Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Overcast and foggy, 3-5°C
The Outing
After last week’s deep freeze, we got snow on Wednesday and oodles of snow, at that. Some light rain followed on Friday, but not enough to diminish the snow much, so we donned our metaphorical snowshoes and headed to Piper Spit, which we felt would be the most accessible birding spot this weekend.
Unexpectedly, it was also foggy, which provided a spooky ambience to Burnaby Lake and, later, Tlahutum Regional Park.
The land mass that formed off the pier at Piper Spit had been extended by a combination of the lake freezing and the snow on top, proving a vast plain for a copious number of gulls and poop monsters.
Songbirds were also in abundance, standing out against the bright snow, though this also made for trickier shooting.
It actually went better than expected, and we both got nice shots with the bonus of the above-freezing temperatures meaning no camera glitches, just people glitches. Speaking of people, both places, but especially Tlahutum, were surprisingly busy. I guess people like trudging in the snow. Or maybe everyone was just delighted to go outside and not have every exposed part of their body go numb within seconds.
The gulls were busy splashing about or taking off in great flocks and circling around before coming back and landing in the exact spot they left from (stretching their legs–er, wings?) Meanwhile, a patootie1Yes, this is what I’m caling them of pigeons settled along the railings at the end of the pier, posing for some nice shots before departing back to nearby trees.
And while there were song birds aplenty, we didn’t see any chickadees, which made the outing slightly less delightful. I also didn’t spy any squirrels, but I wouldn’t blame them for holing up in the trees with their nuts and seeds until the snow is gone.
The highlight at Piper Spit was probably a bald eagle that dramatically emerged from the mist, swooped down, caught a fish or something fish-like, then carried it off and back into the mist. Neat!
Tlahutum had no highlights. We saw two song sparrows. One flew off before we could take photos, the other was far away. Oh, and I think we saw a crow flying overhead, too. But the frozen waterways and fog made for some cool (heh) scenery shots, and Nic got enough heart points to lift the meter from Couch Potato to Outdoor Potato.
In all, it went better than anticipated, and it was amazing how any temperature above freezing suddenly felt all balmy.
The Shots
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Dark-eyed junco
- Fox sparrow
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Northern flicker (heard)
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
Waterfowl:
- American coot
- Canada goose
- Green-winged teal
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Ring-necked duck
- Scaup
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Rock pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
Non-birds:
- Lots of people, weirdly
- The fish or whatever it was the bald eagle caught
