Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Cloudy, 6-7°C
The Outing
We expected cloudy skies today and that’s what we got, though it started to brighten just as we were winding up. But at least it didn’t rain.
For the first half hour or so at Reifel, things seemed about normal. It was cooler than the previous visit, and a bit of wind made it feel cooler, still, but nothing like the deep freeze of mid-January. I forgot my gloves, but while my hands got cold, they didn’t get numb or fall off or anything.
We saw a million mallards near the entrance, and the blackbirds and sparrows near the entrance were being much chattier than usual. Maybe they’re excited about spring coming next month. I am!
We continued down to the bird blinds (nothing to see there, boo) and made our way up the west dyke trail. It was there that I first had a glitch with my camera.
The first of what would be too many to count. If I had to put a number on it, though, I’d say at least dozens. It got progressively worse, persisted through two batteries and by the time we were wrapping up at Reifel, I was pretty relieved that I wouldn’t have to continue doing battle with the camera.
We made a short trip to Piper spit after. Good news: the light was better! There were shorebirds! Bad news: My camera was still being dumb.
I missed a lot of shots. Not one-in-a-million shots, but good shots all the same.
But when the camera was not testing my patience, we noted that Reifel was pretty waterlogged, maybe the worst we’ve seen it. The downside of this was we saw no shorebirds there. On the plus side, we did see wood ducks again, and most of the other species were well-represented. Raptors were present, but tended to be farther away, but we did get to see a Sandhill crane shove its head in a Rona bucket again. It loves that bucket.
While we saw juncos, their numbers weren’t as insane as they were at the Richmond Nature House last week. And we saw buffleheads! They moved to the other side of the pond when we got close enough to shoot. Coincidence, or were they toying with us humans?
And the Canada geese were back, subtly cluing us in to their presence through prolonged and loud honking. A collared goose approached me, not to hiss and dominate, but apparently hoping I had pockets of seed. It stood there so mournfully, I couldn’t bear to take its picture. Also, my camera wasn’t working.
Piper Spit offered a nice contrast, as we not only got brighter skies, but also a few species we didn’t see at Reifel, like green-winged teals and dowitchers. The gulls seem to be here semi-permanently now, and several were bathing, as they also seem to do a lot. And of course, there was coot drama.
Overall, a shorter but still productive bird outing, but I was very cross with my camera by the end. I am researching to see what the issue might be (cold? some mechanical defect? karma?), but would settle for winning the lottery and just buying a replacement.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Black-capped chickadee
- Dark-eyed junco
- Fox sparrow
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- House sparrow
- Marsh wren (heard, not seen)
- Northern flicker
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
Waterfowl:
- American coot
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead duck
- Dowitcher
- Great blue heron
- Hooded merganser
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Northern shoveler
- Ring-necked duck
- Sandhill crane
- Scaup
- Trumpeter swan
Common:
- Rock pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
- Northern harrier
Non-birds:
- One very robust squirrel
