Birding, March 14, 2026: Pre-spring arrivals and golf balls

Where: Terra Nova, Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 4-7°C

It was windy and kind of chilly, but also sunny. Hooray for the sun.

Terra Nova

Looking toward the coastal mountains at Tera Nova.

We started at Terra Nova, where it initially reported 4C but “feels like 0”, which seemed accurate. Some wigeons were there to greet us just offshore, noshing among the marshy outcroppings. Farther off (too far, boo) were a bunch of herons brooding in the tall grass. We also spotted a few less social ones brooding off on their own.

When we moved away from the water, we came across a bunch of sparrows doing the sparrow thing. We looped off into the Terra Nova Natural Area (unclear on where the Artificial Area is–maybe the parking lots?) and when we came back, someone had scattered some seed, which drew the attention of all the birds, many of which were banded or banded and sporting a radio transmitter. This is probably how the “birds aren’t real” conspiracies get started.

I, of course, shot planes.

We did not see any grebes at the main pond, but we didn’t not not see them, either, if you know what I mean. There were some scaups, though.

In all, Terra Nova proved to be a perhaps unexpected bounty, just as Brydon Lagoon had been a few weeks earlier.

Richmond Nature House

An apparently confused chickadee on a hummingbird feeder at Richmond Nature House.

We went to the Richmond Nature House next, unsure what to expect. Would there be seed in the feeders, and also possibly birds? The answer was yes to both. However, only a few feeders were filled (including the nectar feeders), so while there were birds, they weren’t ravaging the area like we usually see. Instead, we saw a small but nice collection of juncos, chickadees, hummingbirds, and towhees. And we saw our first Rufous Hummingbirds of the season, who may look even more “I’ll stab you” than Anna’s Hummingbirds (which we also saw).

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Burnaby Lake rippling in the wind. Not shown: Goose terror.

We wrapped at Piper Spit and there were so many people feeding the birds (especially the blackbirds, which shamelessly pander for food) it was as if the signs said PLEASE FEED THE WILDLIFE. Alas.

The recent rains have reduced the adjacent island into a tiny little piece of land big enough for a few gulls and their golf balls, which is what we saw there.

One gull took a golf ball out and played the seagull equivalent of golf with it, which involves flying up over the water, hovering, dropping the ball, then retrieving it and doing it again. I mean, at least it wasn’t trying to eat it.

Most of the usual ducks were present, including a single adorable Bufflehead who got close enough for a few good shots before disappearing back into the Bufflehead dimension. We also saw the first sparrows of the year. I’m guessing Tree Swallows, but they were too far away to positively identify. The water level was too high for shorebirds, so the Dowitcher count was, sadly, zero.

Making up for that (?) were plenty of Canada Geese, and they were engaged in all kinds of goose shenanigans, some of which we captured in loving/terrifying detail.

The coots were downright ordinary in comparison.

With the sun out and a lot of close-range targets, I got much better shots than last week, so I am pleased.

Maybe next time we’ll finally return to Reifel. It could happen!

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox Sparrow
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Northern Flicker
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Rufous Hummingbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow (probably)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Scaup
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagulls aplenty

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Red-tailed Hawk (probably)

Non-birds:

  • Airplanes
  • Golf balls

Run 1,016: Here comes the sun (and skunk cabbage)

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: It actually brightened up considerably after I took this shot.

The best thing about today’s run was the absence of rain. It was once again 5C, but for most of the run it was partly sunny, so it only felt cool at the start. Speaking of start, I ran in the early afternoon due to morning showers. There were still some puddles, but puddle-hopping was not too bad.

In the week since I was last at the lake, it looks like the wind claimed a few more trail-adjacent trees, freshly cut up into log-size chunks. Pedestrian traffic was relatively light and only one dog was off-leash and he was being a good boy, walking directly in front of his owner (which made me wonder why he was even off-leash).

I started out at a similar pace to the previous two runs, but unlike those, this time I gained strength as I kept going, instead of flagging, finishing with an overall pace of 5:41/km and a BPM of 150, which is a bit higher, but accurately reflects the extra effort.

I didn’t experience any issues, which is always nice, and enjoyed the walk back, with the amount of green along the trail expanding significantly since my last run–and now including the reappearance of skunk cabbage, a sure sign of spring:

The skunk cabbage cometh. But it’s not actually stinky! Yet.

