The Story: Vancouver has a lot of parks, and one of them, Queen Elizabeth Park, has a great feature – The Bloedel Conservatory.  The Conservatory is home to a plethora of different flora, fauna and finches (as well as other birds).  I sat in one bird-heavy area for a few hours and got some good shots of all different varieties of finches, a couple of pheasants and some cockatiels.  If you haven’t been there, you should head of up there for a fun and relaxing afternoon.

Why I love It: This little guy is just so friggin’ cute.   He looks so fat and happy, like he has a smile on his little face.  I also really like that I was able to achieve a nice creamy bokeh in the background.

The Story: The Lower Mainland has a pretty fantastic cherry and plum blossom season in the early spring time.  Ma and Pa have this plum blossom tree in the front yard that they planted when my sister was born 34 years ago, and although it blooms very briefly, it is still a beautiful display of vibrant pink puffs.  It attracts some of the local bird life – mostly chickadees but sometimes when you’re lucky and patient, you can spot a hummingbird or two.

Why I Love It: This little guy was fussy.    Every time I would get remotely close he would zip away, so I had to be super stealthy and super patient to get even this close.  In this shot I like that his wing is fully extended and that he looks frozen and still in the air, although he was buzzing all over the place.  And seriously, how cute is he?