Birding

Birding, July 5, 2025: The horny world of bugs

Where: Centennial Beach, Beach Grove, Boundary Bay Dyke Trial (Delta)
Weather: Partly sunny, 17-19°C
Boundary Bay: Sometimes it’s a bay, and sometimes it’s this.

My suggestion to start out at Crescent Beach/Blackie spit was thwarted a few km short of the target when traffic mysteriously came to a standstill. There were a lot of dump trucks and other vehicles ahead of us and they seemed to be turning around for some reason. We could see little flags on the road, but not enough to quite discern what had happened or was happening. We pondered taking another route in, but couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t also be blocked, so we headed to our original destination of Centennial Beach.

The weather was pleasant enough, with partly sunny conditions, but the wind was gusting regularly, which brought a delightful (?) challenge to shooting bugs and birds on bobbing branches.

This time, the raptor trail delivered a Northern raptor right up front and it swooped over the area numerous times, often while being harassed by blackbirds, because the area is clearly not big enough for all of them.

The tide was way out, so we got obligatory shots of the vastness of Mud Bay, while mostly avoiding the mud. Mostly.

House sparrows were out everywhere, as were various swallows, but shorebirds were in short supply at Centennial, which was perhaps understandable, because the shore was effectively about an extra km out.

The behaviour of bugs was notable on this outing. We observed what appeared to be a BC miner bee (which looks like a bumblebee with “pollen pants”) being regularly assaulted in the sand by another bee. Examination of the shots left me uncertain what exactly was going on. The beat-up bee didn’t seem to be interested or perhaps capable of flying off, and a few of the rasslin’ poses were of the variety that would make young, uncertain bees uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.

The promised afternoon sun did not really materialize, but the hazy clouds still allowed decent illumination. We moved on to Beach Grove and the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail, which we haven’t visited in a while.

We saw more insects getting it on, specifically a pair of amorous red solider beetles, and a couple of mud dauber (?1Nic did extensive interweb research to ID the various insects and what we discovered is that a) there are a lot of types of insects, like way too many and b) this makes them very challenging to ID) wasps that were connected in a way that suggested love was in the air and in even closer proximity to them.

But what we mostly saw were Savannah sparrows, and plenty of ’em. I got some of my best shots of these pretty boys, along with more horny bugs, some elusive common yellowthroats, and an American goldfinch sitting atop a tree, which I pointed out to Nic. I had my kit lens on the camera at the time and it took off before I could switch lenses, but Nic got some shots, thus ending his curse. For now.

I also had a red soldier beetle climb onto my shoe (the shots didn’t turn out, but I tried) and despite being very aware of the copious horse poop on the trail, managed to step in it twice. Still, if there is any poop you must step in, horse poop is probably the least offensive.

One of the ponds near(ish) to the trail had attracted no less than four different types of shorebirds, so we got our shorebird fix in a concentrated burst, with a few killdeer, lesser and greater yellowlegs and a least sandpiper, which was being mostly shy and keeping partly hidden in the grass.

In all, I was surprised at how many birds we saw, particularly on the dyke trail. And having the 400 mm lens definitely made for a better experience for me, as the birds are often not near the trail, so the extra reach is handy. Also, I remembered sunblock and despite the hazy conditions, probably would have burned otherwise, so yay for that.

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American goldfinch
  • Barn swallow
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Common yellowthroat
  • European starling
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rough-winged swallow (maybe?)
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Killdeer
  • Least sandpiper
  • Lesser yellowlegs
  • Mallard

Common:

  • Shore crows

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • A brown bunny, but briefly
  • An orgy of various horny insects:
    • Red soldier beetle
    • Mud dauber wasp
    • BC miner bee
    • Woodland skipper
    • Grasshoppers
    • Other butterflies and things

Birding, June 28, 2025: All the lifers, plus all the swallows

Where: Heron Cove, Pitt River, Grant Narrows Park at Pitt Lake, Sturgeon Slough (Pitt Meadows)
Weather: Partly cloudy, 17-22°C
One of the many waterways in and around Pitt river/Pitt Lake.