This was also the first time in a few weeks that I kept to my usual Mon-Wed-Fri running schedule, which I’ll hopefully be better at sticking to as we roll on into spring.

In all, a good wrap-up to the week.

View from ther bridge over Deer Lake Bridge, post-run.

Stats

Run 1,016
Average pace: 5:41/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:07 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:35
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 5-6°C
Humidity: 77-72%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 170.0 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,905 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (175/262/437)

Music: Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Duran Duran

My brain is being difficult again (plus a shopping cart)

I am having trouble motivating myself to write about whatever on this blog. I’m not sure exactly what causes this occasional ennui. Ironically, “ennui” is kind of fun to say out loud.

The weird part is years ago I gave myself permission to post anything here, so it’s not like I’m waiting until I have something important to say. The dozens of cat pics are testament to that.

I’ve looked through some recent photos I’ve taken and here’s one I haven’t posted from my shopping cart oeuvre1this is a word I can never spell correctly without looking it up first:

I like the juxtaposition of all the various objects, plus the blurry vehicle whizzing by.

There, ennui defeated by shopping cart. I take my victories where I can.

Run 1,015: Here comes the rain again

Brunette River, pre-run: Rain and plenty of it.

The forecast was calling for heavy (steady) rain today, so there was no avoiding it. I put on three layers, adjusted the belt that holds my phone (by removing the onion tied to it–OK, I just had it tightened up, as it had been growing slack) and headed out, bracing for a lot of wet.

I was not disappointed. Except by how it was much milder and nicer running in mid-January.

I saw one cyclist at the start and one guy out on a walk with a giant umbrella, but otherwise had the trail to myself. It was 5C, the weather app said it felt like 2C, which seemed about right, and the rain, though light, was constant. My running gear is tumbling in the dryer as I’m typing this.

Strangely, my stats ended up nearly identical to Monday, despite the change in weather. My BPM was a bit higher at 147, but my overall pace was the same–5:47/km. My total time was only two seconds off from Monday and that’s probably because I walked the first few steps instead of running. I am nothing if not consistent.

The only problem during the run was just the usual with wet weather–lower visibility, having to navigate around sometimes gigantic puddles and just generally getting soaked and cold. I’m sure it builds character or something.

Anyway, I’m on track for a regular week of running, we’ll see if it continues.

Post-run. Water gushes from a creek feeding into the river.

Stats:

Run 1,015
Average pace: 5:47/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 11:52 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:07
Weather: Steady light rain
Temp: 5°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: light
BPM: 147
Weight: 170.0 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,900 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (170/249/419)

Music: Shuffle mode

Lousy Smarch weather

Snow, flowers and my right foot.

Yes, today, on March 10th, less than 10 days before spring begins and after a winter featuring no snow at all in New Westminster, it snowed.

To be fair, after a few hours, it sputtered out and turned to rain and there’s only a small chance of any further snow, which will also get washed away as morning temperatures rise.

But still.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate snow–as long as it stays on the mountains, where it belongs. Or, like, the North Pole. That’s fine, too. And wherever penguins (naturally) live.

But that’s it.

Here is a cat in the snow.

Run 1,014: I do not like my shorts

View of Brunette River, pre-run: Chilly, a bit breezy–but no rain!

After sussing out the weather this morning, I altered my running plan from the lake to the river, to better avoid potential showers. It worked! It was chillier than it has been lately at 4C, but didn’t feel too bad. I wore three layers, but the middle was just a t-shirt.

The river trail was pretty quiet, probably due to the rain earlier in the morning, and one young owner (her eyes glued to her phone) had a dog off leash, but the dog looked old and was moving slowly, so no issue there, other than being neglected by its owner.

My pace was a bit slower than my previous run at 4:47/km, but it’s fine. I didn’t have any issues and my BPM was quite low at 142, so apparently I put myself into EZ Mode without being consciously aware of it.

If the forecast is accurate, Wednesday is looking extremely soggy, but I’ll just have to endure, knowing March gets a spike in precipitation as depicted by this snippet from the Windows weather app showing historical trends for annual rainfall:

March showers, not April showers

As for the short mentioned in the title, let me provide a list because I like lists:

  • Last year I finally got new running shorts, sticking to the same brand as before–Nike Dri-Fit
  • As expected, they had tweaked a few things in the years since I’d last bought a pair
  • The drawstring moved from inside to outside, which is a negative for me
  • The waistband is thinner and has less cushioning–a regression, IMO
  • The side pockets have room for my phone, but the phone will always turn sideways because the pockets are cut differently. WHY? (My phone goes into a belt when I’m actually running.)
  • The zippered pocket has been moved to the back from the side. This is better for most people, it makes no difference to me.
  • They somehow changed the cut in the crotch area. Or maybe my crotch area changed. In either case, the shorts start to ride up on the inner part of my legs now, which causes the fabric to rub against itself and is annoying as all get-out. I have to keep tugging the shorts down, but they always start riding up again.

