Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Mostly cloudy, some drizzle, 20°C
The alliteration will stop when it gets too terrible even for me.
Maplewood Flats
Low tide at Maplewood Flats.
The weather was looking iffy, but we braved not the weather, but traffic, to get to Maplewood Flats (which actually has a big ol’ hill in the middle of it). It was cloudy, but otherwise fine. We saw some bushtits and they were fantastically difficult to capture, as always, along with some mallards, one brooding heron, some gulls and not much else. The scenery was nice and the inlet smelled especially briny, perfect for people who want to “touch ocean.”
Burnaby Lake
Still Creek doing its thing.
We opted to skip Piper Spit, where no doubt people were hauling giant bags of seed to the pier and shovelling it all into the water. Instead, we did a bridge to bridge walk, starting at Still Creek and going to Deer Lake Brook. Along the way we saw mallards, wood ducks (and youngsters), a rare sighting of a Swainson’s thrush, about a million Canada geese claiming the sports fields, and lots of very pretty scenery. The weather continued to hold, with a very occasional bit of drizzle here and there. The park was busier than I expected, given the weather. Maybe Netflix has finally raised its prices too much.
A person at the rowing club said they’d seen a beaver and indeed, we saw the head of a muskrat or beaver as it swam down Still Creek. I am not expert enough to identify by the back of a head at distance, so I’m going to claim it was a beaver. Maybe THE beaver.
Tlahutum Regional Park
Greenery and signery at the community garden.
We ended the afternoon at Tlahutum, but opted to focus solely on the target-rich environment of the community garden. There, it was almost exclusively young birds, looking all spotted and scruffy and getting out there in the world. Robins dominated, though there were lots of house finches as well. We also saw a fair number of hummingbirds, some white-crowns and towhees. Bumblebees were out in numbers and as always, red soldier beetles were getting it on.
Nic once again demonstrated his ability to scare off birds by either getting too close (I declared I have better BirdSense™ than he does and stand by that) or by pointing at them. I always felt his pointing reminded me of something and I finally figured out what it was:
OK, not with the mouth hanging open, but otherwise yes.
I mean, if I was a young robin, I’d book it, too.
I actually got some very nice shots of the beetles and hummingbirds, so I was pleased. We opted not to take our chances any further as by this time it was starting to sprinkle lightly, but it was still a bounty of birding.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
American Bushtit pausing for a nanosecond.
Ships on the inlet off Maplewood Flats.
Seagull happy as a clam.
These three photos were snapped while this mallard was in a grooming frenzy.
Mallard ready for the captioning contest.
Mallard now looking adorable.
Canada Geese marching across a field, looking for trouble.
A Mallard poses by the water's edge.
A Wood Duck in Deer Lake Brook showing a micro-mullet.
A brood (gaggle? gang?) of young Wood Ducks and mom.
A pair of young Wood Duck siblings.
Swainson's Thrush up in a tree with a thing.
A slug dashing across the trail.
A snail also dashing across the trail.
Abandoned birdhouse at the community garden.
Red soldier beetle on a leaf.
Red soldier beetle scaling a leaf.
A scruffy young House Finch.
Kitsch crow.
Anna's Hummingbird getting ready to feed.
Anna's Hummingbird getting nectar from a flower in the community garden.
A gnome up to no good.
A young and scruffy Spotted Towhee. The orange eye will eventually turn red.
A scruffy (detecting a trend?) young White-crowned Sparrow.
Where: Iona Beach, Terra Nova, Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Mostly sunny, 21°C
It was Richmond up in the hizzy today, which meant planes, planes and also some birds.
Iona Beach
Freight ship plying the waters off Iona Beach.
After some early morning showers, the sky mostly cleared up and it was pleasantly warm–and super muggy–for the remainder of the day. We started at Iona Beach and worked back toward a group of people shooting something apparently exotic. But it was just mallards. I guess they are exotic if you don’t see them normally. But in the same green sewer pond we also saw a Northern Pintail couple, the first we’ve seen this summer. We took an alternate trail into the wooded area and did not see much there. A trip down to the river provided the first of several blood sacrifices from Nic as he walked manly through thorny brush.
Once we moved into the open area, filled with scrub and smaller trees, it was chickadees everywhere, along with House Finches, swallows of various sorts and hummingbirds trying to stab each other. It was a birdpalooza, perhaps brought on by the abundant berries growing all over.
In the open gravel area Nic heard, then we saw a couple of Killdeer. They appeared to be nesting, so we gave them a wide berth. One seemed to be trying to draw us away from a nest and I felt bad being there. As penance, I didn’t manage any shots.
The main beach provided opportunities for shooting surly gulls. You know the ones. There was also a disturbingly large amount of broken glass along the shore, spread out over a fairly wide area. Nic picked up like 50 kg of it.
Terra Nova
Looking toward the mountains and airport from Terra Nova.
We then headed across the bay to Terra Nova, which yielded great scenery, a large retro biking group, an ice cream truck playing “Happy Birthday to You” (WHY?!) and not many birds at all! There was a heron standing in the main pond, up to its knees in goop, and looking about as pleased as you’d expect.