It was a day of sloughs, creeks, rivers and lakes under a mostly sunny sky and temperatures that actually felt kind of like summer. Novel!

We started near Heron Cove and the name did not disappoint, as we saw two herons standing in a tree, an adult and a juvenile. The juvenile was acting strange and silly. You know how teens are.

From there we walked a trail that got more and more overgrown, showing a clear line on how far most people were willing to explore. We saw a ladybug on a frond of wild grass and after my camera refused to focus on it, I went manual and actually got a really nice shot. I’ll have to experiment more with manual mode on targets that are not madly flitting about.

Returning, we saw our first lifers, along with about a dozen other photographers with Very Big Lenses, namely a yellow warbler pair (you can probably guess what they look like) and a Bullock’s oriole.

Walking the other way, we saw our third (!) lifer, a black-headed grosbeak, which was sufficiently obscured that we never did see its face.

We later moved to Grant Narrows Park, at the south end of Pitt Lake. We didn’t have to pay for the pay parking because it was full, and parked with several dozen others alongside the road leading in. From here we got to see an osprey nest, which was just a little too far off the shore, even for a 400 mm lens. We could still see the baby dinosaurs in the nest, though.

Further up, a viewing tower was closed because it has been completely and utterly claimed by cliff swallows, who build these cute little cavity nests out of mud. Almost every nest was occupied and there were quite a few swallows flying around the tower and the general area. In fact, the only species we didn’t see that even shows up in this area were cave swallows.

Nic got an awesome set of shots of an adult feeding a giant bug to a younger swallow, which I totally missed because I was shooting scenery or something. The number of birds here surprised me.

We ended the tour of Pitt Meadows by walking along the Sturgeon Slough, where we saw a few kingfishers, including one trying to gulp down a large meal. We followed a pair of common yellowthroats for a bit, watched a big spider possibly catch a bug, watched a pair of butterflies getting it on, strolled past the inevitable golf course, and took many shots of the gorgeous scenery.

In all, a fine outing in which the lack of steady sun was probably a good thing, given we were in the open most of the time.

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-headed grosbeak (lifer)
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Bullock’s oriole (lifer)
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Cliff swallow
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Orange-crowned warbler
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rough-winged swallow
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • Violet-green swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Yellow warbler (lifer)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Eastern kingfisher
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard

Common:

  • Some gulls

Raptors:

  • American osprey

Non-birds:

  • Dragonflies
  • A damselfly
  • Various bees

Birding, June 22, 2025: Daring duck and cautious coyote

Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Cloudy, 16-19°C

We switched things up by starting at Piper Spit and the signs warning people not to feed the birds are all over the place, and it seems people are actually following the request for the most part (we did see some seed on a picnic table near the dam being nommed on by a song sparrow). This, along with the recent showers leading to the water level of the lake rising again, meant that most of the waterfowl were not hanging near the pier and shorebirds were completely absent.

I arrived early, shot some song sparrows, a robin, and a mom with a lone baby duck near the dam. After Nic arrived, we saw another female mallard, sans family, hanging around the dam. She jumped onto the edge of the fish ladder, then…jumped into the fish ladder itself, which is basically a series of rapids descending into the river. She seemed to enjoy letting the foaming water swirl around her and occasionally jammed her head in, sometimes coming up with strands of yummy (?) vegetation.

At the lake, a group of cinnamon teals and a blue-winged teal made an appearance, which was spiffy. Also, seemingly moments after I noted the absence of the sandhill crane, it flew in and landed in its usual area. Next, I will use my powers to win $10 million in the lottery.

Among the birds that hang out at Piper Spit, the “friendliest” are probably the blackbirds, as they will happily eat seed from your hand. The absence of seed seems to have made them all a little deranged, as we had them attempting to, and in some cases, succeeding in landing on us, even though we were seed-free. Maybe they thought that if they stuck to the routine, the seed would just manifest.

And while I did not get a shot, because it was hopping madly deep inside the branches of a tree, we spotted a warbling vireo, which for mew is a lifer. Neat.

There are a couple of stumps on the way to the pier that someone always covers in seed for the Douglas squirrels. These were cleaned up and a cute little sign placed on one. This will make getting shots of squirrels eating in that adorable pose more challenging.

