Birding, September 5, 2026: Random objects, plus some birds

Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 21-23°C

The first birding of September, which yielded no fall migrants (boo), but some photogenic locals (yay) and no tree frogs.

Looking north across the lake from the rowing pavilion.

Burnaby Lake Regional Park

We checked out the west end of Burnaby Lake again and it started with the flash of promise–a fleeting Savannah Sparrow. Then we saw no birds, but did catch some nice scenery. When we got to a view of the lake (something that may surprise a lot of people: on the 10 km loop around the lake, there aren’t actually many clear views of the lake itself) we saw a Great Blue Heron holding vigil in a tree far above us. It started to ruffle its feathers and I figured this meant one of two things: imminent flight, or pooping. But it tricked us and stayed put, even doing the one-legged thing.

As always we saw Canada Geese, both on the ground and in flight, with and without dander stuck to their bills. No Xtreme molting this time, though.

At the bridge over Deer Lake Brook we watched a Song Sparrow bouncing from lily pad to lily pad, thinking it was drinking, but further examination revealed the lily pads were festooned with bite-sized bugs perfect for noshing on (if you’re a Song Sparrow).

Nic opted to not try to shoot a Barn Swallow at the rowing pavilion. I was a little surprised some are still hanging around. Maybe it felt bad for us, since there were no fall migrants to be seen. Maybe they are waiting until actual fall starts.

We crossed over the new pedestrian bridge again, and with the better light, I got some semi-artsy shots of it.

In all, it was a nice trek, even if birds were scant.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The big pond at Tlahutum, now with water again.

There were a few more birds at Tlahutum, but being mid-afternoon, they proved a bit elusive, often chirping and singing from the trees, but not venturing out into the sun. We did catch sightings of House Finches and American Goldfinches. One goldfinch even cooperatively landed on a railing not far ahead of us, but my camera inexplicably refused to focus on it and it flew off. The goldfinch, not my camera. I was a but peeved, but technology, amirite?

We had better luck with pollinators, including a hover fly, another freaky sweat bee (?!) that was a shiny green, unlike the previous shiny blue one we saw. Or maybe they change colours. I don’t know how they work.

We saw a spider on the trail and got some shots, but looking at them later, we discovered the spider was carrying a whole load of babies on its back. Both delightful and terrifying.

We also saw a White-crowned Sparrow that had something very wrong with its face, though we couldn’t determine what it was–a mess of feathers on its right side that seemed to be obscuring the eye. It seemed to be faring all right, but was annoyed by whatever it was.

With birds keeping to themselves, I shot more kitsch than usual and experimented more with composition and just taking weird shots of things. I amused myself.

In the end, not a lot of bird shots (or shots, period) but it was nice to be out and the weather was a lot better than the original forecast, so hooray for that.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee (heard)
  • House Finch
  • Savannah Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee (heard)
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A ladybug
  • A fuzzy caterpillar
  • A spider and her brood
  • The promise of frogs, but no actual frogs (again)

Run 1,061: Breakthrough 3: Electric Boogalee (sorry)

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

I headed out a bit later than normal, but with the sky cloudy and temperatures cooler, I wasn’t overly concerned.

And it turned out the conditions were ideal for me to put in my best post-surgery run yet, making it the first time since mid-May that I broke the six-minute mark, coming in with an average of 5:54/km. My BPM was only slightly higher at 150 and never went higher than 155, an indication of how better weather is a mercy when running.

It was a more technical run, in that I was constantly having to dart around slugs. They were copious.

I saw a few old regular runners, including Hang Dog (he seemed to have more spring in his step than usual) and Very Old Guy with a Slight Limp, who always stares resolutely ahead while running (at a decent pace).

I didn’t experience any issues and my main focus, after breaking the six-minute mark on the second km, was to maintain or improve my pace for the rest of the run. When I hit 5:45/km at the 4K mark, I had breathing room, but still nicked off one more second before the end. It felt good to finally get back to the form I had.

