Birding

Birding, December 6, 2025: Pigeon party

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sun, cloud, late showers, 9°C
A mostly clear sky and very calm water on Burnbaby Lake.

The original forecast was The Rains and plenty of them, but a shift toward better weather in the morning prompted us to head out earlyish to a couple spots before the showers arrived.

It was also unseasonably mild, at least until the wind started picking up near the end.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

It was sunny at Piper Spit and new signs were out, giving myriad reasons on why feeding wildlife is now permanently banned. It’s not just about keeping the bears away. Check out the chonky squirrel on the sign. I’ve seen that squirrel!

Don’t make squirrels round!

A good luck heron (I have arbitrarily decided that seeing a heron is good luck) was standing in the water, just down from the dam, but we both managed to get grainy, blurry photos, despite it not moving. Not an auspicious start.

Mist on the water provided some nice scenery shots along the trail, though, and a presumed mated pair of geese allowed me to take photos without any hissing.

We took the side trails and it appeared to be feeding time, as a collection of finches, robins, juncos, towhees and more were darting about the trees, snacking on berries. While it proved challenging at times to get shots through all the branches and twigs, I got probably my best directly-from-below shot of a robin ever. Possibly also my only one. We even saw a Stellar’s Jay, though it proved elusive for picture-taking.

At the spit, a few song sparrows were hopping about and the waterfowl were adapting to their new seed-free life (although we later saw someone had left a trail of seeds along a low railing–bad!) The water level seemed higher, which meant the shorebirds were farther away, so no good photo opportunities there. A few cormorants were in the cormorant hangout spot. Mostly, though, it was gulls and pigeons. The gulls were in two large groups, one on the land mass east of the spit and the rest in the shallows adjacent. Many of them were bathing as other birds dozed.

When we got there, the pigeons were lining the railing on either side leading to the end of the pier. The position of the sun meant we needed to walk past them to get the best shots. Would they freak out and fly off? Worse, a pair of guys were on the end of the pier and about to head back. But the pigeons were too cool for school (as the kids say) and remained in place, allowing copious shots of them puffed out, preening and posing.

In the water, the scaups were still here, along with the usual assortment of mallards, wood ducks, teals and others. A few shovellers are sticking around, too, it seems, though they werre snoozing, much like most of the others.

In all, it was a surprisingly good outcome to what had been originally forecast as a very wet morning.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River on arrival, clouds moving in.

By the time we got to Tlahutum, the clouds had started gathering and the wind started picking up. A change in the weather was clearly on the way. Would we get some shots before getting soaked? Yes!

We saw Gadwalls and Common Mergansers in their usual spots (one of the creeks and the bend in the Coquitlam River before it approaches the bridge, respectively) and then I spotted something brown and furry in the water. Probably not a bird. It was a muskrat! It eventually climbed up on shore and began nibbling on vegetation that it held in its adorable little hands (though the claws looked very serious).

Meanwhile, the main pond saw an unusually large variety of waterfowl:

  • Coots
  • Mallards
  • Northern Shovellers
  • Hooded Mergansers
  • Pied-billed Grebes
  • Wood Ducks
  • Buffleheads
  • Ring-necked Ducks
  • Possibly others I’ve forgotten

I’ve never seen so many different kinds of ducks here. It was clearly the hot place to be. And instead of just one grebe disappearing into a portal to the Grebe Universe before we could even take a photo, today there were multiple grebes, and we got photos as proof!

We opted to skip the community gardens, which is basically a series of mini-lakes right now, and will probably remain as such until spring. It did eventually start to shower, but only after we had packed away our gear and started heading out.

In all, an unusually bountiful outing, especially considering the original forecast.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

Pigeon glare at Piper Spit.
A muskrat noshing away in one of the waterways of Tlahutm Regional Park.

Gallery soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox Sparrow
  • House Finch
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Stellar’s Jay

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada Goose
  • Common Merganser
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Lesser Scaup
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Several ex-caterpillars
  • A muskrat! (at Tlahutum)

Birding, November 29, 2025: Bashful Bittern Bedazzles Birders

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 7°C

It was a day where it felt colder than the temperature alleged, even without wind. I wore three layers, which turned out to be the smart thing to do.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Rusty the pipe, with a moody-looking sky behind.