A sign saying “No wildlife feeding.” Squirrels are sad.

The weather began to warm up a bit at Tlahutum, though it remained cloudy and dim. It’s been like this since summer officially began, so the people who complain about the heat should be pleased.

We saw a mix of swallows and sparrows in the community garden, along with an ever-elusive American goldfinch, which helpfully sat atop a pole. But the pole was set against a bright cloudy sky, making the goldfinch a very darkfinch. It no doubt chuckled to itself, then flew off.

The surprises here were the four-legged kind. As we crossed the bridge over the Coquitlam River, we spotted an otter out for an afternoon snack. It appeared to catch some kind of fish or something. My shots were not great, but you can see its whiskers and adorable little ears.

And as we were returning from The Big Pond a coyote came up behind us and then scooted rapidly past, ambling at a decent gait until it was a safe distance away. It then stood and looked across the river, giving us some fine profile shots. We wondered if it would cross the bridge (which we would be doing) but as it neared, a cyclist approached, so it jogged past. The cyclist, by coincidence, was heading the same way and the coyote booked it at that point.

In all, it was a comfortable day, weather-wise (no sun beating down on us) but with iffy lighting (no sun beating down on us).

The Shots

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

Shots coming soon, but here are two as a preview. The first is the American goldfinch, which was post-processed up the wazoo–I cranked exposure way up, cranked highlights way down and then added a bit of sharpening to get something resembling a goldfinch.

Max exposure, min highlights, one American goldfinch against a very bright sky.
A coyote on the ground, where the light is much more cooperative.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee (heard?)
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • Violet-green swallow
  • Warbling vireo (lifer!)
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Blue-winged teal
  • Canada goose
  • Cinnamon teal
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Some kind of hawk

Non-birds:

  • Coyote
  • Otter
  • A turtle in the Nature House

Windows 11: Making photo editing weirdly laggy since 2025

The other night I thought to myself that I’ve been taking photos with my new camera, but hardly ever post any of them. So I went through and tagged a bunch I took on Saturday and found I had 51 apparently worth considering. That’s way too many, but it was a starting point. I did the tagging in Linux Mint, but photo editing is still a bit iffy there, so I switched back to Windows 11 and my main photo editing software, Affinity Photo.

I edited one raw image of a barn swallow, then loaded a second image, of a house sparrow. After doing this, Windows 11 turned into this weird, laggy mess. The mouse cursor would slowly drift across the screen on its own, as if it weighed several tons, never fully stopping, never responding to any clicks, though I could get it to slowly move in other directions. The keyboard was also non-responsive, so I could not invoke task manager by using CTRL-ALT-DEL to see what program had gone rogue., or if it was Windows itself.

In the end, I rebooted the PC. It was such an unpleasant experience I even briefly thought of switching over to the Mac, then remembered the security hell of trying to install mouse drivers on it that led me to abandoning it for what has now been multiple weeks, because I am done with modern computers constantly throwing obstacles in the way of a pleasant, or even just nondescript, user experience.

Windows 11 has been behaving so far since the reboot, but I’ve only edited a single photo. I’ll have the full batch of selected photos from last Saturday posted sometime in 2028, probably.

In the meantime, here is that one photo, of a barn swallow.

Birding, June 14, 2025: No sunblock required

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta)
Weather: Cloudy, 15-17°C
The darker green reeds on the right are new and completely block off the pond, which continues behind them.

Today was a shorter outing because Nic needs his beauty nap before volleyball tryouts tonight. As such, we only went to Reifel, which was bird-deficient across vast stretches of the ponds and trails. Still, there were birbs to be seen.

The weather was cooler and cloudy, so the sunblock stayed in the bottle as we hit the trails.

Among the regulars, we also spotted a Northern shoveller, lending credence to them not really migrating away, just lying low and hiding…somewhere nearby? We also saw some wigeons, so at least two of them are back. The coots can’t be far behind.

The cranes were dining near one of the ponds we don’t usually see them hanging out at, along with several groups of adorable ducklings, providing at least one target-rich environment.

The geese were strangely reserved, with minimal honking. It always unnerves me when they’re quiet.

