First Ski Day - November 20

Great first ski day with very nice boot-top powder turns at Paul Ridge. Went up there with Alex. Could ski all the way down to the parking lot without hitting rocks. Only a few people out, but reportedly 25 cars in the parking lot on the next day (a Thursday). Unfortunately it warmed up before the weekend. What we didn't know... that was the last we would see of nice fluffy snow for a long, long time!

Bears and Birds

This fall I had time for several trips out to Boundary Bay and to a small stream in Port Coquitlam for bird and bear photography.

Got to see an impressive murmuration of dunlins (wading birds) at Boundary Bay and shot a short video. Unfortunately I didn't have a tripod at hand and the video is rather shaky. I just didn't expect this. Always be prepared! Mental note: always bring tripod, wait for sunny weather, high tide and avoid south and east wind (thats when the kite boarders are out).


Also watched several great herons stalk and catch their prey (voles, I think). Pretty amazing when these birds have that intent and focused stare, ever so slowly get closer and then lightening fast move in for the catch.

Without noticing all involved I took this photo of a short eared owl and a northern harrier getting into a brawl. Only at home I realized that there was a third participant. The birds were fighting over a vole.

Watching the bears feed on salmon was probably my best 'wild life adventure' of the year. At different times I observed a couple of smaller bears, probably second year, and one very big mum with two cubs. Amazing how much they can eat, but really not that much of a surprise - that's all they get for several months!

New Mushrooms

Each fall I turn into a cautious mushroom-hunter. 'Hunting' sounds much more exciting than the German 'Sammeln' which means 'collecting'. Not much interested in experimenting with questionable foods I collect only half a dozen species I know well.

This year I added a new one to my list of collectibles: pine mushrooms. Apparently Pines are valued much by Japanese and exported in great quantities. Most distinguishing feature of these mushrooms is their smell described as cinnamony/spicy/fruity). But beware there are (somewhat) similar shrooms out there that are extremely poisonous.

Everybody agreed: 2013 was a stellar year for mushrooms.

!