Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park, DeBoville Slough (Port Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17–22°C
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Blakeburn Lagoons Park
I suggested Blakeburn Lagoons to see if we could spot the Green Heron again.
We did not see any the Green Heron. Or any herons that were green.
Some patience at what I think of as the main viewing platform paid off, as a Pied-billed Grebe eventually emerged. It caught a large fish and gobble it down. The babbies have grown, so it was able to do so without being harassed by hungry kids.
There were also some Gadwalls, plenty of Mallards and even more Mallards. Blakeburn Lagoons is relatively small, so we moved on after not too long.
DeBoville Slough
We moved on to the DeBoville Slough and this time took the south trail. This allowed us to observe a number of multi-storey private homes, some of which seemed…odd, with lots of dodgy-looking artificial turf and side houses of unknown purpose. We also saw a flock of seagulls on the river (not the band), but not much else in the way of birds. The river scenery was quite nice, though, better than the north trail, I’d say.
Tlahutum Regional Park
We started to see more birds here, along with a very dead grasshopper on the trail being noshed on by a wasp. So if you were wondering what wasps nosh on, there you go.
There was another grebe in the big pond, along with yet more Mallards. Several things were splashing in the Coquitlam River, but we never saw what they were, only the conspicuous splashes. Rather odd. Someone reported a seal sighting, which would also be odd in a river that doesn’t even directly connect to the ocean, but we lie in strange times.
The community gardens yielded a few sparrows and fleeting glimpses of Goldfinches, Yellow-rumped Warblers and chickadees. I surprised myself by getting a fairly decent shot of a warbler. Nic could also hear American Bushtits but they did not show themselves.
The garden is still looking fairly lush in the first week of October. We’ll see how it looks next time as we head into a fall that will be dominated by a Super El Nino™.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park
Some people were allegedly feeding blackbirds right at the end of our visit to Piper Spit, but I didn’t see it, so for me, it was a crime-free outing.
The landmass adjacent to the pier is currently quite huge, bringing the shallows in close. This meant that the Long-billed Dowitchers present were pretty close. Nice. And there were a billion of them, more than I’ve ever seen here. Most were snoozing when we arrived, but a few woke up and stalked about, looking for yum yums.
There were only two geese present and both were snoozing, so no goose drama. Multiple coots are here, though, so potential for coot drama was high. In fact, we saw one coot standing on a sunken log and another swam up to it, surely spoiling for a fight. Instead, they briefly nuzzled, then swapped places. Coots, as always, are weird.
Most of the Mallards and Wood Ducks are now back to their shiny breeding colours, and blackbirds were flitting all over, including one that briefly landed on my head, despite my head being completely seed-free (to my knowledge).
In all, a decent outing, with gorgeous, summer-like weather and no sunburn as a bonus.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Bushtit (heard)
- American Goldfinch
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- Canada Goose
- Gadwall
- Great Blue Heron
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Mallard
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Various seagulls
Raptors:
- Turkey Vulture
Non-birds:
- Assorted pollinators
- A dead grasshopper
- A living grasshopper
- Some things splashing in the Coquitlam River