This may all come undone if it’s hot and sunny on the next run, but for now I will bask in the small glory of today.

Still Creek, post-run.

Stats:

Run 1,061
Average pace: 5:54/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: 0
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:28 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:44
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 16°C
Humidity: 73–71%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 170.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,110 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (90/197/287)

Music: Xanadu soundtrack (less groovy)

Stop the world

Eurythmics, 1999:

Stop the world
Call it a day
Leave it all behind
Leave it that way

I tried to pick the least depressing verse from the song (“Peace is Just a Word”). Yeah.

I don’t have anything to add. Yet.

August 22 2026 birding gallery is up (finally)

A wee bit late with this one. It’s a kooky mix of snoozing ducks, weird shots of random objects and pigeons.

Original post here: Birding, August 22, 2026: When life gives you mallards…

Run 1,060: Beat the rain, beat the clock

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Moody skies, calm waters.

Today’s goal was pretty simple: Beat the rain. Not that I’m afraid of melting or anything, I just prefer to run when it’s not raining, mostly because I wear glasses and they do not have little windshield wipers on them.

The forecast on the phone and the PC both agreed on showers, but disagreed on when. I decided the safest plan was to go to the lake (my preference) and do a short loop, which would get me back around 11:30 a.m., which was within the window of the more pessimistic forecast–and it worked! It was cloudy, but did not rain. The sun even threatened to poke out a few times, but never quite managed it.

I ran 2.8 km, turned around and planned on running on the main trail, but just as I neared the intersection between the main trail and the Conifer Loop, one of those giant mowers appeared around the corner of the main trail, appearing to take up almost the entire space. So it was off to the Conifer Loop, which I ran in its entirely, coming back out on the main trail and finishing ahead of where I’d planned, but with plenty of time to get back before The Rains (as I type this, it remains dry).

In terms of the run, it went well. My pace was 6:04/km, slightly edging Monday’s effort, though the overall time remained identical at 30:33. I felt fine and broke the six-minute mark on the final km again. The trail was fairly light in terms of traffic (other than giant mowers), no doubt due to the clouds, but the conditions were pretty good for running.

In all, a fine midweek effort.

Brunette River, post-run: Still low.

Stats:

Run 1,060
Average pace: 6:04/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: -1
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 10:13 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:33
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 19°C
Humidity: 65–63%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 171.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,105 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (85/184/269)

Music: Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (so groovy)

Post #38 and a wrap on Blaugust 2026

I wrote 38 posts this month (counting this one) and yet I feel like I’ve somehow failed Blaugust because most of my posts were:

  • Running
  • Birding
  • Random photos

These are all “easy” posts for me and unless you’re really into (me) running, the running posts aren’t even that interesting (though one running post did get me an email–which delighted me!)

Still, I’m glad to have participated. A year from now, I don’t know if I’ll be blogging here in WordPress or somewhere else, but I’ll still be blogging and I’ll do Blaugust again. And I might remember to use the tag more often, too.

Now I need to read through some more of the Blaugust posts from others.

August weight loss report: Up 1.7 pounds

In some crazy alternate universe I bet I was down!

And to be fair, it was the last few days of the month when my weight spiked that makes it look so bad.

But enough with excuses, on to the stats!

It’s a mix of good and bad. The month ended with cookies, so there’s that. Food is my comfort, but I am doing a bit better. Baby steps. Baby steps that don’t lead to a box of Pop-Tarts.

I’m going to boldly predict I will still be down for the year, though!

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 170.7 pounds
Year to date: Up 1.3 pounds

August 1: 168.5 pounds
August 31: 169.4 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
August 1: 26.2%
August 31: 26.5% (up 0.3%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
August 1: 29.8 kg
August 31: 30.0 kg (up 0.2 kg)

BMI:
August 1: 24.2
August 31: 24.4 (up 0.2)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Run 1,059: Breakthrough 2: Electric Boogaloo

Brunette River, pre-run: Hints of fall.

