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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

Two more pictures: a beached boat and an egret taking off. #Birds

A wooden rowboat on land. Not sure how seaworthy it is.

Flying is kind of magical. The white egret here has just taken off, with its legs still extended and wings half open. There is a pier behind the egret that I wouldn't walk on.

Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

One can get some decent pictures with a very ordinary lens (55-210). The hit rate is definitely lower, though. Here are some birds that were new to me. Again from the Axios Delta. #Birds

This common greenshank doesn't look that common to me. We have a sharp image of a white bird with brown wings standing in shallow water. There is also some brown plumage on its head but around its eye is a white swath.

On the right we have a dalmatian pelican, which has a super long bill and is grooming itself. (Doesn't it get in the way?) On the left there is a cormorant. They are both on posts in the water.

A tern with black feathers on top of its head and otherwise white is flying around and looking for something to eat, presumably.

This is a stilt. It's an African-Eurasian black-winged stilt. So it's mostly white except for a long and thin black bill, and of course black wings. It's standing in shallow water, and there are some plants on the shore behind it. Maybe samphires?

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

Back to Europe. More birds, this time from the Axios Delta in Thessaloniki. There were a decent number of birds, mostly cormorants and egrets. I heard that there are even more during migratory season. In this post we have little egrets, pygmy cormorants, and a […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

An elegant white bird is wading in water that is knee deep for it. Maybe it doesn't look so elegant if you are a fish being eaten by it, but there are no fish visible here.

There are three pygmy cormorants that are clearly perching on posts, and two more that may be on posts, though it's impossible to tell. They are all black silhouettes although the one in the middle has a bit of sunlight reflecting it.

This is a single pygmy cormorant on a post. It is mostly black (head is kind of brown) but not actually in silhouette; you can see its feathers.

A kind of goofy looking heron with stripey plumage. The base colour is white and there are some brown stripes all across its body. There is a bit of a green tinge to the photo.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026

@colinburgess yeah the Snowland "see the snow" visitor attraction at Whakapapa is kind of weird to me as someone who grew up in Montreal, but I think of it as subsidies to skiiers

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026

The community-run ski lodges are a pretty awesome bit of infrastructure, and quite communal. Here is the Pinnacles Lodge as well as a NZAC hut. They are not quite ski-in ski-out, but close. #mountains

A two-storey building with a sign "PINNACLE" on it, among grey/brown volcanic terrain.

The Ruapehu Hut, owned by the New Zealand Alpine Club. It's brown with a red door. Three mountaineers are standing in front of the hut.

Pointy mountains in the distance, with a snowfield in the foreground.

A person practicing self-arrest on a modestly steep snow slope.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2026

I would have liked to have more Aotearoa content, but I do have these pictures from a day out at Whakapapa in September. #mountaineering

A person on a snowy slope wearing crampons and using an ice axe. Some rocks in the background.

The top bit of Ngauruhoe, a conical volcano which has appeared in movies as Mount Doom. There are some clouds around it and below it; almost, but not quite, an undercast.

Two people about to go out on a walk in the snow, carrying various technical gear.

Two people walking across a shiny white snowfield.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

Lots of Europe this month. Some more pictures from the Tour du Mont Blanc. I just finished one more day (you'll see it next month), leaving 2 more days to process. #hiking #Alps

A bumble bee on a purple thistle, with other small white flowers to the side.

Rifugio Bonatti is a short one-hour walk from the bus stop and super accessible, so there are heaps of people around it here.

A mule going for a walk and carrying lots of stuff for people, in dry bags.

Same mule, but this time a small presence on the path, surrounded by the people whose stuff it is carrying.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

Throwback: some pictures from a visit to Rome in 2005; I was seeing whether I had any pictures of Naples at all. I don't think I did. Now I do!

Sunrise over the rails, perhaps at Rome Termini? I can't remember.

One of the statues at Quattro Fontane in Rome. The subject of the statue---the Arno river god---is holding a cornucopia and a jug.

Another statue at the Quattro Fontane. Same idea, but this time it is the Tiber river god.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

One more batch of photos from Korab, and then we'll move on. I was surprised to learn that things that look like blueberries aren't all the same species, though I think that if they look enough like blueberries then they are edible. Bilberries/myrtilles look […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

A sign indicating a choice between Korab Peak, Strezimir (N Macedonia) and Radomir (Albania). Choose wisely.

A building (sheepfold?) in a little dip, surrounded by grassy hilly terrain.

A sign indicating the summer trail, which is subject to avalanche danger in winter. When looking at the *winter* trail, one sees more elevation gain but also less danger from above.