Reifel’s gates were open, likely due to the very grey skies and cooler temperatures. We were rewarded early with an Anna’s Hummingbird (several, actually, fighting among themselves, as is their way). On the way in, we passed a multitude of ducks, then came across the first very busy feeder, where assorted sparrows, juncos, and others were grabbing seed and spraying it all over. This was the only active feeder that did not have a squirrel either sitting inside it or lusting after its contents from nearby.

We saw multiple squirrels, and these guys are definitely getting quite chonky as winter approaches.

A Golden-crowned Kinglet proved typically elusive, but we ended up getting some decent shots as it hopped madly about above us. Just as elusive, but much more sedate, a rare sighting of an American Bittern on the outer dyke. There was a large group of people gathered, facing toward the marshland. We surmised that they were not shooting a tree as there are no trees in the marshland. What they were shooting was a somewhat shy American Bittern that was standing surprisingly close to the trail. It very slowly moved out and we got some nice shots because, like their relative the Great Blue Heron, they do not exactly speed walk. It was surprisingly oblivious to the large number of people pointing their giant lenses at it. They look lumpy, weird and delightful.

Nic inquired and found out that the local Sandhill Cranes are now hanging out with a larger group that have at least temporarily settled into the far end of one of the fields adjacent to the sanctuary. There’s over a dozen total. It will be interesting to see what the local ones will do when (presumably) the others finally decide to take off.

We again so no geese here.

The drama was left to a couple of female wigeons, who make weird “rrr rrr” sounds that sounded like engines revving, quite unlike their usually pleasant pees. They chased each other, making a big ruckus, then both flapped afterwards, each convinced it was the victor, perhaps.

The coots were well-behaved, in comparison.

And we saw a whole gang of Buffleheads, moving in a group and often diving as a group, making shots a matter of timing.

We saw multiple Northern Harriers and I successfully tracked them, but they were far off, the light was so-so and most of my shots were a bit fuzzy and grainy. Fuzzny. Alas.

Still, it was all worth it for the Bittern.

Centennial Beach

Boundary Bay was rather colourless.

It showered a bit on the way to Centennial Beach, but was dry by the time we got there. It remained very cold, however, so we did a more abbreviated tour. We saw a House Finch and a few other sparrows, and shorebirds, but the tide was in, so most waterfowl were father out. We did get some good shots of a typically grump-looking eagle in a tree–and yes, it was actually perched along Raptor Trail.

There was also a bunny, but I was looking in a different direction and missed it before it hopped back into the brush. Oddly, they seem to hang out a lot on the Raptor Trail, which seems sub-optimal for rabbits.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Blue sky threatened for a few minutes at Burnaby Lake.

Piper Spit had only a handful of people out and no one was feeding anything. The only feeding taking place1technically there was other feeding going on was a seagull picking away at the carcass of an ex-salmon. As Nic says, the skin is the best part.

The Dowitchers were quite close to the pier, which made for some good shots, and there were geese here, occasionally honking, as is their way. The pigeons mostly stayed in one tree, all poofed up from the cold.

The cormorants were back, or still here, hanging out in what now appears to be their usual spot, east of the pier. I wish they would hang out a little closer, but it’s still nice to at least see them.

And here we saw our first scaups of the season. I couldn’t tell if they were lesser or greater, but they didn’t seem gigantic, so I’m calling them lesser for now.

The coots here were also well-behaved.

In all, a fine, if brisk day for birding.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

Gallery soon™.

A robust gray squirrel at Reifel.
A rarely-seen American Bittern, also at Reifel.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox Sparrow
  • Golden-crowned Kinglet
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • House Finch
  • House Sparrow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Bittern
  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada Goose
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Lesser Scaup
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Several more ex-salmon
  • A bunny
  • A number of, shall we say, big-boned squirrels

Birding, November 15, 2025: Seagulls snacking, coots cuddling, grebes ghosting

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Cloudy, 11-12°C

It was a relatively brief afternoon of birding, thanks to ever-changing weather conditions. As it turned out, the weather was better than expected, with only a wee bit of drizzle at the start and then the sun even appeared several times.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Gray on gray, with a few rowers out on the lake.

