Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 4-8°C
The Outing
It was a sunny if brisk day. I headed out before sunrise! I took this photo while waiting at the SkyTrain station for the train to arrive:
We headed off to Reifel and the lack of any real wind helped a lot with staying warm (the extra layers helped, too). We were immediately greeted by the sight of at least four sandhill cranes, grazing about in the grassy area near the hummingbird feeders, and covetously eyeing the yum-filled Rona bucket. The light was pretty terrible here, and proved to be an interesting challenge throughout the day. The birds, however, were plentiful and adorable.
Also, for reasons I could not fully suss out, the sanctuary and Piper Spit (and the restaurant we lunched at) were all super busy. It’s not a holiday (sorry, Black Friday doesn’t count :P), so I’m not sure what was up. I speculated that maybe people were afraid this would be the last sunny weekend for the next four months.
The crowds meant the birds were being well-fed, which meant we had plenty of targets of opportunity. Even the towhees, normally on the shy side, were feeling friendly, with one hopping right up to me, too close to even get a shot. A chickadee casually hopped between Nic and me, Another swooped right past Nic’s face, perhaps as a show of force by the Chickadee Empire.
It was also a heronpalooza. They were all over the place at Reifel, including in the air. And we saw a rare harrier perched on a tree (if only for a few moments), so that was neat.
Four avocets were still in the big pond by the outer dyke, so they may be settling in for the winter. They were too far out for me to get good shots, though. Boo. A guy coming out from the haunted bird blind1It’s more isolated than the others, but I can’t say I’ve seen any ghosts there–yet! gave vague directions on an American bittern he’d seen, but we never saw it. I was a little sad, Nic was a little bittern.
The shortage of wood ducks at Reifel continued–we only saw a single pair, and they were too obscured by low branches to get good shots of. Also, somewhat weirdly, no Canada geese were present, though the snow geese were raising a ruckus along the shore, along with some swans (which we got shots of flying overhead, woo).
We also saw buffleheads and mergansers. Nic caught a shot of one male merganser that looked like he was about to take off, but was actually just taking a massive poop instead. Nature is not always pretty.
The wigeons were being whacky, and we observed various bits of wigeon warfare. I also witnessed some wigeon wuv2Sorry! Mostly. as a pair did this strange head-bobbing ritual, followed by the male, er, doing the deed, then the female going into a flapping frenzy afterwards. I’m not judging!
And I took pictures.
Since the shorebirds were not close by and in bad light, we headed to Piper Spit for some golden hour hijinks and hopefully get better, closer shots of some dowitchers. As I mentioned, it was packed here as well, with lots of bird feeding, feeding frenzies, and birds all over the place. The only disappointment was no Steller’s jays this time.
The light at the lake was especially weird–not just increasingly golden as we neared sunset, but also with lots of interplay between shadow and light, in part due to so many people moving along the pier, with the sun being low behind them. It produced some dramatic shots, as well as some not-so-great ones.
We also saw the world’s largest gray squirrel. I’m not one to fat shame a squirrel, but let’s say this particular one was set for this winter and possibly several others.
In all, a fine outing, and we got out just as the temperature started to plunge (though we got caught by a train and had to take photos of it while we waited). I feel I got a much higher ratio of good shots vs. last week, so I am pleased.
The Shots
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Black-capped chickade
e - Dark-eyed junco
- Fox sparrow
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- House finch
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
Waterfowl:
- American avocet
American bittern- American coot
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead duck
- Canada goose3Technically we didn’t see them at either location, but I saw some in a field outside of Reifel
- Great blue heron
- Green-winged teal
- Hooded merganser
- Lesser scaup
- Long-billed dowitcher
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Ring-necked duck
- Snow goose
- Trumpeter swan
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Rock pigeon
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
- Northern harrier
Non-birds:
- Black and gray squirrels
- Rusty the pipe