The male mallards and wood ducks are looking increasingly ratty, as they no longer have to keep up the good looks, with mating season over. The female ducks must now tolerate their beer bellies and mullet-free heads.

The biggest change since the last visit a few weeks ago, other than the relative absence of birds, was the marshland given over to being almost completely green now. It is very lush. Speaking of lush, this new type of reed/grass seems to be growing all over the place now, including spots where it is now obscuring some views. It’s kind of weird. I wonder if it’s invasive.

Despite the smaller number of birds, we did get some fine shots and there were turtles at the end. And it was nice to not have to slop greasy goop all over my exposed flesh, even if it does make me smell pretty.

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • American wigeon
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Marsh wren (heard)
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Blue-winged teal
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Black squirrel
  • Beetles
  • Turtles

Birding, June 7, 2025: Shoot the bear, shoot the poop

Where: Rocky Point Park (Port Moody), Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Traboulay PoCo Trail (Port Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 20-27°C

Rocky Point

An unusual request at one of the viewing platforms.

Today was expected to get quite warm–and it did. We were very smart and most of our birding today took place on trails with no canopy, because we love the sun.

We started at Rocky Point, where the heron babies are growing up oh-so-fast. They seemed a bit more visible this time, due to being larger and more willing to hang out on the edges of the nests, yearning to escape from the yoke of their parents’ tyranny.

We ventured a bit down the trail, but didn’t see much else, other than a lot of people, because the place was packed. Who knew a warm, sunny Saturday in June would draw people out?

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the two lagoons, with mallards and gadwalls paddling about.

We next moved onto Blakeburn Lagoons Park, which is a fairly compact pair of lagoons reclaimed from an old wastewater site. We got some good views, a bit of goose drama, and Nic felt compelled to shoot some bird poop. One must not question the muse. The muse poops for thee, not me. Or something.

The highlight, strangely, was a butterfly that stopped long enough to allow us to get some very nice shots of it. After a quick trip around the lagoons, we needed more sun, so off we went!

Traboulay PoCo Trail/DeBoville Slough

The DeBoville Slough, wending its way through the wilds of Port Coquitlam.

We’ve been in this area before, but along the southern trail. This time we took the northern, which parallels the slough and eventually leads to the Pitt river, which is where we saw a nesting osprey (neat) and then turned around and headed back. We saw a few birds along the way, too–a robin, a waxwing and a Northern flicker–but most of the views were of the slough, the verdant fields and mountains. And one shirtless jogger.

Although by this point it was getting quite warm, the breeze kept it from getting sticky and awful.

And we also saw a bear, trundling casually through the crops on a field. There was a slough between us and the bear and even though bears can swim, it was not close and seemed pretty mellow. I got a few iffy shots, but it’s definitely bear.

After that, we wrapped up early, as Nic has to help out a theatre full of gay men. As one does.

Although the birds were not out in copious numbers today, the change of scenery was pleasant, as was the weather.

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Common yellowthroat (heard)
  • Northern flicker
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Violet-green swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls

Raptors:

  • American osprey
  • Bald eagle
  • A hawk?

Non-birds:

  • Butterflies
  • Dragonflies
  • Other flies
  • A black bear

Birding, June 1, 2025: Eagles in chips, blurry ships and snails between lips

(Technically, the snails were between beaks)

Where: Douglas Park (Vancouver), Iona Beach Regional Park, Terra Nova (both in Richmond), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 13-18°C

Douglas Park

We began with a brief detour to Douglas Park in Vancouver, where a mated pair of barred owls and several large but still fluffy babbies have been seen. We did see an adult and a baby, but my shots of the latter were not much beyond “fuzzy thing in tree”. The adult is clearly an owl, though. We moved on, as there’s not really much to Douglas Park than an open field.

Iona Beach

View of the Fraser River, looking west.

It was windy as heck at Iona Beach, to the point where Nic pointed out a Savannah sparrow and I shot it, only hearing the sparrow part and thinking it was a song sparrow.

We actually saw a surprising number of birb species at Iona Beach, everything from hummingbirds to towhees, goldfinches and more. The birds were often a bit obscured by vegetation, but you take what you can get.