We started at Piper Lake, which was unusually busy. Maybe people are feeling claustrophobic staying inside all the time by mid-November, so any non-rainy weather is good enough to get out. Or maybe everything on Netflix sucks right now. Whatever the case, there were plenty of gulls and plenty of people. But none of the people were feeding the birds, so hooray for that.

Speaking of feeding, it’s spawning season, which meant two things:

  • The occasional salmon carcass
  • Seagulls tending to the above

I took photos.

No new exotic species were on hand, and even the wood ducks seemed relatively scare. The only geese were flying overhead. But we seem to have two semi-new regular groups now:

  • Dowitchers hanging out in the shallow/muddy area to the west of the pier (they shift as the water level of the lake rises and falls)
  • Cormorants gathered off to the east–close enough to shoot, but not very close

The seagull population has also grown, likely due to the salmon. Maybe seagulls and geese don’t get along, which is why the geese are elsewhere.

In even shorter supply were sparrows and similar birbs. We did see a fair number of song sparrows–or maybe just the same one following us around. But others were much more scarce. Admittedly, we arrived via the Nature House entrance, which meant we had a fairly small area for seeing birbs.

Teals, mallards and coots were well-represented, with two coots swapping out their usual drama for some gentle affection. Probably followed later by drama.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River and reflection.

We got a window of golden hour shots here, when the sky cleared enough for the sun to poke out for several minutes. This gave us some fairly snazzy landscape shots. By the time we were leaving, it was back to gray, dim, and getting dimmer.

In the air, we saw little, other than crows and a juvenile bald eagle way up yonder. In the water, we fared better, with a group of common mergansers in the river (where we’ve seen them before), and the main pond had an assortment of shovellers, gadwalls and a trans-dimensional grebe.

I say this because the grebe was fairly close to us–a rarity to begin with–but before either of us could line up a shot, it dove. I observed its direction and speed, and made a rough calculation on where it would surface. It did not appear in that spot. Nor did it appear in any other spot. It just vanished, apparently, gone through the portal back to the grebeverse, denying us a single shot. Perhaps to compensate, a coot came up close to provide a few glamour shots, coot-style.

In all, a fine afternoon out, especially given the original forecast.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

Soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Song Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • Canada Goose
  • Common Merganser
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Several ex-salmon
  • A single fuzzy caterpillar

Birding, November 8, 2025: Mild marshes and chatty chickadees

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta) Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sun and high cloud, 8-13°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

View of the marshland, with Rusty (the pipe) barely visible.

Finally, the weather cooperated long enough to get in a day of birding, during the few hours of daylight we currently are afforded under SST (Stupid Standard Time). There was even sun, at times.

The main themes at Reifel mid-fall seem to be:

  • Chickadees everywhere, with most of them thinking every person is holding seed
  • The Canada geese have fully retreated, with many in a nearby field adjacent to the sanctuary (interestingly, a group of eight or so Sandhill Cranes were also in the same area–and we haven’t seen the “local” cranes for some time. Hmm, I say!)
  • The Wood Ducks have also seemingly vacated or hidden themselves
  • All the marsh grass is now sad and yellow

The feeders are now full of seed and suet, so most of them are seeing action, which can make for easy-ish shots. I say easy-ish because it is never exactly easy to capture a chickadee. We did not see any squirrels trying to dive onto the feeders, though that may come as the weather gets colder.

We saw the first Buffleheads of the season, which was neat, though they were not very close, which was less neat.

In all, it was a fine fall return to Reifel.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

The lake, now with (more visible) water, and looking moody.

There was a family feeding birds at Piper Spit and Nic gave them the what-for! The father pretended that they hadn’t seen the multiple large signs saying NO FEEDING, including one that was literally feet away. But I guess you gotta say something when someone calls you out.

The lake level was quite low, with the west side of the pier now a large muddy patch, and the lily pads retreating enough to give the lake a more lake-like appearance. I shot artsy shots of the clouds and water.

