OK, I was being bad about feeding the gulls. I have no excuse. I just like them.
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We rented a Vespa and drove to the Vancouver Aquarium today. We rented two at first, by my wife couldn’t deal with driving one, so we switched to one and she rode as a passenger. Stanley Park is an awesome place to drive around with a scooter. The Vancouver Aquarium is in Stanley Park so we spent a while in there.
I also was bad and mocked some protestors. The aquarium only keeps cetaceans that are rescue animals, they don’t breed/capture their sea mammals. But there were a bunch of protestors who didn’t get this fact who were being PETA-class dunderheads. I wandered by and said, “What do we want? Dolphin Voting Rights. When do we want it? In a while, but not too soon since we live to do protests.”
Then we went in, it’s a really nice aquarium, the layout’s nice, it’s a great size, they have a lot of educational displays and explanations of exhibits that explain the ecological significance of animals and habitats in the displays and explain conservation-related topics.
Jellies:
Gull stealing some poor kid’s ice cream which wasn’t my fault since this was far from the hotel:
Penguin:
Harbor seal:
False killer whale saying hi:
Jellies:
Jellies:
Jellies:
Aquarium:
Happy false killer whale:
False killer whale:
Sea otters:
Jellies:
Sea otter praying to the Kemetic Otter Jesus:
White-sided dolphin:
Jolly otter:
False killer whale wide-angle shot which I really liked:
Sea lion:
Otter praising the mythic Kemetic ice Christ or something:
Happy false killer whale:
Dramatic wide-angle cetacean shot:
Grumpy sea lion.
Frog:
Dolphin:
Sad sea lion:
Bullfrog:
Happy false killer whale:
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LOL!
(I hope you notice that I stay away from that thread!!!)
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Oh, also, there’s a Pacific Northwest form of the song sparrow:
There are a lot of bald eagles up here, though they are a pain to get anywhere near:
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While most of the cats love climbing up on my chest for some loving, our tub-o-goo kitten never does… until just now (no prompting, just got up and plopped in front of my face) – the other kitten appeared seconds later to join him.
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Milestone! 
Although our kitty snuggles next to us, he dislikes us holding him. Everyday I try, and each time he sits on me until I move my arm. I do notice that he doesn’t grab at the fabric anymore when I pick him up, so I got to celebrate the small victories.
(It’s just so hard because our last kitty let us hold him any which way: on his back, upside down, over the shoulder, etc. He was uber relaxed!)
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It can be hard to keep up with our cats’ changing game plans and revisionist history.
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I’m perfectly happy with tubbums spooning against my side… His 5 minutes on my chest/shoulder left me with a little ache.
The cats get a bit traumatized by the wife everyday – she hugs them and literally “squees” as they struggle in vain until they accept their fate. Luckily, our old boy, Bob, loves hugs-n-kisses, so she can always count on getting her “fix” from him.
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It looks like the kittehs are about to squash you! But what a wonderful way to go!
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So whale watching was a bust due to the weather, but we went to Granville island and there were goslings that were so adorable that we can’t narrow the list down to any fewer photos than this mega gosling photo bomb:
(there are a few ducklings too)
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The 10th photo is adorable.
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Thanks! They’re the cutest little things in person, it was hard to leave. We used fill flash on #10 which really helps. I think #4 is my fave, loved seeing them wobbling around in the field full of tiny flowers.
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Dawwwww . . . Canada geese like to hang out on the grounds at my work (lots of undeveloped space), so we should have a bunch of these little guys running around, but I haven’t been out and about enough to see any yet. It’s about fawn time, too. I miss the old office space where there was some grass outside the window (and a big tree), so we had a chance to actually see some critters.
So what I’m saying is, I really appreciate gosling pics 
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I’d never seen Canada goose goslings in person until today, but now think they’re very high on the adorablest list.
Here are some bonus goslings.
mom & wee-one:
a head turner:
a close-up w/fill flash:
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Went to Chinatown, and hung out in the Sun Yat-Sen gardens for a while. Not a real birding area, but lovely to check out and we saw a few cool things bird-wise.
There were a few Anna’s hummingbirds hanging out somewhat frustratingly far away.
We found this poor juvenile robin on the ground. Its parents were taking care of it, fortunately.
Mom or dad with another worm delivery for the grounded young one.
I was struggling to get a shot of the bushtits that were hanging out all over. They’re fast and really busy-bodied. Here’s one dangling from an awning.
And here’s a bushtit pausing for a millisecond on a tree trunk. Bushtits aren’t rare, but I’d never spotted one before, so I was extra happy to see these.
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You get one of the few likes I have left after being totally out for a few hours.
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Hur hur.
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Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention they also have one of the more enjoyable bird names to say. Along with dickcissels, boobies, great tits, and the woodcock. Then there’s the set of penduline tits.
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Heheh, bushtits. The first house I rented here (Portland) had a window near the front porch, so I got one of those suet block holders and hung it up in the porch. Starlings would fight over it, so only one of them could eat at a time, but bushtits would cluster all over the thing with their little tails sticking out in every direction. They are so tiny and adorable.
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