This is to be a weekend of catchup, as I try to finish grant proposals and permit applications for work in Honduras. What no one tells you about doing a PhD is how much work it is to not only finish and defend your thesis, but to ensure you have a job or income waiting for you when you do! Defending my PhD work is really the least of my worries.

I did go out Saturday morning for a walk in Stanley Park, where I encountered the regular cast of characters for a late fall morning. Because the crows have completed their molt, I did some crow photography, experimenting with throwing bare flash onto them from behind to give them some separation from the background, and in general to add interest. I think this is something I would like to explore some more, as it does give the shots a bit of extra pop, and the crow plumage seems to tolerate the bare flash well, provided it comes from an angle. All of the following crow shots have a cloudy daylight for the fill, and just a kicker of bare flash for highlighting.

A late blow fly hanging out on a dead leaf. The water droplets are dew.

The heavy rain we have had recently has kicked up soil on this mushroom.

I presume this is some kind of Lentinus. These are actually polypores, but have secondarily evolved gills.

It looks to me to be a Metelina, a type of tetragnathid.

Coon chillin’ on a log.

The winter ducks are arriving, like this Bufflehead. I also saw some Hooded Mergansers and goldeneyes.