edwards block

As many of you know, I have little time for christmas. For one thing, I’m not a christian. For another, the stampede of consumer frenzy that takes place all around me – starting in October these days – leaves me feeling considerably less than spiritual. I choose to honour the spirit of the solstice that was long ago kidnapped by those promoting the birth of J. Christ, despite the alleged saviour’s birth having taken place sometime in the summer, by some accounts. Anti-pagan politics, or simply a calendar error? Only one historical virgin with stretch marks (excluding the possibility of immaculate gestation) knew for sure, and she’s not around to ask.

Compounding the problem is that my birthday happens also to be December 25th, but I’m never very enthusiastic about birthdays, either (“what is he enthusiastic about?”, you might wonder. The answer is here.). I haven’t had any interest in a party of any kind since I was about twelve. Who’d want to go to a party on or near Christmas anyway? I probably wouldn’t even show up for my own. Over the years I have developed my own birthday ritual, however. I like to spend the morning of December 25th somewere surrounded in nature, preferably alone. My first choice is to travel somewhere, but that’s often not the optimum time of year for flying. Usually, I spend the morning hiking somewhere in the woods. It’s often inconvenient to get out of town for the day, since I ride a bike and often have to be somewhere or other in the afternoon. Thus, my ritual is usually exercised either in Stanley Park, or at the Reifel bird refuge. This year it was Reifel.

When I arrived at the refuge at 9:00 (opening time), there was only one other person there, but the crowd grew quickly, since it’s Snow Goose season, but mercifully it was not a particularly vocal crowd. It was my last opportunity for birdwatching before I leave town, so I brought my camera along. There has occasionally been a Black-crowned Night Heron near the first blind, but it is usually well hidden, since it is generally nocturnal. On this morning, however, there were at least four of them, and all in relatively plain view. I also managed to get some great shots of a Red-tailed hawk that was particularly bold and flew quite close to me. There were also a number of juvenile eagles around. See the Recent Photos page for some of the pictures.

And that was it for another year. Perhaps next year I will spend Christmas in the Galapagos.