Natural on Unnatural

An overcast and lightly rainy morning gradually gave way to sunshine and much warmer conditions, which provided the perfect ambience and lighting conditions for photographing (and juxtaposing) this rain-beaded Mexican

The Colours of Autumn in Burns Bog

This gallery contains 6 photos. This isn’t some dream sequence from Lord of the Rings, nor are those trees smoking. We saw many trees steaming at Burns Bog just before noon on November 10, and evaporation continued for a couple of hours. The mercury dipped below 7°C, giving Vancouver an early taste of winter, with a week of freezing temperatures at night.

Of Damps, Darks, and Decays: Mushroom Mania

This gallery contains 7 photos. With its many trees, Burns Bog is an ideal breeding ground for mushrooms (over 550 species as per its interpretive signage) at any time of the year, but particularly in the autumn, like shelf/bracket fungi which carve large “steps” in dead trees. This one–which looks like a hat–was spotted deep in the forest where little light falls, and taken with flash. Note the “condensation” on the rim of the cap. Photographed on a dazzlingly sunny but cold November 10.

Shelf/Bracket Fungi

This gallery contains 3 photos. From my odd and fascinating archives: I’m stopped in my tracks by the sight of these colourful polypore mushrooms, growing on the side of a very tall but dead tree. They look very much like fomitopsis pinicola (hoof fungi), but I’m no mycologist! Photographed on June 7 in the forested area of UBC Botanical Gardens.

The Mind-Altering Fly Agaric

This gallery contains 6 photos. The amanita muscaria or fly agaric, is a common toxic mushroom that grows easily in the fall when things get nice and damp(er) on the West Coast. Photographed on October 16 at the local golf course.

Spot the Cedar Waxwing

The photos of the darting Common Yellowthroat were overshadowed by leaves, but this shot of the Cedar Waxwing was halfway respectable. A pretty colourful bandit of a bird, with red wingtips and yellow tailtips! Photographed at the Serpentine Wildlife Management Area.

The Secret Garden of Boundary Bay

This gallery contains 18 photos. The Secret Garden of Boundary Bay isn’t really much of a secret to its local inhabitants, though to the rest of Metro Vancouver, it may be. I’m glad we stumbled upon it whilst biking to Centennial Beach a couple of years ago.

Welcome Sign Secret Garden

White Bellflowers

Sea Holly

Yellow Alstromeria

Flowering Dogwood Tree

Reddish Dianthus

Purple Aeonium

Daylilies et. al.

Blue Fir Cones!

It’s not every day that you see big blue fir cones in Vancouver. The abies koreana is an endangered fir found in the mountains of South Korea. This is one of (at least) two such trees planted on the grounds of the UBC Botanical Garden. Photographed in early June.

A Joint Spirograph-and-Bokeh Moment

A different way to shoot a Monkey Puzzle tree — the emanating and repeating star pattern reminds me of a finished Solitaire game, when the cards are bouncing all over the place. Any way you shoot it, the Monkey Puzzle tree looks spiky.