There were also gulls on hand, probably attracted by the desiccated remains of salmon that had spawned, or tried to spawn, but ended up in the same place: dead.

Thinking back, I’m not sure that we saw any Canada geese here, either. Making up for them were plenty of Mallards, some Green-winged Teals and Wood Ducks. And, of course, coots.

With light starting to fade (see above, re: SST), we bade goodbye to the lake, but it was nice to finally get in some birding again.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

Gallery of shots:

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox Sparrow
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • House Sparrow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada Goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • A very few pollinators
  • Chonky gray squirrel

Birding, October 13, 2025: Wigeons, warblers and wind

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 9-14°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Some of the marsh grass has taken on a very fall-like orange hue at Reifel.

We got our first chance to visit Reifel in a while, on a rare Monday opening (due to the Thanksgiving holiday). It was a HBD (Hardcore Birder Day), with a plethora of dangerously large telephoto lenses being carried about. I saw monopods!

The weather was cool and there was some wind, but the sky was perfectly clear, affording is good light.

In addition to seeing a gaggleplex of Snow Geese flying overhead1Yes, I have finally relented and am full capitalization for all birbs and birbs., we saw several newly-arrived migrants, like ring-necked ducks and coots (which had already appeared at Piper Spit). We even saw a rare(ish) Ruddy Duck, which is a lifer for me. The Sandhill Cranes didn’t show themselves, however. I wonder where they were?

Dowitchers and Greater Yellowlegs were also in abundance, in the main slough and pond, among other places. One group were inadvertently harassed by some hero drama as a Great Blue Heron chased another directly over the shorebirds. The shorebirds would fly–a little–then return to as they were, so the harassment was pretty low-key. One of the herons landed in the pond and the other flew off, thus preserving the unspoken “one heron per pond, no matter how huge the pond” rule.

We saw hummingbirds at the feeders, keeping alert for a very interested wasp (or hornet?), as they are quite large when you’re a hummingbird. Imagine getting stung by a flying dog. Or something.

Centennial Beach

Mt. Baker overlooking a windy Boundary Bay.

I suggested Centennial Beach next, and we parked near the pump house, basically working in reverse to our usual path. This afforded us early shorebirds and waterfowl and plenty of them. After spotting a Belted Kingfisher shortly after arriving, we saw something on the bay, where the tide was in. What we saw were wigeons. Wigeons everywhere. Wigeons flying, wigeons floating, wigeons that numbered in the hundreds or maybe even more. I am not good at counting massive numbers of birds. But there were oodles of them, along with some gulls, Canada Geese and other duck variants.

The beach was also buffeted by gusts of wind up to 25 km/hour. At one point, I had my cap pulled down so tight to keep it from blowing off that I could barely get the camera up to my eyes. I didn’t observe any birds trying to work against the wind–not even the seagulls, which are usually kind of into that.

This is where we saw a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, an unexpected treat. They were eating from one of the wind-whipped bushes in the sand.

Both here and at Reifel we saw Northern Harriers and while I was pretty successful in tracking them, I was not able to get any great shots. A boy2I’m a boy at heart, or something can dream, though!

By the time we left, I was glad I’d opted for my heavier hoodie. I also noted the light was already taking on a more golden hue. Come November 2 we switch back to Pacific Standard Time (grr) and we’ll have about 23 minutes of quality birding during the day.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

A Canada Goose ponders against a very blue backdrop at Piper Spit.

We ended at Piper Spit, which was initially chock-full of people, due to the holiday. The dowitchers were fairly close in, allowing for some good shots, but we didn’t spot any new migrants here, such as scaups or Buffleheads. Maybe next time. Or at least soon™.

We made due with bathing blackbirds, battling coots and Wood Ducks just being stunning.

