Dinner and the Game in Stanley Park

So, my first day in Vancouver was chilly and drizzly, which made for a gorgeous walk along the sea wall in Stanley Park. Fog hung low over the Lion's Gate Bridge.


I came upon a Great Blue Heron (the first of many on this trip) just outside the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. He was so still for so long, even while I stood on the beach snapping away, that I thought there might be something wrong with him.


But it turns out he had hunkered down to watch for food. Which he found.




He flew off as soon as he finished eating, and I continued along the sea wall, only to hear shouting and loud cracks on the other side of a thick hedge. I peeked through:

Cricketeers.

It is BRITISH Columbia after all.

A little further on, I found a glaucous gull (again, the first of many!) eating his dinner -- a purple starfish. The gull was considerably less graceful than the heron.

This would go down a lot easier with a beer.

Hasn't your mother told you not to stare at people while they eat?

Here we go ...

Urrp.