Birding

It’s the first birding of 2025. The trails were absolutely thick with joggers. There were some birds, too.

Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Partly sunny, 7-8°C

The Outing

Piper Spit

We arrived at Burnaby Lake to find it teeming…with runners. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen so many people jogging here. I guess it’s been some time since we had a non-rainy Saturday.

I did not have my camera because I am in the midst of IV treatments for an infection, which means I have a bandaged IV in my left arm, making it very awkward and unadvisable to try holding up a camera. I settled for taking lots of scenery shots instead.

But there were also birds, including both ruby and golden-crowned kinglets, nuthatches and the elusive chestnut-backed chickadees. The light was a tad gloomy, which made the bird shots more challenging, but added lots of mood to the scenery shots.

The Stumps (not my alternative country rock band) and a log at the intersection of the main trail and Conifer Loop were the main gathering spots for songbirds, due to both locations being festooned with seed. This was convenient for us!

At the Spit, the landmass is still quite large but today was mostly empty, save for a few gulls and a wandering group of pigeons. The Shorebird Spot™ was so low it was mostly mud, but a clutch of dowitchers was closer in to be shot, while a larger group dozed farther out.

Overall, a good variety, despite the light, plus a bonus seagull proudly strutting with a golf ball in its mouth.

Tlahutum Regional Park

There were mergansers, buffleheads, gadwalls and wigeons in the various waterways here, but as usual, none very close. We checked the community garden, but it is more the community swamp, so we opted to give it a few more weeks/months to dry out a bit before venturing in.

The Millennium Bridge over the rivers had a bunch of dots spray-painted on it, because in just a few days it’s being closed for two weeks to replace the deck. Had this been in progress, our trip to Tlahutum would have been a lot shorter.

I filled in multiple holes on the trail apparently dug up by an over-stimulated dog, as I’ve recently become a Tripping Hazard Expert (THE). It seemed like the right thing to do.

The large pond is currently at its most open and exposed, which aids in getting nice shots, especially when the water is calm and snazzy clouds are reflecting in it. Everything is very brown, though. It’s like an organic Quake level¹Yes, I know Quake came out in the 1890s, this is a joke for The Olds.

Overall, a pleasant, if somewhat unusual first outing of the year. I should be handling a camera again, so look out world, incoming fuzzy junco shots!

The Shots

None! No camera. Instead, here is the best bird shot I got with my now ancient (in Tim Cook’s mind) iPhone 12:

The Birds (and other critters). Rare, rarely-seen or recently returned birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

• Black-capped chickadee
• Chestnut-backed chickadee
• Dark-eyed junco
• Fox sparrow
• Golden-crowned kinglet
• Purple finch
• Red-breasted nuthatch
• Red-winged blackbird
• Ruby-crowned kinglet
• Song sparrow
• Spotted towhee
• Steller’s Jay

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

• American coot
• American wigeon
• Bufflehead
• Canada goose
• Common goldeneye
• Common merganser
• Gadwall
• Green-winged teal
• Hooded merganser
• Long-billed dowitcher
• Mallard
• Northern pintail
• Ring-necked duck
• Scaup
• Wood duck

Common:

• American crow
• Assorted gulls
• Rock pigeon

Raptors:

• None

Non-birds:

• A Douglas squirrel
• 50,000 joggers at Burnaby Lake

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 14-17°C

The Outing

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

We started near the dam and when we got to The Stump and Fungus Face (as I will now call the spot), we spotted a red squirrel enjoying seed (this is normal), but several birds were impatiently waiting in the wings (ho ho) for the squirrel to move on, so they could get in on the seed action. The squirrel seemed determined to fatten itself up for winter in one sitting, but eventually the birds made their moves:

• A blasck-capped chickadee. Adorable, but pretty common around the lake.
• A Steller’s jay. The very pretty blue boi returns!
• A rare (especially for me) sighting of a red-breasted nuthatch

The light was not quite faboo, but we made due, got our photos and moved on.

At Piper Spit itself we noticed ther water level of the lake had been lowered quite a bit, with the landmass east of the pier back and occupied by various mallards and geese, mostly.

We didn’t see any new winter arrivals, but there were a few pintails, a scruff-looking green-winged teal, even more coots, plus some Northern shovelers sitting inconspicuously on a log off in the water. There were shorebirds, too, but they were situated a little too far away, boo.

What we saw mostly was drama: coot drama, goose drama, mallard drama, interspecies drama. It seemed everyone wanted to chase everyone else, so there was a lot of fussin’ and a-feudin’ going on, punctuated by the strange cackles of coots.

On the way out, another (or maybe the same) Steller’s jay taunted us by flitting all over the place. I guess it was filling in for the goldfinches.

I was experiencing a lot of issues with my camera again, and with the original battery, so the battery theory is out the window. I did not clean the camera beforehand, but it was thoroughly cleaned a week ago, so unless it is exceptionally good at accumulating crud on the contacts (possible) I don’t think its cleanliness is an issue. As we left Burnaby Lake, I had a plan.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Anticipating that we might not see a lot of birds at Tlahutum, I switched to the kit lens and focused on only taking scenery shots, to see if the issues I encountered with the telephoto lens and adapter would persist.

