Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Overcast, 10°C
The Outing
Considering the forecast for the day was heavy rain, we got lucky! It was actually reasonably decent for the first few hours and when the rain did come, it was when we were basically done and heading back to the car–and it only started raining heavily once we were inside. Thank you, Mother Nature.
And as an extra bonus, we actually saw a surprising number and variety of birds at both locations.
The area between the Nature House and Piper Spit was replete with sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds, all hopping around the one cool spot that coincidentally had a lot of seed. We saw plenty of towhees and chickadees, some of the seasonal migrants like juncos and as an extra treat, a pair of Steller’s jays. Neat! Also, a lot of squirrels were darting about, prepping for the winter. The grey squirrels seem to be massive now. One of them even looked a little surly. It would probably beat me in a fight.
We saw what Merlin (the app, not the bird or wizard) claims is an Iceland gull, but neither of us was 100% confident in its identification. Gulls have about a billion variations. Even the gulls probably couldn’t tell you which they are.
On the waterfowl front, there were bursts of duck drama, but also duck and seagull bathing, coots causing commotion and plenty of gulls, which always seem to take refuge at the spit after a big storm.
Speaking of storms, we had a big storm last night, with winds up to 70-90 km/h. The trails were carpeted with fresh leaves, twigs and other debris, and I counted multiple large sections of trees down, along with an entire tree itself alongside the main trail.
Tlahutum didn’t offer as many birds, but it did offer some we didn’t see at Piper: mergansers, buffleheads and a kingfisher. Sadly, my kingfisher shots were fuzzy and out of focus. Boo. Nic’s were better, so at least one of us got some decent ones. We also saw the birbiest golden-crowned sparrow I’ve seen in a while.
The weather started to turn just as we were wrapping up at Tlahutum, which was convenient. We saw the kingfisher on the way out, so that was a nice treat to end the birding, even if my photos didn’t quite turn out (also, don’t ask about my junco shots).
In all, this was an unexpectedly good day, both for the number and variety of birds, and also in the weather holding back long enough for us to fully check out the two places we had planned to visit.
The Shots
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American blackbird
- Black-capped chickade
e - Dark-eyed junco
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- Steller’s Jay
Waterfowl:
- American coot
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead duck
- Canada goose
- Green-winged teal
- Hooded merganser
- Long-billed dowitcher
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Rock pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Merlin (?)
Non-birds:
- Black, grey and Douglas squirrels