Looks a lot like blueberries, but isn't.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

My case was pretty much the shortest possible ride, so I can see the train losing there. The day before, I was going to Coopers Plain beyond Central, so DiDi would probably have been more expensive (but 2x faster).

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

I couldn't quite work out who it was, but that's entirely plausible.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

So the airport train from Eagle Junction to BNE appears to cost more than DiDi?!

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

@janef0421 (I don't mean that in a positive way; parties should have ideologies!)

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

@janef0421 some people are power hungry but I don't necessarily think that's the case here, at least more than anyone else who is standing for office. Are they ideology driven? Signs point to no.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

More traditional landscapes from Korab, and a view to Radomir, Albania. #hiking #mountains

A rocky peak is highlighted in the sun, while the landscape around it is darker.

Kind of a valley/plain in the middle, surrounded by not-that-high rocky peaks.

A bunch of rocky peaks in the back, with mountainous terrain between here and there.

A small village in the distance, with the twin minarets of the Xhamia e Radomirës most prominent.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

We saw grasshoppers and katydids, some of which were quite big! At one point we crossed a field which was just hopping.

A large green bug looking straight at the camera.

A less-vividly coloured grasshopper (dark green/brownish) on the dirt.

Somewhat similar to the first katydid, though I don't really know my critters. Looks like it has a green exoskeleton.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

My modest collection of country highpoints now includes Mount Korab, which is the joint highpoint of North Macedonia and Albania. We went for a quick jaunt up Korab in August. patricklam.ca/post/20261003-korab Fewer birds in this post than I'd thought […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

Dawn silhouette of a ridgeline with a tree on our way to Korab.

A small dark bird (black redstart) on a big flat rock.

A butterfly with a blue body and grey wings (polyommatus).

A small brown butterfly (dusky meadow brown) is not that obvious against the brown ground, but its fake eye and orangey wing is more obvious than its brown wing.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

These are Japanese #Birds, some from Tokyo in September 2024, and some from the Kumano Kodo in February 2025. One more birds/mountains picture to come...

One might think this is a mallard, but the yellow spot on the bill indicates that it is a yellow spot-billed duck, the Internet tells me. It is waddling on some concrete next to a body of water, with grass just out of frame below.

A small not-brown bird is, indeed, black and white, and perched in a tree.

This is another small brown bird. Brown kind of stands out compared to the patchy shallow white snow on the edge of the road.

Yet another small brown bird is on the pavement. Brown wings with a white spot, and lighter brown underparts.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

Back to the #Birds. Well, three chough pictures and one butterfly.

A black bird with a yellow bill atop a roof. The sky is cloudless.

Nineteen birds in flight. I guess the previous place wasn't exciting enough. There is a small shrine in the background.

A single yellow-billed chough, with ridges in the background.

Chinese bushbrown, which is a small brown butterfly with fake eyes on its wings. The butterfly is sitting in a tree with lots of green leaves.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

Again mostly but not completely mountains; there is also a moat from Japan. #Alps #Ruapehu #Japan #Greece

A proper moat around a stone wall. Wouldn't want to swim across this with arrows flying at me.

At the summit of Mytikas, which is the highest peak in the Olympus complex. There is a cairn, another peak to the left, and flatlands out beyond.

Bella Coola in the Alps, I think. There is a broad peak with two glaciers descending its flanks.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

Back to the mountains, though also with a Broad Scarlet. Three of these four pictures are from Greece in August 2026, with the other one being Japan in February 2025.

A dark brown dragonfly interacts with some plant buds.

Morning on the Kumano Kodo. There is a dusting of snow atop conifers, with a ridgeline in the distance.

The sun is setting and emits a bunch of sunbeams through low clouds. Above the clouds the sky is blue. There are more ridges in the background but these are quite dark in this shot.

Having a seat a fair way up to the Muses Plateau. It's a scrubby green field, and there is a large scree field behind.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

September's photos post: patricklam.ca/post/20261007-septemb… Includes most of the Greece pictures from August (particularly Olympus); Mount Korab (North Macedonia/Albania); a day of the Kumano Kodo in Japan and a day in Tokyo; a day from the […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

Paretaitonga summit---part of the Ruapehu complex. The summit is white, the cloud behind it is darker white, and the sky is brighter white. Olive green grass below.

A narrow pointy rocky mountain in the Alps with a glacier descending from its flanks. Again there is a cloud wrapped around the top of the mountain.