In all, a fruitful day as we head into the second season of Fall.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

Dark-eyed Junco pausing in the sun at Reifel.
Great Blue Heron flyby at Reifel. Despite appearance, it did have eyes!
A coot being very coot at Piper Spit.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox Sparrow
  • Golden-crowned Kinglet
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Purple Finch
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Marsh Wren
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Ruddy Duck (lifer for me)
  • Snow Goose
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • A few pollinators
  • Copious caterpillars

Birding, October 4, 2025: Coots canoodling

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Clouds and sun, 17°C

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Blue sky and streaky clouds at Piper Spit.

We had an abbreviated day of birding because Nic was occupied with escaping a gay haunted house earlier. I like to think the ghost of Paul Lynde was constantly sassing the people trying to get out.

The later start, combined with fall, meant golden light and plenty of it!

We had barely (bearly?) left the Avalon parking lot before a woman advised us of a mother bear and two cubs near the equestrian area, which is…right next to the parking lot. Fortunately, we were heading the other way and our visit remained bear-free.

At the dam, we observed a heron that was acting a bit odd, exchanging its usual statue-like state for twisting its head and looking up, as if beseeching the sky to rain little fishies on it, or something.

Along the trail, we saw some towhees and song sparrows, and as a special bonus, some ruby-crowned kinglets. I got several terrible shots, but if you’re a bird expert, you might be able to ID them as ruby-crowned kinglets.

Alas, we did not see any new migrants at Piper spit, but the coot population has grown. We saw coot conflict, coot love and coots just being coots. A lone Northern shoveller and hooded merganser were in attendance, and the dowitchers actually came closer, which was nice of them. We saw a kingfisher as it was flying (way) off, and Nic has several blurry photos to prove it! The mallards have now mostly caught up to the wood ducks, looking shiny and iridescent again.

Despite a lot of shadow and only intermittent sun, it was a pleasant return to the lake.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Golden hour arriving at the Coquitlam River.

Golden hour was seriously kicking in by the time we left Tlahutum, only about 15 minutes before sunset. We saw some gadwalls, mallard, crows and a very golden golden-crowned sparrow sitting by itself in a lone tree. I spotted a rare sight–a Northern harrier in plain view, sitting on a post by a canal. Just as I started to focus on what would have been a very spiffy shot, it took off, but I did get a few decent shots of it in low flight.

The main pond is showing distinct signs of fall, with the lily pads in full retreat. The ducks there still tend to gather at the far side, though.

As we left, we wrapped up with our first sunset-adjacent shots of the year, which will be increasingly easier to do over the next few months. Hooray for short days1Note: I do not actually like short days.

Our next birding may be back at Reifel, where we will hopefully see some of these so-far shy migrants. If not, I’ll write a stern letter to The Birb Migratory Committee to complain.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

I am coot.
My best shot of the Northern harrier.
Golden hour arrives at Tlahutum.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned kinglet
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Golden-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • A few pollinators
  • A whole bunch of caterpillars

Birding, September 27, 2025: Pretty boys

Where: Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Clouds and sun, 18°C

Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach

One of the creeks south of the spit itself.

We have had issues with parking at Blackie Spit before, but figured with the weather looking rather gray, that would not be a problem today. We were wrong! But it wasn’t just the regular crowd, there was a rowing event and the boats were hogging up a chunk of the main parking lot and the entire secondary lot, so we ended up parking near the Sunflower Café, just like the last time we had problems finding parking here.

This turned out to be a good thing, as it led us to discovering a lifer! Blackie Spit itself did not yield many birds, though we did see some juncos, chickadees and a house cat strolling the beach like it owned the place.

We also thought we saw the first massive flock of snow geese for the season. Nic gave a man and his kid a rundown on them. They were quite far off, but even across the bay we could hear them. When we looked at our photos later, we discovered they were actually Canada geese, just in super large numbers. Whoops!

The star, though, was as we were leaving, through a different-than-usual route. We heard some very loud chattering that Nic first thought was a squirrel, because they can sound weirdly bird-like when they want to. But no, this was an actual bird, blue and white, and with a jay vibe happening. Merlin confirmed it was a California scrub-jay. It was very pretty, as well as loud, and posed a fair bit before flying off. Technically it was north of its usual range, though we later found they have been seen before in the Lower Mainland and some parts north. Neat!

