This cute little guy was spotted outside of the YVR airport during the day. He was so tiny; maybe only ten inches tall. When I looked up owls in the area, I found out that this little fella was a young Short-eared Owl.
According to allaboutbirds.org, you’ll want to look for Short-eared Owls during winter. Look for open fields, grasslands, or airports and visit near dawn or dusk for your best chance of finding them. They may be sitting directly on the ground or flying low and erratically as they hunt.
While I was out driving on this sunny day, I came across some beautiful cherry blossoms that are in full bloom now! From April 1st to April 23rd it’s the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. Lots of events are happening in the city that is themed around the cherry blossoms. Be sure to get out and check out the fleeting blossoms while they are still around.
Make an online reservation before heading out to this beautiful bird sanctuary. It’s a wonderful place to visit if you need to get away from it all and immerse yourself in nature. The trails are easy to walk and you’ll always have the company of a duck or two.
The Sanctuary consists of a mix of 300 hectares of ponds, treed pathways, marshes, and channels. There have been over 300 species of birds recorded there. You are allowed to feed the ducks and chickadees. They also sell the seeds for two dollars a bag at the front counter.
One adventure that always gets me out of the house is a good ole giveaway, what can I say… I’m a sucker for free things!
So when a new neighborhood grocery store has a grand opening event and mails you an invite for a chance to win a $500 gift card, you better wake your butt up at 5:30 am to be one of the first 500 in line!
Save on Foods grand opening on March 23, 2023, and Gift Card Giveaway
For the first 500 people, they were giving away 2 chances at a $500 gift card and another 498 opportunities at a $10 gift card. So, I had pretty good odds at $500. Why not try, at the least, I could get some free milk and butter while I was up.
After waiting in line for an hour and 20 mins, we all filed into the store at 7 am and were greeted by friendly, smiling staff that were handing out the gift cards one by one. The store was pristine, I had never seen a store untouched and displayed so beautifully. They also had a pianist playing music for us.
To find out what you won you had to bring your gift card to the cashier. They also had another coupon if you bought $50 worth of groceries, you get a $10 gift certificate for next time. With all those people coming in all at the same time, the store got pretty crowded quickly. So I got $50 worth of grub and headed to cash.
Here’s my card! Guess how much I won!
Drum rollllllllll…
Ahhh, I won $10. Plus, I also got another $10 gift card for next time! It wasn’t $500, but it was exciting to try. Plus it was great to support a local business on its grand opening.
Go check out Save on Foods in Richmond, B.C. at 9100 Blundell Road at the Garden City Shopping Center. Open every day from 7 am – 10 pm
They are having a door crasher for the first 500 customers on Saturday, March 25th. They’ll be giving away a 3 lbs bag of navel oranges (worth $8.49)! Happy adventuring!
During the reading break, I took a trip to Las Vegas. While flying over Nevada I was looking out of the window enjoying the sights of the mountains and desert lands near death valley. In all the flights I’ve taken over the years, I’ve never seen what I was seeing. As we flew above some light clouds I started seeing a rainbow appear, but not any rainbow, this one was circular. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I started to make out the shadow in the center and realized that it was the shadow of our plane in the center of this circular rainbow!
A picture I captured of a glory from the airplane window above the Nevada desert.
According to Paula Ferreira (2022), turns out that this is a rare optical phenomenon that is called a glory. Usually only seen in the right conditions and up high on a mountain or from an airplane. From a mountain, you usually see the observer’s head as the shadow. This phenomenon is caused by the sunlight interacting with water droplets (mist or clouds).
Or more scientifically speaking, glories appear because of wave interference of light internally refracted within small droplets. Much like how you played with prisms in science class in high school, that is how you get certain colours from white light bouncing off the water droplets. In other words, it’s complicated, but if you would like to learn more about them you can read about it here. I hope someday you get to discover one of your own while adventuring. It is quite amazing to witness.
