Snow Fun

More Snow

Ok so we have had snow alot this winter so far; a few inches each time that lasts a few days and then clears but this is the most in one go so far!! Actually we have had about 15 - 20 cm each day for 2 days now and expecting more tonight. Of course this is localised to our North Shore mountains and the snow is less downtown.
Makes the snow at christmas seem like nothing. Mostly all OK; just a bit of extra work to get the car out. However, it has to be said that they clearly are not used to much snow in the city as they don't clear the roads well and they think it's driving as normal.


Charlie Loves it and has so much fun in the Garden I had to join him and make a snow angel. (Big Kid!)



D & A

Eagles II

So here is a little video of our day out watching eagles as promised. A bit shakey really so we may have to invest in a little tripod for such zoomed in filming.

Views from Cypress Bowl Road

On our way home from Brackendale we decided to stop for a quick photo opportunity at Cypress Bowl Road in West Vancouver. It's the road that leads to Cypress Bowl ski area, but about a quarter of the way up there's a pullout where you can stop and enjoy the views.
This photo shows the North Shore, Burnaby and Mt. Baker on the horizon.

Lions Gate Bridge, downtown and Stanley Park.

A close-up view of Mt. Baker

A wider view of the metro area.

Vancouvers Westside, with the University of BC campus in the foreground and the mountains on Vancouver Island in the distance.

Finally a close-up of downtown

Panorama of Metro Vancouver

This is a panorama shot we took of the metro area from the viewpoint on Cypress Bowl Road. Click the image for the full size version.

Howe Sound from the car

On our way home from Brackendale (see post below) David took a few random snaps out of the car window of Howe Sound. Our new camera has an excellent anti-shake feature which meant we actually came out with some OK snaps.
The first three images are of Howe Sound, south of Squamish.



Below is a view of Bowen Island

The Bowen Island ferry

Looking straight across the entrance to Howe Sound to near Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.

Eagles

Every winter bald eagles converge on an area called Brackendale, just outside Squamish about 45 minutes from Vancouver. They start arriving in mid November and stay until mid February, with the largest numbers being late December into January.

The attraction for the eagles is the plentiful supply of food - dying salmon in the Squamish, Mamquam and Cheakumus Rivers.

We visited at the end of January, towards the end of the 'eagle season' but still saw about half a dozen adults and one young. The young eagles can still be the same size as an adult, but don't develop the full colours and white head until they are 4-5 years old.

We only stayed about half an hour as it was absolutely freezing - the air temperature was about -2 but with the windchill it must have been -10 at least. Next year we will take ski-standard hats & gloves rather than the ordinary ones we had with us. We are still adjusting to these funny winter temperatures.

Here are a few of the still photos we have taken. I will try and upload some video footage shortly.





This is a photo of the young Eagle - it is still brown all over.

Brackendale

Here are a few images of Brackendale.

Capilano Lake

Last Monday we decided to make good use of the sunny weather and get out & about. We wanted to go to Brackendale and see the eagles, but on the way decided to test out the new camera at Capilano Lake.

View of the lake

A close-up of The Lions


The skyride towers on Grouse Mountain

A panorama image of Capilano Lake (click it for the full-size image)

Jay Brannan

We don't often go to musical events but we had heard Jay Brannan's music via the internet and could not pass up the chance to hear him play live here in Vancouver in a small alternative venue, The Media Club.
Not quite used to the new camera so pretty poor couple of pics. Luckily Jay has much of his music on You Tube so we can link here for you to sample some of my favourite example of his poetic and angelic singer song writing.



'Say it's Possible' (So beautiful; a favourite)


'Goddamned'


'Body's a Temple'


If you like this what you hear check him out at http://www.jaybrannan.com/index.html
Buy what you can on the net so he can make an album!!

Views Around North Vancouver

On Tuesday we actually had a sunny day (quite rare this time of year!). I was out on Agents Tour during the morning as usual and as I had the camera with me took a couple few photos as I was out and about.

Below is a view North up Boulevard Park, with the lower ski slope of Grouse Mountain seen in the background.

This is looking across the sports field at Boulevard Park in a South Westerly direction towards downtown. The mountains of Vancouver Island can just be seen on the horizon.

Below is a view south down Mahon Avenue towards the water.

St. Andrews Church on St. Georges Avenue.

And finally.....a nice backdrop to the supermarket

New Years Day Dinner

Somewhat belated as usual !........here are just a couple photos of the excellent dinner David laid on for us all on New Years Day.

Wildlife

We have noticed this winter how many more birds we get in the garden than we do in the summer. Presumably this is because they come down the mountain in search of food where the ground is less frozen & covered in snow.

This video is a small compilation of some wildlife that we've captured over the past few months comprising;
Steller's Jay (blue bird) filmed in our back garden
Northern Flicker (dash of orange on head & spotted body) filmed in our back garden
Squirrells filmed in our back garden
Deer filmed in the garden of the house we rented in Golden
Eagle filmed in the garden of the house we rented in Golden

On the same day we filmed the Steller's Jay we also had two Varied Thrush with bright orange bodies but they didn't sit still long enough to film them. We will try and get some footage of them next time we see them.

Sea Otters

Apparently this piece of amateur video footage taken at Vancouver Aquarium of two sea otters floating on their backs holding flippers made it into the top 10 most viewed videos on You Tube with over 9.4 million views since March 2007.

Charlie Shakin his booty is up to 47 views now........we're getting there !