As an added bonus, the weather was much better than expected, with some sun and mild temperatures.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Cloudy and (feeling) cool at Burnaby Lake.

We did not see any new arrivals at Piper spit and by the time we got there, the sky had clouded over again and while the reported temperature was 18C, it did not feel like 18C.

Still, we did see multiple coots, a pair of wood ducks with the male doting on the female, a pile of snoozing dowitchers (a little too far off, boo), a twisty heron, and a bush packed full of blackbirds. The butterfly garden is pretty much done for the season, so no pollinators there. The male mallards are looking shiny again.

And only one family was feeding the birds this time, which is actually an improvement.

In all, not bad for the first birding of the fall. The lifer–and the excellent shots we got of it–made it totes worthwhile.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

The lifer: A handsome California scrub-jay.
Male wood duck being affectionate.
Song sparrow on the hunt for seed.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped chickadee
  • California scrub-jay (lifer!)
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (Three!)
  • Canada goose (one billion)
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Ring-billed gull

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • A ton (probably several) of sea lions (!)
  • A hover fly
  • Several squirrels
  • A sassy house cat

Birding, September 13, 2025: Real gardens and fake herons

Where: Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Deering Island Park (Vancouver), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Clouds in morning, clearing in afternoon, 17-24°C

Van Dusen Botanical Gardens

I think this is Livingstone Lake, the main body of water at the gardens.

It was cloudy in the morning, so light was sometimes tricksy, especially in the more woody areas, but the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens provided a nice change of pace. There were many exotic plants and birds and rocks and things. There was a waterfall that looked nice and was being sketched/painted by multiple people. You could even climb to the top of it, where the illusion was shattered by a very conspicuous pipe feeding the water to the falls. Oh well.

Birds were not as plentiful, but I did get a good workout on using manual focus on several spiders hanging around (a theme that would prevail throughout the day). We did see some chickadees, flickers and a few others, so it was not a total bust or anything.

We also saw busts–of historical botanists!

Nic defied the odds and managed to find our way out of the hedge maze before the maniac with an axe could get us (seasonal, winter-only). We went to the Heron Pond, but it only had two fake herons. We did not see any real ones the entire day, a sharp contrast to All Herons All The Time last week.

Overall, it was enjoyable to finally check out the place (I’ve lived in the Lower Mainland since 1986 and have never been), even if the birb count was low.

Deering Island Park

View from the bridge to Deering Island Park, a small patch of land peons like us are allowed to visit.

After shooting all the spiders, Nic suggested we check out a quaint little place called Deering Island Park. It looks like this in Apple Maps:

Deering Island Park: Spiders, spiders, spiders! But no birds.

Technically we saw a bird or birds, but it was mostly more spiders. But by this time, the sky was clearing up and that meant two things: Better light for when we saw (hopefully) saw birds and sunburn, because neither of us wore sunblock.

The area is a curious mix of horse stables and swanky homes. The sign for the non-official trail near the actual park basically said, “We rich folks will let you, the poors, use this short trail, but don’t do anything funny or unseemly while here because we are just barely tolerating your presence as it is.”

If you keep going past the end of the trail, there is an even more unofficial one that connects to what seems to be a service road to the nearby golf course. In Kerrisdale, there is always a nearby golf course.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Land (mass) ho at Burnaby Lake, along with shorebirds and dwindling lily pads.

We ended our afternoon at Piper Spit, where we saw actual birds in multiples! Seasonal migrants are still a bit slow to arrive (The weather? Alignment of the planets?) and in some cases we only saw a single representative of a particular species, like what was probably the same coot we saw last time. There was also a single blackbird.

But the lack of new migrants was offset by oodles of dowitchers, who were even closer than normal to the pier, thanks to the ever-more shallow water and a landmass that is now the size of a small town. There were even a few killdeer splashing about. Neat!

In all, it was a pleasant wrap-up to a summer of birding. We’ll see how many more migrants fly in over the next few weeks.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

A black-capped chickadee on a sunflower at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.
A long-billed dowitcher preening at Piper Spit.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • House sparrow
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (One! Again!)
  • Blue-winged teal
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron (but fake)
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Killdeer
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern shoveller
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Some gulls (?)