They did not! Which makes the telephoto lens or the adapter the likeliest suspect. I must ponder this.

In the meantime I took many shots of the scenery, the river, ponds, and anything else that caught my eye. The big pond had all of two wood ducks in it. Apparently this place is not the cool spot right now.

We ended at the community garden, where I added shots of flowers, hoses and birdhouses to my repertoire. There were actual birbs here, too–golden and white-crowned sparrows, along with a spotted towhee and a song sparrow or two. I was somewhat tempted to switch lenses, but I stuck to my plan.

I was surprised when I was prompted to switch batteries a second time (I took 411 shots total, which is not very many for 2.x batteries) but the batteries are getting aged and clearly losing capacity. I’ll look into getting new ones once I get well into the third battery, which hasn’t happened yet.

Speaking of batteries, Nic was also prompted to change batteries. His Sony camera reports when they are “exhausted”, which sounds like they just get too tired to take more photos. His first replacement battery was also dead–bad luck! But so was his second replacement battery. That concluded Nic’s photography for the day. Luckily, we were pretty much done. I’m not going to make fun of him not charging either of his spare batteries, but I will mention that he also forgot to charge his phone, so it died shortly into the outing, too.

In all, a perfectly cromulent outing, with some nice surprises and no real chance of getting sun burnt. Now I just need to figure out what to do about my camera.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare, rarely-seen or recently returned birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

• American robin
• Black-capped chickadee
• Golden-crowned sparrow
• Lincoln’s sparrow (heard, not seen)
• Red-breasted nuthatch
• Red-winged blackbird
• Song sparrow
• Spotted towhee
• Steller’s jay
• White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

• American coot
• Canada goose
• Great blue heron
• Green-winged teal
• Long-billed dowitcher
• Mallard
• Northern pintail
• Northern shoveller
• Wood duck

Common:

• American crow
• Assorted gulls
• Rock pigeon

Raptors:

• None!

Non-birds:

• Several red squirrels
• A few errant pollinators
• A millipede kind of bug, plus some sort of beetle

Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 22-29°C

The Outing

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Today was a briefer outing, and we started at Piper Spit, which was perhaps a slight tactical error, as the sun was low and to the east, which is the opposite of where you want it, as most of the waterfowl at the spit hang out on the east side.

We made do with the conditions and were rewarded with the return of another migrant, or perhaps “migrant” since it allegedly doesn’t migrate, yet always disappears locally every summer. In this case, a couple of Northern pintails have returned, joining the growing coot population. No other migrants were spotted, but the geese kept honking and carrying on, as if to suggest why can’t we just be happy with them, huh? Huh? HONK HONK HONK.

Goldfinches proved elusive to shoot again, though we spotted a rare warbling vireo, so that was spiffy. We also saw some chickadees, one of which was especially generous and posed for quite a bit.

There were also some dowitchers, but today they were gathered farther away from the pier, boo.

More wood duck dudes are showing full mullet now. Soon the entire lake will radiate with their iridescent beauty. Or something.

We did not stay overly long, but took note that it was already quite warm by mid-morning. It would get hotter still!

Tlahutum Regional Park

Next up was Tlahutum. We did our usual circuit to the big pond before stopping at the community garden before leaving. The big pond was a big bust–no birds! We did see what Nic thinks was a swallow of some sort flying very high above, the only one we saw. The rest are probably relaxing in Mexico now, or wherever it is they go. I know, I am typing this on the internet and could just look it up, but I am lazy love a mystery.

We did see a number of cedar waxwings, including one that hung out atop a tree for quite a long while, occasionally preening, panting or poofing itself out. The others were not quite as close, but a few had their kids in tow.

A heron flapped into one of the side creeks, and we got some decent shots of it standing there, looking stabby, but birds were generally few, possibly because by this time it was around 29C and felt even hotter due to the humidity. At this point we’d also had our fill of walking in the open sun, with no shade at all, and leaded off. We wore sunscreen this time, so no burning!

In all, not a bad outing, but this definitely feels like the “between” season, where some migrants are about to depart, some are coming in, but everything is in flux.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

• American goldfinch
• Barn swallow (probably)
• Black-capped chickadee
• Cedar waxwing
• Downy woodpecker
• Red-winged blackbird
• Song sparrow (maybe?)
• Spotted towhee
• Warbling vireo

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

• American coot (three!)
• Canada goose
• Great blue heron
• Long-billed dowitcher
• Mallard
• Northern pintail (the return!)
• Wood duck

Common:

• American crow
• Rock pigeon

Raptors:

• None

Non-birds:

• A fuzzy caterpillar that didn’t know how close it came to being smooshed by a bike
• Assorted pollinators
• Fewer dragonflies and butterflies