when we go out for a walk, it follows me.  (probably looking for food)

They are so cute with big eyes.  Looks like a cartoon animal.

November 15th, 2021 BC Historical Flood and Food Shortage (Panic Buy)

 BC had an once per 100 years, historical flood that cripple the highway and rail systems.  The supply chain system was also disrupted, and people started panic buying.  Abbotsford, Merritt, Princeton were flooded.  Many grocery shops ran out of food in BC including our area in Burnaby.

All breads, ham, meat, eggs and milk were sold out in Walmart:

This is crazy.  There is food shortage due to panic buying even though the government says there is no problems.  I guess people worry and want to prepare ahead of time.  All highways were shutdown but now, after few days, some are opening slowly.  I hope this situation improves.

Animal Crossing Update and Series 5 Amiibo Cards

Animal Crossing had a very large update last week, and they also released a new series of amiibo cards (Series 5).  All the websites had sold out of the cards the first day, and I finally found some on Amazon.ca.  They were 7 Canadian dollars, and as usual, they had a 2 packs per person limit.

I got a couple of new characters including Rio and Cephalobot.  It is truly a big update with thousands of new items and hundreds of new DIYs.  My kids and I were very excited for it.