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • One black squirrel
  • A lot of spiders

Birding, September 5, 2025: I heard you like herons

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Richmond Nature House, Terra Nova (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Hazy sun, 19-23°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Hazy cloud on the horizon, past the still lush marshland.

For the second visit in a row, the gate was open at Reifel, meaning bookings were so low they opened the sanctuary to walk-ins. Er, drive-ins, I guess.

For the first half it was very quiet, apart from hardcore birders and their immense lenses, but more people filtered in later. As for birds, we did not see any coots here, or any other new migrants. Boo. But soon™.

We did a few more shovellers, so they are slowly coming out from wherever they hide in the off-season. The geese were plentiful, but were generally in an odd state of serenity, some of them looking downright relaxed, or even content. Very un-goose. Down on the bill was the fashion accessory of note.

Sadly absent were the Sandhill cranes. Hopefully we just missed them and they haven’t just flow off.

In place of the cranes were herons. Herons on the ground. Herons in the water. Herons in the air. Herons in trees. Herons on logs. Everywhere you looked, there was a heron.

The visibility of songbirds is increasing as we move close to the fall, and chickadees in particular are making themselves more known, though they continue to be manic and hard to photograph. We also saw some bushtits (heh heh), which we don’t spot too often here.

Everything is still looking lush and summer-like, but some of the leaves are coming down in a distinctly fall-like manner, and this may be one of our last t-shirt visits for the year. Still, it was perfectly pleasant, as always.

Richmond Nature House

Nic wanted to gamble on the Nature House, but other than the hummingbird feeders, the others are still bereft of seed, so birds were scarce. We did see a hummingbird, though! Then we walked the Bog Trail and Time Trail, but I observed neither a bog nor experienced any time travel. Disappointing!

Terra Nova

The main pond, home of at least one pied-billed grebe (not seen from this angle).

Other than pollinators and fixed-wing birds, we didn’t see much avian action here, other than some waterfowl way off on the shoreline and a grebe hanging out in the pond, which is their usual haunt (and also too far away to get shots without an arm-breakingly huge lens). The views are always worth checking, though. And we were encouraged to go walking and exploring to get away from an ice cream truck that had “Happy Birthday” playing on a loop near the entrance.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Visible haze looking across the lake to the east.

The weather rapidly began turning after we got to Piper Spit and by the time we left, the sky was quite dark for late afternoon as fat shower clouds rolled in. Several groups of Bad People were again feeding the birds. Boo and hiss. I opted not to shoot any of the birds gorging themselves on the illicit seed. They don’t know, but I do!

Apart from that, the land mass is now quite gigantic and is encroaching farther toward the pier. The increasingly shallow water meant some yellowlegs were poking about a bit closer than usual, which was fun. Multiple wood ducks are now in their full breeding colours and demonstrating that they are the prettiest boys around, with male mallards not too far behind in getting their iridescent green back.

We did see a green-winged teal, so the slow arrival of migrants continues. The one coot was still present, swimming about drama-free for now.

Shortly after leaving, the sky opened up, and we got a big, if brief, dump of rain. The day of birding remained dry and with mild temperatures, however, and the sporadic arrival of migrants bodes well for more sightings in the near-future.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

A spotted towhee striking a dramatic pose in very yellow light.
A Canada goose trying on facial hair.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American bushtit
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco (says Nic)
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (One! Possibly the same one.)
  • American wigeon (one!)
  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Pied-billed grebe
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Various gulls

Raptors:

  • None. Maybe?

Non-birds:

  • Copious pollinators
  • One black squirrel, one gray squirrel

Birding, August 30, 2025: Merry Cootmas!

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 21-24°C

Maplewood Flats

View looking east over Burrard Inlet.

It was birding all over the place today. The only thing missing was the birbs. We heard a few and eventually saw a few, but it was mostly waterfowl and the like as songbirds seemed to prefer hiding away on what was a very humid day.

We began at Maplewood Flats and saw and heard a few chickadees, spotted some cormorants offshore, and a few gulls, but a promised sandpiper remained elusive. The scenery is always nice here, though.