Due to the last item, I am now actively looking for new shorts again. The previous Nike shorts were fine, and I’d happily buy them again forever, but retail being what it is, they have to constantly change things up to keep them “fresh” and just as often make things worse. Alas.

Still, even with the crotch riding issues, this was a decent if unspectacular start to the week.

The river, post-run: Looking a bit full at the moment.

Stats:

Run 1,014
Average pace: 5:47/km
Training status: Strained
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 11:18 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:05
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 4°C
Humidity: 75%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 142
Weight: 171.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,895 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (165/245/410)

Music: Face the Music, ELO

I got on a bike. And rode it!

Today, for the first time in several years, I got on a bike and rode it. And I did not forget how to ride, just like they say. I did feel a tad wobbly at first. Biking muscles are very different from running muscles.

And it wasn’t actually my own bike, it was an e-bike that Jeff got for cheap. It’s pretty tall, which was my biggest issue, but I quickly adapted to using the motor in conjunction with using my legs. It definitely made the last stretch coming home, up a fairly steep hill (hello, New Westminster) quite a bit easier when I switched to Turbo mode. And yes, it is literally called that.

I was a bit conservative on roads, because, you know, drivers in big vehicles made out of metal, but it wasn’t bad. We rode mostly down industrial streets, bike paths and trails before reaching our destination of Home Depot (Jeff needed paint).

On the way we stopped at a little place along the river called Don Roberts Park. I have no idea who Don Roberts is, but this is the view of the Fraser from the main lookout point:

It was fun to get out on a bike again and nice that my first e-bike ride didn’t end with me popping a wheelie and flipping over or something. I look forward to more.

But tomorrow, back to moving with my own two legs.

Birding, March 7, 2026: Capering coots

Where: Burnaby Lake, Deer Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, some light rain, 11°C

In which we learn a battery charged is better in the hand than in the charger.

Burnaby Lake

The gulls were unperturbed by the drizzly conditions on the lake.

The original forecast was looking quite damp, so we opted for a later start of 11 am and headed to Piper Spit. Even though there was a light drizzle, the parking lot there was strangely full, so perhaps some event was taking place. The pier itself was mostly left to just us for the majority of time we were there and the weather ranged from cloudy to a steady light rain with drizzle in-between. Not ideal, but workable. You can see the raindrops in some of our shots, which is a nice effect.

I didn’t notice any dowitchers, but the water around Piper Spit might be a bit too high from recent rains. Most of the others were present, with random coots basically everywhere. There was Gull Town and Pigeon Place, but Crowville was underrepresented (we later found them on the sports fields). The weather may make for challenging shooting, but we didn’t get any snow this winter, so I’m willing to tolerate some drizzle.

I once again tried to shoot some gulls in flight, with mostly mediocre results. I can usually nail at least one butt shot, though.

And it’s that that time of year, because one pigeon was macking on another big time. The other pigeon was, as usual, utterly unimpressed.

In all, a better than expected start.

Deer Lake

Various ducks and some human paddlers on Deer Lake, Metrotown in the background.

After lunch, the weather improved to merely cloudy, so we remained dry going forward and the light got a bit better.

Deer Lake was better than expected, with copious coots cavorting and cackling up close on the main beach. Several small children were present and I thought they might chase the coots, as little kids are wont to do, but the coots chased them like the aquatic terror chickens they are. One had some weird feather business going on with a wing but didn’t seem particularly fussed by it.

There were also a few geese present and remember me saying it’s that time of year? Perhaps this is why the geese were going berserk and doing the cobra thing with their necks and showing off their hideous giant, barbed tongues. It’s just love. There was a lot of love on display.

And we saw a rare Ruddy Duck. I checked and I’ve logged it twice before in Merlin, but it’s been long enough that I don’t recall the last time I saw one. They have a mottled brown texture with slightly big honkers. It was just close enough to get decent shots.

