Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17°C
NOTE: I am missing the previous entry, from March 28. It will be posted soon™.
My first (light) sunburn of the year, woo.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
After months of being closed due to storms and bad bridges, Reifel Bird Sanctuary finally re-opened this week, so this was our first destination.
The only downside were two trail closures, the East Dyke (mostly) and the North Dyke, which shortened our outing a bit, bot not much. A few of the open trails are still in pretty rough shape, as the volunteers could not bring in needed equipment to repair while the bridge was closed.
But it was all good, because the very first thing we saw made the trip worth it. As we entered the parking lot, I noticed the section immediately on the right was cordoned off. I assumed it was another repair, but no, it was due to babby-making!
Specifically, a pair of killdeer chose to make a nest in the northeast corner of the gravel parking lot. While this was fine when the sanctuary was closed, it is more problematic now. We saw both parents and one of them was dashing about and then plunked down on what appeared to be three or four eggs, with the occasional head bob, as killdeer do. It’s adorable, though you can’t help but worry about how the future Killdeer will fare. On the other hand, Killdeer favour nests in the open, and they’re still around, so they may yet survive us.
In other birb news, we both got our first (blurry) shot of a Marsh Wren. They should become a bit more visible as they start looking for love in earnest.
The mallards especially seemed to miss us, because it felt like some were following us around the entire area, no doubt hoping for seed we did not have. Sorry, mallards! I compensated slightly by taking copious beauty shots of them.
We saw one or possibly two Sandhill Cranes (in separate locations) and witnessed a few duck battles (the inevitable goose drama was yet to come). Hormones make everyone crazy, it seems. Well, except geese are just naturally like that. And there was a mass of Western Painted Turtles on the logs at the London Slough. I’ve never seen so many. Some were so big you’d think they’d fallen into radioactive sewer water and mutated. If you’ve ever seen one of those “Western painted turtle sighting” signs, just know the answer is: Reifel.
In all, and despite the inevitable crowds (first weekend open, long weekend and sunny, mild weather) it was very nice to finally be back at Reifel.
Tlahutum Regional Park
The Mountain Bluebird quest continued at Tlahutum, where multiple birds have been sighted. And success! We saw a couple with Big Lenses on one of the main trails and lo, off in the bushes were at least two Mountain Bluebirds. Sadly, they were a bit far away so even my 400mm lens struggled. I had to switch to manual focus to get anything even a bit decent. How old-timey! They are a very lovely shade of blue. Hopefully we’ll see more, and maybe a bit closer up.
We also saw Buffleheads, Gadwalls and a scruffy-looking immature Great Blue Heron, who was busy practicing his death stare (speaking of, and in reference to the title of this post, today was apparently my day for getting shots of birds staring directly into the camera).
Nic got some good shots of Tree Swallows, who were out in abundance at the big pond and we finally dared to venture around the still kind of flooded community garden, mostly skirting the edges, but it’s still a bit early. Many of the plots are still under construction. We shall return.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park
We ended at Piper Spit and sought to silence our inner Bird Police, knowing someone would be feeding the birds. And there were people feeding them.
Speaking of feeding, on the way out, we saw a squirrel noshing away and it looked surprisingly similar to the chunky boi they have on the No Feeding signs.
At the spit, the water level was too high for shorebirds (boo) and apparently for seagulls, too, as they were absent. Left behind were the many golf balls they had collected. Seagulls are weird.
It was here that the geese reverted to form and generally went berserk, doing the cobra chicken thing over and over. I’m sure the internet could tell me why they do this–a show of dominance, some weird style of affection or something, but I like to think they’re just kind of loco.
And as a final bonus, a train passing through actually cleared the track before we got there, so we weren’t delayed on our departure.
In all, a fine outing.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots, gallery pending:
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Robin
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Brown-headed Cowbird (allegedly heard but not seen)
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Fox Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Mountain Bluebird
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Tree Swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Canada Goose
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Gadwalls
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Killdeer
- Marsh wren
- Lesser Scaup
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Ring-necked Duck
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- A seagull
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
Non-birds:
- Airplanes
- Golf balls
- Western Painted Turtle en masse
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