A small roundish peak with two people descending Korab and heading to Albania. Other mountain ranges visible in the distance.

I was pressured to enter this in the New Zealand Alpine Club Wellington section photocomp under "Alpine Adventure". A person scrambles up a rocky slope. Rocks everywhere. The green of the Muses Plateau visible behind.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

@skinnylatte sometimes we have ramen for breakfast when hiking. Oats is kind of poor. Don't really know what is the ideal breakfast though. Also slightly more interesting than trail mix: "Original outback mix": www.newworld.co.nz/shop/product/525…

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

Rest in Peace, Jeremy Fortier: www.ontarioallianceofclimbers.ca/je… Jeremy was an active Board member and volunteer with the Ontario Alliance of Climbers, where I had the pleasure of working with him. I think we only got out to an actual […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

A person in a yellow jacket with epic mountains and glaciers behind.

A person in a teal Ontario Alliance of Climbers shirt drawing a raffle ticket out of a chalk bag.

Me and Jeremy at an indoor climbing gym, with various climbing holds behind. Jeremy is set up to provide someone with a belay.

At the ice climbing fest in Madawaska, Ontario. It is below -20, but Jeremy and I seem to still be thrilled to be outside. I am holding two ice tools.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

@josh Yeah I had that problem once, where, like, an outstanding balance of less than a dollar generated interest charges forever until I closed the account.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

@mpjgregoire I wouldn't say equal. Parties do not have perfect control over their members, and people change parties occasionally.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026

@Squozen @joncounts @edfoc.bsky.social 5/6ths I guess, but there are other cities too, though they aren't Paris.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026

@joncounts @edfoc.bsky.social there was a good talk about motonormativity by Ian Walker yesterday in Wellington. Which is probably the least car-overrun city in NZ. The France point is actually a bit surprising given what I've heard about Paris.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026

@foxylustygrover.bsky.social the Spinoff had a good piece analyzing poll movements in the last month and showing that there weren't usually big shifts in voting intentions

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

@rowanwiebe.bsky.social this is somehow happening everywhere under conservative governments: Ontario, NZ are also stripping power from municipal governments

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

@kpdooty I saw both the yellow-rumped warbler and the black-throated green warbler last month in Montreal, but there was no way I would have been able to ID them live: they just looked like small brown birds. Fortunately my pictures were good enough to ID!

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

I do not, in fact, agree for my health info to be shared with OpenAI. Thanks for asking, Quantcare!

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

@timrichards Yeah, usually we go to one country per trip, though we did go to both Greece and North Macedonia on the most recent trip, and then on the way back we were in Canada for a few days (an extended stopover).

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

@damianpeterson looks like an interesting region! Closest I've been is Brewster Hut I think. Looks to be a couple of ranges over from what you're looking for, unfortunately.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

So 28% in Quebec gets you a minority government with 59/127 seats. Would be interesting if it ran under MMP: the parties have 28%, 24%, 20%, 12%, 13%. The outgoing government is the 13% with 0 seats. Not sure who would actually work together in Quebec: there aren't really obvious alliances.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

@jackyan 2025 returns: National $6M, Labour $2.4M, ACT $2.4M, Green $1.8M, NZF $1.3M, Opportunity $179k, TPM $141k elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/politi…

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

@jackyan best funded? I think that's ACT, National, and Labour (from memory). But National, Labour, and Greens are the three most popular parties according to polls.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

I've memorized Ctrl-U 101 as ā, but I have not memorized the unicode codepoints for the other vowels. In reading a master's thesis, I realized that I can use Ctrl-U 304 to add a macron afterwards. Much easier for me to write kererū now! (And there were two on the street today, though not these.)

Three kererū perching on some not-that-big branches. They have lush green heads and white chests.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

@timrichards yeah, I've been in the regular seats for the Northern Explorer and the TranzAlpine. Planning the Coastal Pacific for January.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

@timrichards I've wondered about it, though it seems a bit pricey. Good to hear that it's tasty at least. Via Rail's business class has pretty good food at an OK premium to economy for Toronto-Montreal and is cheaper than flying, which is not the case in NZ.

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

@mehr.nz (as someone born in Montréal, my maunga is Mont Royal and my awa is the Fleuve St Laurent. I'm not sure who my people are.)

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

@mehr.nz indeed; on the surface there is, well, a maunga in the way (a small one, but still).

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Patrick Lam :tinoflag: @va2lam.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

@mehr.nz yep; I've taken it two or three times. It was super fast to get from the South Shore to the West Island. Back in the day it was a long distance call from the South Shore to the West Island.

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