There were also buffleheads, mergansers and others on the lake, but most were generally too far out to get good shots. We also saw one canoe being paddled about (by people, not birds).

The wind would pick up on occasion (though it was very mild) and this afforded some great bad hair day shots of a Great Blue Heron.

And of course, the lake itself provided some scenery, though maybe due to its compact size, it doesn’t shoot as well as Burnaby Lake (IMO).

And speaking of, we ended by returning to the western end of Burnaby Lake, and travelled from the bridge at Still Creek to the rowing pavilion and back. While we technically saw a lot of birds, this was mainly due to one of them being a very large group of Cackling Geese that flew in and landed on the sports fields to nom on the grass. Even though I took a lot of shots, I wasn’t really happy with any of them. It was also apparently “Bring Your Bike” day at Burnaby Lake (bikes are not allowed) because I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many bikes in such a short span. Curse them all (but gently, some were little kids).

We also saw some Common Mergansers at the rowing pavilion, but they were a little too far out, especially for Nic’s Pixel phone.

Yes, at this point Nic was using his phone because after the battery in his camera died, he went to swap it out with a fresh one, but the fresh one turned out to be sitting safely nuzzled in its charger back at his apartment. I think the lesson here is for Nic to just hide away secret caches of charged batteries everywhere he goes to shoot birds.

Overall, a better outing than expected, given the potential for The Rains. Next week: Reifel! Haha, just kidding. I give it a 50/50 chance it will be open by the end of the month, and that’s assuming they don’t accidentally sink the bridge during the repairs. We shall see.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A gallery to come, perhaps, but here’s a sampler for now.

Coot close-up.
A ruffly Rock Pigeon.
“Hey baby, check me out. Hey…where are you going? Baby…”
A rare Ruddy Duck spotted at Deer Lake. We did not see any deer.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee (heard)
  • Song Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Cackling Goose
  • Canada Goose
  • Common Merganser
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Ruddy Duck
  • Scaup
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagulls aplenty

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Maybe a squirrel? Probably a squirrel.

Lafarge Lake, March 5, 2026

I meant to post these shots earlier, but then disabled my PC by accident. But here they are now, once again using FooGallery’s kitschy Polaroid theme, because it just feels right for these.

All shot on my iPhone 12, which may not work well as a phone anymore, but still takes perfectly cromulent photos.

For those unaware, Lafarge Lake was once a gravel pit.

Dual boot and double trouble

When I set up my new PC, I wanted to again do a dual boot Windows/Linux setup–and I did, putting Linux Mint on my external 2TB Samsung SSD.

I later decided that having dual boot with an external SSD was not the way to go, so yesterday I undid this, with the intent of going back to Windows-only temporarily, before getting an internal drive setup for a Linux distro (likely Mint again).

I knew in undoing the dual boot that I had to be careful to not mess up things like Windows’ MBR–Master Boot Record, which could prevent the system from booting up at all.

I messed up the MBR.

Ironically, my still functioning old PC (also a dual boot system) allowed me to make a bootable USB drive for Windows and after a number of false starts, the MBR was repaired and everything is working normally again on the new PC, minus Linux Mint (for now)

I have some quaint old-fashioned paper notes on what to do should this happen again.

And now that I’ve cleaned up the mess I made, I can get back to what I was doing before I rudely interrupted myself.

Run 1,013: Well-timed

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Cloudy and calm.

It’s my first regular follow-up run in about a hundred years, woo (meaning a run two days after the previous). The well-timed is in reference to carefully watching the forecast and heading out early in the afternoon after morning showers ended. Not only did I get to skip the rain, the trail was in pretty decent shape, other than the occasional easily navigated puddle.

I flipped the course today, doing another short loop, but going counter-clockwise this time. I shaved five seconds off my pace, which is not bad. BPM was a bit higher, but fine at 150. I definitely felt I was pushing harder than on Monday.

Likely because of the earlier rain, the trail was largely empty, though more people appeared toward the end of the run.

I didn’t experience any issues at all and a single layer would likely have sufficed, but I wanted two in case the showers came back while I was out and aboot.

In all, a fine mid-week effort. Friday is currently looking wet, so we’ll see if I can squeeze in another run between showers.

The view further west of the dam, post-run.

Stats:

Run 1,013
Average pace: 5:42/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 1:18 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:38
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 10°C
Humidity: 81-80%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 169.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,890 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (160/241/401)

Music: Eat to the Beat, Blondie