We also saw a bald eagle sitting atop the wood chips on one of the parked barges. It seemed quite content. I later spotted another eagle doing the same on an adjacent barge, but it left before Nic could see it and now he probably thinks I just hallucinate eagles on barges.

We also got some shots of Western tiger beetles, which are shiny and iridescent, and later spotted a couple of them doing the nasty. It’s still that time of year.

I have yet to see a live crab at Iona, and that didn’t change today, either. We did see several ex-crabs on the beach, including the shell of one that had been flipped over and looked reminiscent of an ashtray, filling with sand. An inglorious end.

Terra Nova

Buttercup field at Terra Nova.

It was still quite windy at Terra Nova. I shot planes, even while my camera was still in animal subject detection mode. It worked reasonably well on planes. We did not see too many birds here. Even the pond that reliably has one or two grebes in it was empty. The scenery is always nice, though. Nic shot many swallows. I think I shot one? It was blurry.

We saw a Cybertruck in the parking lot advertising AI slop on its side. Fitting. For some reason, we saw four Cybertrucks today, which made me wonder if the Apocalypse was nigh or something.

Before we could be raptured, we left and headed to our final destination (!), Tlahutum.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, on a gorgeous late spring afternoon.

We saw more Eastern kingbirds here than I’ve ever seen before, and got plenty of snazzy shots. Cedar waxwings were in abundance, too, including a pair doing that adorable mating ritual where they hand off gifts to each other, usually berries. I guess there were no berries handy, as this pair was swapping the remains of a snail. Not quite as cute as a big berry, but still kind of cute!

We also saw a single Canada goose in the main pond, which is unusual. They don’t seem to like Tlahutum, probably due to its marshy nature.

The community gardens did not yield too much today, but there were swallows and the odd crow. Maybe by mid-afternoon it was too hot, and the birds were hiding in the shade. This is probably where my ears got burned (I put sunblock on everything but my ears, which I forgot).

At my suggestion, we opted out of Piper Spit. I was at 20,000+ steps at this point and didn’t expect to see much new at Burnaby Lake, though there is always the chance to see more babbies. Next time!

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Cliff swallow
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Eastern kingbird
  • Flycatcher (?)
  • Goldfinch
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Spotted towhee
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • Violet-green swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Yellow warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood duck

Common:

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

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier (?)

Non-birds:

  • Bees and beetles. So many beetles.
  • Specifically, the Western tiger beetle
  • A satin moth caterpillar
  • Dragonflies
  • Ladybug

Birding, May 24, 2025: Dander, dinosaurs and dirt-dwelling demons

Where: Rocky Point Park, Old Orchard Park, Inlet Park, Old Mill Site Park (Port Moody), Admiralty Point Park, Bedwell Bay (Belcarra), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Sunny, 15-24°C

Rocky Point and environs

Very low tide at the east end of Burrard Inlet.

Today the forecast was warm and sunny, so I actually slapped on a copious amount of sunblock for the first time this year. It worked. No burning!

We started out with a return to the heron rookery near Rocky Point, as the baby dinosaurs (young herons) should be showing themselves in the nest around now–and they were! There seemed to be a max of three per nest and they were regularly looking about, sometimes getting up and flapping their proto-wings or walking around the edge of the nest. They presumably know to not try venturing out, because it’s a long way down. They are cutely hideous, with this dishevelled just-got-up look, but the stabby eyes already in place.

We ventured out onto Old Orchard Beach after, at my urging, and Nic stepped onto a dubious section to get closer to a heron to get a better shot. The heron flew off and Nic got stuck in the mud. He managed to extricate himself before I could get a photo, though. I went the long way around and remained unstuck.

We did not see much else, bird-wise in the area, but that’s normal. Nic spotted movement under some dirt and mulch and we watched as…something squirmed underneath, looking like it was about to emerge. And then it stopped. We have no idea if it was a particularly robust bug, a mole, or some eldritch horror.

Since we were over on the north side of the inlet, Nic suggested we visit Belcarra and check out some of the trails, so we did!

