Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 17-21°C
The Outing
A rare day of Sunday birding, in which traffic seemed a lot busier than expected. Maybe people just wanted to get out in the sun after a few days of not-so-sunny weather.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
We quickly determined that jackets would not be needed as we arrived at Reifel and doffed them, dooming ourselves to get sunburn later in the day. But we had birds to shoot!
There were a fair number of people here, many of them with telephoto lenses that build muscles. We started out and observed the water level at the London slough was higher than previous, but there was a wood duck there to pose for us. As it turned out, it was the only wood duck we saw at Reifel, the rest presumably hiding with the shovellers, pintails and other “non-migratory” species that seem to disappear in the off-season, anyway.
Goose drama and general goose misbehaviour seems to be on the rise. Maybe after the kids have grown, they just plain lose all parental instinct and revert to their feral, demonic ways. Basically, a lot of hoking, some hissing and lots of that freaky neck stuff and chasing other geese.
Barn swallows are still hanging out, but it could be that they have kids that are newly on the wing and have to wait a bit longer before they have the strength to migrate to their winter home. We haven’t seen tree swallows in some weeks.
Also on the rise, in a much more delightful way: chickadees! They were all over the place, reclaiming their empire and daring us to capture them in the few moments they paused. One of the central trails also saw us encountering warblers, including some yellow-rumped ones. To the surprise of everyone, I got a few decent shots.
In one of the main ponds we spotted a rarely-seen red-necked pharalope. The only bummer is that it was not very close. Shorebirds were in relative abundance in several ponds, though.
Along the East Dyke trail we came up to a massive group of people all looking off to the east. Nic observed that they couldn’t be looking at an owl because they were all gazing ahead at eye-level.
They were looking at an owl.
It was a great horned owl, sitting with its back mostly to us, at eye-level, but a safe distance away from the trail. We didn’t get great shots, but we did get very owly shots and some of its face when it turned its head a bit. I haven’t done the math, but based on how often we’ve seen owls here, it feels like there’s maybe a 10% chance of seeing one, so this was a rare opportunity. It was also impossible to miss, thanks to the giant throng of people looking at it.
We also saw the crane family, twice. The first time was on the other side of a pond, kind of far away. Boo. The next time was as we were leaving, near the parking lot. Much better. The two babbies now have youth-sized bodies and adult-sized legs, so they look jacked up and dorky, just like an awkward teen should. It was a nice cap to the visit.
And we were still not yet burnt.
Centennial Beach
That changed at Centennial Beach. I actually thought about putting on sunblock, but decided to be stupid and got signed on my arms and neck, just like nature had planned. On the other hand, this meant it was sunny and we had good light to shoot in!
For a change of pace, the tide was in, so we had no vast mud flats to shoot. We checked the pond, but it is still an exclusive mallard club for now.
An obliging cowbird posed for us on one of the beach trails, though, and there were a fair number of shorebirds, too, ranging from one very agile killdeer, to yellowlegs, sandpipers and more.
Away from the beach, goldfinches kept themselves busy tormenting Nic, as is their duty. We saw no bunnies and no raptors, though, which was mildly disappointing.
With our flesh singed (Centennial Beach has essentially no cover, even in the treed areas), it was time to head to our last stop.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
The big question here would be: Have any of the winter migrants returned? And the answer was yes, two of them, both of which were coots. The weird water hens are back.
Wood ducks were out in large numbers here, and several of the males were sporting their full, magnificent mullets again. Several male mallards were close to having their shiny green domes back, too. And we got an extra treat by having a female (or possibly immature) yellow-headed blackbird capering about the pier area, giving us numerous chances to get good shots.
Out further with the coots was a pied-billed grebe, which we don’t see often and that I don’t recall seeing at all before at Burnaby Lake.
Other than the two coots, no other winter migrants were in view, but it’s still early.
Overall, this an outing with unexpected pleasures: better weather than forecast, rare birds, and the first arrivals of the winter migration.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American goldfinch
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Barn swallow
- Black-capped chickadee
- Brown-headed cowbird
- House finch (probably?)
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- Yellow-headed blackbird
- Yellow-rumped warbler
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American coot (the return!)
- Canada goose
- Great blue heron
- Greater yellowlegs
- Least sandpiper
- Long-billed dowitcher
- Killdeer
- Mallard
- Pied-billed grebe
- Red-necked pharalope
- Sandhill crane
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Ring-billed gull
- Rock pigeon
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
- Great horned owl
Non-birds:
- Western painted turtle
- Assorted pollinators
- Fewer dragonflies and butterflies