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the two lagoons. They were replete with ducks, some herons (none green) and a single goose.

We went to Blakeburn Lagoons to search for the elusive green heron. It remained elusive. We did see several great blue herons as compensation.

Otherwise, it was ducks and plenty of them, along with a solitary Canada goose, the only one we saw today (I think).

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, looking rather full on this day.

There were ducks in the main pond at Tlahutum and a couple of bald eagles flapping high overhead, but very few other birds were making themselves visible, so we made do with shooting flowers and the many pollinators tending to them.

Piper Spit

Oddly, I forgot to take any scenery shots at Piper Spot, so enjoy this wood duck stretching instead.

The land mass at Piper Spit is not only back, but fairly massive. A few small shorebirds were darting about on it, but most birds preferred the water. In the water, we saw the usual mix of mallards and wood ducks, along with a pair of hooded mergansers, but no geese. And lo, there was the first coot of the season, swimming about by itself and looking glorious and weird. It’s as much a sign of fall coming as the proliferation of pumpkin spice in everything from muffins to school supplies (probably).

Several people were stupidly feeding the birds again. Having recently seen bears up close and personal here, I feel comfortable in calling their actions stupid.

But we also saw a song sparrow. Just one, but it stopped hopping just long enough to let us get some decent shots. A few wood duck males were also back to near-full, resplendent mullets.

In all, a fine day of birding, even with the scarcity of birbs.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

A bee loving its job.
The first coot of the season. Coming soon: more coots and coot drama.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Bewick’s wren (heard, not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Purple martin
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee (heard, not seen)
  • White-crowned sparrow (heard, not seen)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (one!)
  • Canada goose
  • Common merganser
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Great blue heron
  • Hooded merganser
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Pied-billed grebe
  • Western sandpiper
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Various gulls

Raptors:

  • Red-tailed hawk

Non-birds:

  • Copious pollinators
  • Raccoons (actually after birding, and in my neighbourhood. I think they were having a meeting over lunch)

Birding, August 23, 2025: Snow (geese) in August

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Centennial Beach (Delta)
Weather: Sunny, 20-28°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

It almost feels like you can see the curve of the Earth.

It was warm today and maybe that made a lot of birds shy about coming out, because sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds were in relatively short supply. We did see some chickadees, a few blackbirds and a lone cowbird, though.

Mostly it was mallards (being jerks by hogging seed) and wood ducks, with the males still looking snazzy with their proto-mullets, along with the re-emergence of geese in most parts. The air was full of honks.

We even saw some swallows still hanging out in the main pond, though I wasn’t able to tell what kind they were, as they were in full flitting mode.

Others must have known this is the birding lull, because we were able to drive straight into the sanctuary and the number of people around was definitely down for a sunny, pleasant summer Saturday.

Still, it was fine. Can one have too many glamour shots of mallards?

Centennial Beach

Mt. Baker looms over Boundary Bay and the tidal flats.

We had some better luck at Centennial Beach, with multiple types of shorebirds prowling the streams left in the wake of the extremely low tide, including yellowlegs, killdeer, semipalmated sandpipers and a lifer–a long-billed curlew. At least I think it’s a lifer, I don’t remember seeing one before and it has an extremely distinctive (and gigantic) bill that curves down. A couple of them were strolling about farther out. We ventured onto the tidal flats for a bit, but were wary of spooking them.

There were also a ton of grasshoppers basically everywhere. I was tempted to title this post “Day of the Locusts.” I got some decent shots.

The other surprise was three snow geese in amongst a bunch of Canada geese. I did not have snow geese in August on my bingo card.

The raptor trail was raptor-deficient, however.

In all, the shorebirds made the trip worthwhile.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

Blackbird up close and personal at Reifel.
Snow goose in August.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Cliff swallow
  • European starlings
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (still not yet)
  • Canada goose
  • Killdeer
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Long-billed curlew (lifer)
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Semipalmated sandpiper (lifer, at least per Merlin)
  • Snow goose (new!)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Copious pollinators
  • A black squirrel
  • One turtle