Where: Piper Spit (Burnaby) -- twice! and Tlahutum Regional Park1Formerly Colony Farm Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Partly sunny, 21-23C
The Outing
The forecast had called for mostly cloudy skies. Since you can easily get burned on non-sunny days in the summer (unless it’s raining) I don’t know why I wouldn’t need sunblock, but I didn’t put any on and got a good ol’ sunburn all over as a reward for my lack of common sense.
We started out just after 10 a.m. at Piper spit, which these days is mostly geese, mallards, wood ducks and blackbirds. However, the dowitchers were out again. Yay! But the light was bad. Boo! Nic, using his vast scientific knowledge, surmised that if we came back later, the sun (which was burning us) would have moved across the sky to where the light would then be good. Yay! We got our first round of shots and moved on to Tlahutum.
I finally got a decent shot of the sign on the way in, warning of wildlife (with googly eyes) crossings. Behold! (It’s not going in the gallery.)
We checked out the community gardens first and saw goldfinches, some young punk white crowned sparrows, a couple of hummingbirds fighting, as they do, a northern flicker and a giant sign warning us that bears were in the garden. Well, not right when we were there, but in a general sense.
The trails weren’t as bird-rich, but what we did see was unique and zesty! The tide was up, and the Coquitlam River was back to its lush state (at least while we were there).
The zesty birds included:
- Common mergansers (they have racing stripes!)
- Eastern kingbirds (got my best shots ever thanks to one sitting unusually close to the trail)
- Eastern wood-peewee (this was too far away for me, but Nic got some shots)
Non-bird interjection: On the way to lunch, the Google Maps app told Nic to make an (illegal) U-turn at least three different times. He did not. Google Maps really likes U-turns. Must be an American thing.
We returned to Piper Spit and got our better-lit shots of dowitchers, where my ratio of shots where the dowitcher was dunking its head vs. its head being up were something like 50 to 1. I also got some good shots of geese going berserk while bathing.
In all, it was a pleasant and not–too-hot outing. And now I know to always wear sunblock in the summer. Again.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Blackbird
- Brown-headed cowbird
- Black-capped chickadee
- Chestnut-backed chickadee
- Eastern kingbird
- Eastern wood-peewee
- Goldfinch
- Northern flicker
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl:
- Canada goose
- Common merganser
- Dowitcher
- Mallard
- Great blue heron
- Wood duck
Common:
- Crow
- Pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Harrier (!)
Non-birds:
- Bees, bees, bees
- Dragonfly (several types)
- Fuzzy caterpillar
- Grasshopper
- Slug
- Snake (briefly)
