Birding, April 26, 2025: Sit, sing, poop

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Boundary Bay (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, windy 12-18°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Reifel was mild, breezy and packed full of people. I think I saw more people than birds.

The geese were quiet until they weren’t. Once one starts honking, the GHM¹Goose Hive Mind takes over and they all honk.

We saw a few pintails, so they haven’t all left yet, but chances are decent these may be the last we see until they return next migration. Goodbye, pointy-tailed butts!

We saw a few Sandhill cranes, two of them on their little “making babbies” island, until one departed for the shore where it hung out with the aforementioned geese. Among other winter refugees, we also saw a few scaups, though their numbers have dwindled, too.

Making up for it were swallows and plenty of them, including some that may have been barn swallows but might have been something else, but were probably barn swallows.

There were definitely others that were barn swallows.

And even though one of the bird signs at the sanctuary identifies them as a local (or at least regularly visiting) species, we saw cinnamon teals for the first time: a male and female pair in a pond near the viewing tower. The male is a very bright orange, with piercing red eyes. They each have big bills reminiscent of shovellers, but smaller. The male especially was in very serious dabbling mode, constantly dunking his head.

We also saw an adorable pair of Least sandpipers at one of the inner ponds, the first time I think we’ve seen them at Reifel.

We heard and saw marsh wrens again, underscoring that the best time to see a marsh wren is when he’s horny. Come summer, they’ll be nearly-impossible to spot again.

In all, a pretty good outing, though again, the number of people milling about was noticeable. Also, I felt inadequate with all the people carrying lenses half as long as I am.

Boundary Bay

The main quest here was to find a common yellowthroat, with a side of Savannah sparrow. Mission accomplished on both, though most of the time they were far off and the shots were not great.

We did get a pair of nice matching burns on our necks, though, as I brought sunblock, then thought it was a good idea to just leave it in the car. I am very smart.

While we slowly burned, we observed a few other birds, mostly swallows, what seemed like an endless supply of herons flying overhead, bald eagles circling about or sitting on far-off logs, and a robin or two, which would usually move just as I was lining up a shot. I took photos of the golf course, instead, as I was fairly confident it would not suddenly fly off on me.

There was also construction equipment out and aboot as they are expanding the width and possibly the height of the dyke in one section for reasons. As it was the weekend, the equipment was idle. I took pictures. Again, the equipment was close and very still.

Piper Spit

Sufficiently burned, we ended as we do most times at Piper Spit. No pintails or coots here, and the scaup population was quite low. There were plenty of geese, a few gulls and the usual gangs of wood ducks and mallards. We saw one green-winged teal. Maybe there were more?

There were a lot of people here, too, including a very bossy little kid shouting orders to his family like, “Get your camera!” One kid decided to kind of play with his giant hat instead of wear it and dropped it off the pier. His father helped him get it out. He’s lucky there weren’t more gulls around. They’d totally go for a hat.

As it happened, this is where I learned the limits of the battery in Nic’s old Sony camera. After 691 shots, I got the “Battery exhausted” message and had to resort to taking scenery shots with my 107-year-old iPhone. Admittedly, we were close to wrapping up, so I didn’t miss out on much, really.

Overall, a nice day, with maybe bigger crowds than would be ideal, but with unexpected delights along the way, like the cinnamon teals and sandpipers.

The Shots

Theoretically possible

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

• American robin
• Anna’s hummingbird
• Barn swallow
• Black-capped chickadee
• Brown-headed cowbird
• Cinnamon teal
• Common yellowthroat
• European starling
• Golden-crowned sparrow
• Marsh wren
• Northern flicker
• Red-winged blackbird
• Savannah sparrow
• Song sparrow
• Tree swallow
• ??? swallow
• White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

• American wigeon
• Bufflehead
• Canada goose
• Gadwall
• Great blue heron
• Green-winged teal
• Hooded merganser
• Lesser sandpiper
• Mallard
• Northern pintail
• Northern shoveller
• Sandhill crane
• Scaup
• Wood duck

Common:

• American crow
• Assorted gulls
• Rock pigeon

Raptors:

• Bald eagle

Non-birds:

• A few black squirrels
• Various bugs and bees
• A persistent helicopter