Belcarra

Stairs dappled in sun and shade on the Belcarra Bay Trail.

Repeating a theme throughout the day, there were a ton of people at the picnic area on the beach facing Boulder Island (the place one goes to rock out, presumably). This was the first summer-like day of the month, and I guess everyone wanted to savour it after most of May has been cooler and cloudier than normal.

We went down a few forest trails and I took possibly my worst-ever photo of a song sparrow with my kit lens. But I switched back to the telephoto as we came out to Bedwell Bay and there we found along the shore, getting pushed by the tide, a bunch of adorably tiny crabs.

This is an area with beautiful trails through forests, nice vistas, but not many birds, so we are unlikely to return too often, but it was nice to check out a new place.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The lily pads are now jumbo-sized at the main pond.

After the new, a return to the old and after some weeks of seeing few herons, they were all over today. We say one here grab a fair-sized fishy from one of the creeks. We also our first cedar waxwings of the season, woo. The big pond also featured a pair of shovellers who had not yet shovelled off. Or maybe never will, because apparently they just go into hiding. The community garden yielded few birbs, but there were shiny swallows, at least one white-crowned sparrow and pollinators on nearly every flower.

We made copious use of the water fountain here, as Tlahutum offers no over at all, and by now it was mid-afternoon.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Blue sky, blue water, no blue birds.

People were parked in pretty much every available space around the Nature House, but we lucked out and got a spot close to it.

The vibe (much as I hate the word) is different here right now for a few reasons:

  • The water level of the lake is considerably higher than normal. I assume this is a deliberate strategy, maybe to help with the rowing club. The downwisde is no shorebirds.
  • Bird feeding is currently prohibited due to attracting bears. A few people still were, but it was clear most were obeying and as a result, the waterfowl behvior was different, with many content to stay farther away from the pier, since there were no goodies to be had. This meant fewer adorable close-ups.
  • And of course, a lot of migrants have migrated. One day we will have coots again. One day.
  • Also, there were a weirdly large number of people fishing from the pier. Nic jokingly referred to it as International Fishing Day and a few kids nearby were ready to believe it, which, given the things people believe these days, is almost quaint!

We didn’t even catch any squirrels doing the cute squirrel thing. Maybe next time we’ll hit different parts of the trail and be blessed by the return of the mountain bluebirds. It could happen!

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant (and plenty of them)
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None?

Non-birds:

  • Bees, bees, bees
  • Dragonflies
  • Ladybugs
  • Something in the earth

Birding, May 18, 2025: It’s the horniest time of year

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Partly sunny, 12-16°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Looking east across one of the large ponds.

Today’s birding was X-rated, due to everything from dragonflies to swallows and sandhill cranes were getting it on. It was quite scandalous.

We started out at Reifel, where it seemed like most of the people there were Serious Birders and Their Very Gigantic Lenses. Even my 400 mm lens started feeling puny. On the other hand, I don’t have to stand 500 m away from a bird to get a shot.

We saw some baby ducks, which was fun, along with more goslings. Several male cowbirds were working it hard on the females, but the women were just not impressed.

In news both sad and horny, the Sandhill cranes have already abandoned their island nest, which has since been claimed by a goose as they expand their honking empire across the sanctuary. This likely means that any chicks they had did not survive. Undeterred, we witnessed them engage in a spontaneous (to us) mating ritual, so perhaps they are priming to try once again. Good luck, cranes!

Not to be left out, a pair of tree swallows did the nasty in a tree, which is the logical place for birds to make out. There was no fuss or muss here, just some very quick action, then each went about their business.

Shorebirds were finally spotted again in one of the big ponds–dowitchers, it looked like–but they were far off. Boo. And we only saw a single heron, which matches the number of turtles we saw as well.

In the cute department, apart from all the babbies, was a house sparrow fledgling, eating alongside a possible parent and looking delightfully scruffy.

Centennial Beach

Very low tide at Boundary Bay.

The tide was extremely low, so the odds of seeing shorebirds here were also extremely low, but we did see a single killdeer, more baby ducks and a crow amusing itself by dropping some manmade thingamabob from high up above the rocky beach.

We also saw a house sparrow nab a crunchy winged insect of some sort atop a concrete block near to us.

