Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Como Lake (Coquitlam)
Weather: Partly sunny, 7-8°C
NOTE: I am posting this a week late, but I had the write-up ready to go, I just hadn't gotten any photos ready. I've included a few but will have a proper gallery soon--for reals!
Also, the first birding of Spring!
Burnaby Lake
Nic suggested we do the full loop around Burnaby Lake, which is around 10.3 km or “You will achieve your 10,000-step goal no problem.”
We started at the Avalon parking lot, then went counter-clockwise, stopping at Cariboo Dam, Piper Spit, the Butterfly Garden by the Nature House, Philips Point, the rowing pavilion, the bridge on Deer Lake Brook, and anywhere we saw or heard birds.
Piper Spit was replete with people feeding the birds. We also saw multiple cyclists and dogs walking about off-leash. It was basically “Rules for thee, not for me” day. Note: the dogs and cyclists were not at Piper Spit, so there are still some limits in place.
The pier gave us our first look at newly-arrived migrants–the Brown-headed Cowbird. I did not get any decent shots, but we’ll have more chances over the spring and summer. Tree and Violet-Green Swallows were also diving around all over the lake here. Nic and I both documented this with a collection of artisanal blurry photos. There was also a red-eyed pigeon here, looking like it had just finished a sermon at the Pigeon Church of Satan.
And the only remnant of the land mas near the pier was once again occupied by gulls, whose golf ball collection is now up to three.
After this, we checked out the scenery from the viewing platform just west of the pier, then headed to Philips Point, where we saw more scenery and a Song Sparrow.
The long stretch of Cottonwood Trail yielded more Song Sparrows, then the bridge over Still Creek let us glimpse a Pied-billed Grebe. It dove a few times and the last time it never came back into view, possibly returning to the pocket dimension grebes hail from. A flock of Cackling Geese circled the sportsball field a few times, then came in for a landing, allowing us to get some shots of them grazing. A few crows in the background were taking delight in some kind of baked good one had acquired.
Around the south shore of the lake we apparently entered woodpecker country, seeing both a Pileated Woodpecker and a pair of Red-breasted Sapsuckers, the only downside being that they were in the “crane your neck” part of the trees.
We also heard, but never saw, several frogs.
We did see some water strider bugs in a stand of water adjacent to the trial, including a pair that were busy trying to make more striders, if you know what I mean. It’s that time of year for everyone.
Como Lake
After Burnaby Lake, we elected to tackle a smaller body of water with Como Lake, whose loop is about 10% that of Burnaby Lake. The scenery was nice enough, and we saw a lot of geese pairing off. There was also a pair of male Mallards that also seemed paired off, or maybe they were just good friends.
We ended by observing a robin on the grass yoinking large, juicy worms out of the grounsd and eating them with relish. Not actual relish, just zeal.
At this point we both had nearly 20,000 steps and opted to call it a day instead of walking even further. Between yesterday’s run at the lake and the birding, I’d covered around 55,000 steps in the two days. That’s good enough for me!
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
- Bewick’s Wren
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Fox Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Red-breasted Sapsucker
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-Green Swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Cackling Goose
- Canada Goose
- Common Merganser (probably)
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Scaup
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- Satanic Rock Pigeon
- Seagulls aplenty
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
Non-birds:
- Airplanes
- Golf balls
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