For a change of pace (and to avoid it getting hotter) I opted to run the river trail today after getting off to a late start in the morning.

And it went well! I had two laps that came in under the six-minute mark, my overall pace was 6:05/km, which beats my previous run and is also the best since the surgery. My BPM was 149, as befits the less-demanding river trail.

I was even able to do math in my head–while running!–and figure out where I needed to turn back in the final km to end close to where I started, for maximum efficiency. And my calculation was pretty close!

I had no issues on the run and didn’t encounter many people. Because this trail is essentially a gated service road, it’s rare to experience actual crowding, but there weren’t even enough people to form a crowd. It was warmer than Saturday at 21°C, and humidity was lower at 55%, but neither had a real impact.

In all, a good start to the week.

Brunette River, post-run.

Stats:

Run 1,059
Average pace: 6:05/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: +3
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 11:09 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:33
Weather: Mostly sunny
Temp: 21°C
Humidity: 55%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 170.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,100 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (80/176/256)

Music: Into the Great Wide Open, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Blahgust

The more I try to think what to write, the more the thoughts run away, nimble and free.

But I remain hopeful that I’ll find my way back to waxing poetic/inanely on whatever wanders into my mind.

In the meantime, here’s a photo I took of a pile of gravel, with all kinds of filters applied to punch it up, a reflection of the artificial times we live in.

And for fun, the original as it looked straight from my phone (what a weird thing this would have been to write in 1980):

Run 1,058: Post-surgery breakthrough

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Very similar to last run, but a bit cooler (which was nice).

Today’s run was different for a few reasons. First, I didn’t run on Wednesday, because air quality was bad, then I didn’t run on Friday because I wanted to let the mail carrier in (long, weird story) and so today, a Saturday, I headed out, somewhat wary because of the four days off and the potential for Saturday crowds, especially with perfectly fine late summer weather.

But it turned out the four days off may have been a benefit and not a hindrance and the crowds were not really much different than most days and everyone was pleasant and all dogs were good boys or girls.

In the end, my BPM was up a bit at 151, which is still fine, but my overall pace was 6:09/km, a full 11 seconds better than the previous run and my best 5K performance (or even 2.5K) since I resumed running post-surgery on June 29. It was also the first time since surgery that I had a km come in under the six-minute mark. The last km, to be exact, where I posted a pace of 5:53/km, proving I can still boogie a bit.

I also saw the Spitfire near the start of my run on the Spruce Loop (I think she runs every day because she is hardcore. I am mediumcore, at best.) She then looped back and passed me post-run when I was doing an unusual bit of wool-gathering on the trail and not really paying attention. I almost got in her way and felt bad. I paid full attention after that.

There were also three topless runners in varying states of glistening. The last was rather hirsute, which is not my thing, but the first had a perfectly flat stomach. No killer abs or anything, just nicely flat. That will be my goal, to match Flat Stomach Guy. Someday.

But for today, I am glad to get a run in and see signs of progress (and better running temperatures, too).

The bridge over Still Creek, post-run.

Stats:

Run 1,058
Average pace: 6:09/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: +0
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:34 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:57
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 17–19°C
Humidity: 70–63%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 169.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,095 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (75/173/248)

Music: Out of the Blue, ELO

I seem to be having trouble writing

I have some thoughts on why, but nothing particularly cogent or organized yet. I feel like my brain is processing stuff and is keeping me in something of a holding pattern while it churns things through. Or maybe that’s just an excuse.

In any case, a haiku:

Ideas absent
My brain is off on its own
Patiently I wait

A little rain, a little fun guy

Actually, a fungi.

After some showers a bunch of mushrooms suddenly appeared in a planter that is currently just soil. How do they even appear so quickly? Sorcery!

Shot with a Samsung Galaxy S26 and with me crouching way down.