I actually can’t recall seeing much else. It was one of the least bird-filled visits to Centennial in recent memory.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

By the time we got to Piper Spit, the sky had grown dark and ominous.

We ended at Piper spit and by this time, the sun was mostly covered by clouds, the wind had picked up and the No Bird Feeding Due to Bear in Area sign was up, which everyone obviously ignored.

It was too late to visit the Nature House by the time we arrived, due to Google Maps sending us on a very indirect route from Centennial Beach, but we did see about a billion more goslings, the Sandhill crane was present yet again (though standing in bad light) and more cowbirds were trying to get it on.

The lake level was way up after recent showers, so shorebirds were absent yet again. We had to make due with pigeons, a squirrel and the usual waterfowl.

Overall, it was a fine outing, and I got some snazzy shots, particularly at Reifel, where I had my R7 out for the first time..

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Marsh wren
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rough-winged swallow
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Long-billed dowitchers
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Dragonflies
  • Assorted and chonky squirrels

Birding, May 11, 2025: Nature in the face

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Partly sunny, 15-16°C

This was the second outing with my Canon EOS R7 and this time I turned on subject detection and cleverly set it to Animal (rather than People or Vehicle). It actually worked quite well, and didn’t prove a hindrance when taking the occasional non-animal shots, too.

Maplewood Flats

It is very green in the forest.

It had been a while since I’d been to Maplewood Flats, but alas, there were not many birbs about and the few that were proved elusive.

However, we did see our first official ducklings of the season! We also saw a gull trying to handle a crab it had acquired along the shoreline, another gull proudly flying off with a rather large bivalve of some sort clenched in its bill, plus a few herons in the distance and a cormorant, also way off, drying off. It didn’t help that the tide was very low, so the effective shore was way out there.

I also took photos of a dog on the beach, for lack of other subjects. It was a nice dog.

The scenery was very lush and pretty, though, which is why this post is titled as it is.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Nic risking his life to shoot goslings, just west of Cariboo Dam.

The land mass is slowly expanding again, but the list of birds is not. All winter migrants have left and other than a few darting swallows, the only spring arrivals present were the cowbirds. The female cowbirds are quite pretty, though, even if they are nest interlopers.

The geese had goslings all over, still looking adorable, but no sign of duckings here–yet. Perhaps because of the mini-geese, the adult geese were strangely well-behaved.

The sandhill crane was here yet again, still standing in its preferred spot. This is the most persistent I’ve seen one here. Maybe it has a mate nesting somewhere out of sight. And for some reason the large fish in the lake were much more conspicuous this time. They have whiskers, so I’m assuming they are some kind of catfish, but I am not a fishtician (fake edit: I checked and they are brown bullheads, which are indeed catfish, so I am now an amateur fishtician).

Tlahutum Regional Park

The pond where we saw a belted kingfisher. It sat on one of the far pilings so we could test our telephoto lenses.

We ventured left for a change of pace, hoping that going the opposite of our usual path would bring us more green herons or a bird of paradise or something.

What we got was mostly crows. But also some hummingbirds, and a goldfinch, which we both managed to catch shots of before it vanished.

The large, restored pond where we turned around and headed back, also gave us a kingfisher, but she opted to sit up very high and rather far away, instead of perching on the fence right in front of us. There was also a single mallard, who may have been lost. Or a recluse.

This is also where I took a photo of a red ant trundling along the side of the trail, which is not remarkable, but when looking at the photo later, I realized I could see a tiny reflection of myself in its shiny abdomen. Weird!

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Goldfinch
  • Pacific wren (heard)
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted kingfisher
  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Various bugs and bees
  • Black squirrels

May 3, 2025 birding shots added

Yes, getting a new camera finally prompted me to go through my photos and actually post some of them, specifically some of the better shots I got while out birding on May 3, 20251I know it looks weird to write “2025” when it’s only three days later, but it’s handy when looking back at posts months or years later.

I need to figure out focus on my Canon EPS R7, as a lot of shots were a bit blurry. I fixed a few of the ones in this gallery, but most are presented as-is, with minor work done on lighting.