Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 21°C
…you take a lot of photos of mallards. But there were other birds and things, too.
Burnaby Lake Regional Park
We started out a bit late and under cloudy skies that threatened showers, but it actually stayed dry while we were out and at 21C, it was quite comfy. We got some early shots of Ol’ Stabby Face (a Great Blue Heron) at the Cariboo Dam, but saw very few birds on the 2 km walk up the trail to Piper Spit.
Once at Piper Spit, we noted very few people (unsurprising, given the weather) and most of the people who were there had Very Big Lenses. The fall migrants are still flapping their way here, so we had to make do with the locals, which mostly meant Mallards and plenty of ’em. A few males are starting to show tiny bits of their iridescent green again, as they get ready to pretty up for the fall. There were also plenty of Wood Ducks and geese, as well as a few gulls and some pigeons, including at least one young pigeon sporting a relatively undeveloped bump thing on its beak. You know what I’m talking about. And yes, I could look up the exact name, but where’s the fun in that?1Fine, it’s called a cere and no one really knows what it does.
There were also some Long-billed Dowitchers toodling about, thanks to the return of shallow water. And speaking of shallow water, the landmass is not only back, it’s expanding and getting rather close to the pier. If that happens, chaos will undoubtedly ensue.
After we wrapped up at the spit, we moved onto the area around Still Creek. The nearby athletic fields were filled with people playing sportsball and geese. The geese were not playing sportsball. One goose was going through some Extreme Molting and looked quite funky. We literally observed feathers popping off. The goose was unperturbed.
We went to the bridge at Deer Lake Brook and spent some time testing its structural integrity by jumping up and down on it like five year olds. Admittedly, I did this a lot more than Nic. It’s fun except for the fact that I was probably actively reducing the lifespan of the bridge (which is getting replaced eventually). Since we were close, we also checked out the new pedestrian/cycling bridge that crosses over the No. 1 highway and connects Burnaby Lake to the area near Deer Lake. It’s a nice bridge. It does not bounce when you jump up and down on it.
On our return back to Still Creek, we got actual shots of actual birbs–in this case, some White-crowned Sparrows snacking around a pump station, so that was a nice way to wrap things up.
And next time, who knows? There may be coots.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Soon™.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Goldfinch
- American Robin
- Black-capped Chickadee
- House Finch
- Song Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Western Warbling Vireo (heard)
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- Canada Goose
- Great Blue Heron
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Mallard
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- Some seagulls
Raptors:
- None!
Non-birds:
- Assorted pollinators
- A cricket
- An otter. Or a muskrat. One of those. But not both.
- The promise of frogs, but no actual frogs