Coming up...

February:   Stay tuned in for a wild "Date Night"...

Okay, so that whole birdie thing was not expected - right?  Yeah, me too - totally didn't see that one coming!

PS:  Just have to let you know, that on that very same day, we saw ANOTHER rare sighting of a Brambling - a rare Russian vagrant - in a different part of the city and then, in yet another part of the city we photographed Snow Owls "having a go" at each other.  Sorry, I wasn't able to grab the camera quick enough for a pic. of the Brambling, but thought I'd let you get a peek at the Owl.

(by CH-R)

 



 

No 2:

 

There's never any sense to celebrating a birthday half heartedly!  My actual bucket list thing to do for this month turns out to be SNOW-SHOEING!  WhooHoo.

 

"Really?  I thought she was supposed to do something crazy?"

 

Well, it turns out that snow-shoeing, is simply hiking in the outback on snow trails, with shoes that make it relatively easy and safe to do so.  As we love hiking the forests during summer, it seems only logical that we should hike the trails in snow, before there comes a time that we consider leaving.  Below is a little info about snow-shoes...

 

"The origin and age of snowshoes are not precisely known, although historians believe they were invented from 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, probably starting in Central Asia." (wikipedia - snowshoeing)

 

"A snowshoe is footwear for walking over the snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation". (wikipedia - snowshoeing)

"In the past, snowshoes were essential tools for fur traders, trappers and anyone whose life or living depended on the ability to get around in areas of deep and frequent snowfall..." (wikipedia - snowshoeing)

And, here's a little info from me:-

This is what trying to get into the snow-shoe it looks like...

On steep powder snow slopes, it's not quite as simple as I thought!

 

Restaurant on the trail around the lake - Grouse Mountain.

 

These beautiful carvings all over Grouse Mountain - This one carved into a tree. - Just LOVE them!

 

 

No 3:

 

And finally...

 

what would a hike be, if you didn't have a picnic?  One of the things I love most about my family, is the fun and spontaneous things we do.  My wonderful husband carried our picnic up the mountain in his backpack and then, at the end of walk, we sat down to my first ever, birthday-in-the-snow picnic!

 

 

 

 

 



January :  One in a thousand - oh so rare...
                 Birthday Party in the Snow...
                 Outback with a difference...
 
Coming up...
 
February:  Tune in for a wild Date Night...
 
 
 
JANUARY :
 
So, I'm looking to do something which will put me into the category of  -
 
"Less than 1000 people in the world have done that"... 
 
What on God's dear planet of more than 7 000 000 000 people could I find to do, that would give me cause to crow "I'm 1 in less than 1000 people to have done that."
 
BASE jumping is out for this decade and I'm not likely to go heli-ski right now - there's far too many people doing that!
 
I've always considered myself a lucky person, so as I began to move my thinking laterally, I realised that something had caught my attention on the local news.
 
 HA!  My luck just kicked in.

..."Birders from near and far are able to cross an item off their bucket list after viewing a wee bird that lost its way.
 
A red-flanked bluetail that would normally be in Southeast Asia at this time of year has been causing quite a stir in Queen’s Park. Birders armed with binoculars and photographers equipped with fancy cameras descended on the park in recent days to view the visitor.
 
“There were a lot of bird watchers–35 or 40,” New Westminster resident Rob Butler said about the crowd on Wednesday afternoon...
 
...The arrival of the red-flanked bluetail in New Westminster is the first time the bird has been reported in Canada.
 
“It was pretty neat,” Butler said about seeing the bird. “I have been over to Asia birding. I didn’t see it in Asia.”
(by  Theresa McManus)


We whipped the girls out of school (LOL... they're home-schooled!) and took off for the day.   Within 10 minutes of being at Queens Park, we found the sweet little dumpling, hopping around in the brush and playing in the lower branches of the trees.   It really was quite an experience to be among professional birders, watching and feeling the excitement that only this tiny rare vagrant bird could bring.

Who would have thought that this red-flanked bluetail could have actually saved me from a potentially crazy idea.  I owe you big time little guy...  Thanks!

(by CH-R)