What we did see a lot of, other than planes, were bugs of various sorts, and especially grasshoppers. We found one on the trail that was oddly unmoved by our presence, then we realized she was laying eggs in the gravel. Kind of neat and kind of gross at the same time.
Also, lots of planes. I shot about a thousand of them. It was Plane Day for me.
Richmond Nature House
A fake turtle on real wood at Richmond Nature House.
Nic wanted to see if there might be some action at the Richmond Nature House. There was not, other than a few errant hummingbirds and a House Finch. However, the small pond had a turtle (fake) and plenty of dragonflies (real), making the trip, which was not really out of the way, worth it. In summer, it’s all about the bugs.
Tlahutum Regional Park
View of the community gardens at Tlahutum Regional Park.
We concluded at Tlahutum, though we did not venture to the big pond. We saw some Canada Geese in the river, a kingfisher that I could not capture as it zipped by, and at least one Willow Flycatcher.
In the community garden, we continued to see lots of juvenile birds getting their flap on, mainly House Finches, some cowbirds, and robins. Yellowthroats continued to taunt form out of view. I shot a bunch of flowers. Nic shot red soldier beetles getting it on. And on and on.
In all, a fine outing, even if half the spots were a bit bird-deficient. But it’s the summer and that’s expected. Plus the pintails were a nice surprise.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
I swear I’ll have the post and photos soon. It’s kind of weird how busy I can get doing things I don’t particularly enjoy.
In the meantime, here’s as preview, with two of the photos I took.
Photo 1, the pond at Iona Beach, looking all windswept at 16:9 ratio:
Framing!
And because we went to Iona Beach and Terra Nova, I took about 10,000 shots of planes landing and taking off. Here’s one of them, a Westjet jet taking off against a cloudy backdrop:
Flying still terrifies me.
In the birding post (soon™) I will include photos of actual birds.
Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Mostly cloudy, 21°C
I guess my Forerunner 265 wasn’t lying when it said take a rest day, because I was so pooped in the morning that I skipped Reifel and Boundary Bay. Nic swung by after, and we spent some quality time in the community garden at Tlahutum.
Tlahutum Regional Park
Coquitlam River in a green mood.
For the first part of the outing, we hit the trails, and it was mostly Song Sparrows and the occasional crow, but we did see a young, scowly Great Blue Heron sitting atop one of the bird boxes near the big pond. The big pond itself was looking a bit green, and seemed to be bird-free. On the way back, we spotted a small group of what were probably young Rough-winged Swallows hanging out in a few trees south of the trail, their extra-big mouths still not quite assuming adult form. One adult, and likely a parent, was sitting among them.
Weirdly, we saw a couple of Barn Swallows just standing on the trail. Maybe they do it sometimes just to see what it feels like.
After tantalizing glimpses of a Common Yellowthroat in the tall grass (Nic saw it and got some OK photos, I did not see it at all), we moved onto the community garden and zigzagged through it. The plots here are in full bloom, with flowers and veggies in abundance, meaning pollinators were also around.
But not just pollinators. There were quite a few birds buzzing about, many of them young and scruffy-looking. House Finches were racing about in small groups pretty much the entire time we were there. I managed a few decent photos when they deigned to sit still for more than a moment.
Overall, the gardens proved to be relaxing, with the clouds providing relief from the sun, but still high enough to provide decent light most of the time. My watch would have approved.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Some of these are more interesting than “great” shots. Also, dragonfly sex. You’ve been warned.
Baby duck flapping its winglets.
Song Sparrow in the grass, looking for bugs and such.
A Song sparrow perched in a tree.
When a mommy dragonfly and a daddy dragonfly love each other very much…
American crow on a steel railing.
A barn swallow takes off as a guy in jeans approaches. It's kind of arsty?
Broody young Great Blue Heron.
Heron pondering, perhaps.
Fixed wing bird, species Lufthansa 747.
Northern Flicker in the garden.
Flicker looking back.
Coquitlam River.
Hello kitty!
An Anna's Hummingbird engaged in a staring contest with the camera.
The biggest, tallest sunflower I could find.
A Spotted Towhee, moments before it pooped, as one does.
House Finch in the garden.
House Finch perched, with a young robin in the background.
An immature American Robin hanging out.
Some kind of fly thingie.
A young Rough-winged Swallow looking out.
Two Rough-winged Swallows reacting to the arrival of a third.
Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Mostly sunny, 17–20°C
In which I wore sunblock and did not get roasted.
Blakeburn Lagoons Park
One of the lagoons, framed by wildflowers.
We returned to Blakeburn to take in the baby Grebes again and this time we arrived in the morning, which was apparently nap time, because all the waterfowl, Mallards, and Grebes alike, were mostly dozing. But after a short time they started stirring and soon enough the Grebelings began chasing a parent, desperate for food. We observed one getting a big ol’ fishy from the parent and watched as it horked it down in about three gulps.
We also saw a heron–but not a green one, just the great blue kind. It flew right past in front of us. I got a blurry action shot.
Elsewhere around the lagoon, we spied a Northern Flicker, a robin hanging out by a sewer grate and lots of pollinators. It was unofficial Pollinator Day.
At the second lagoon, we heard invisible frogs and once more saw a single American Coot, probably the same one we saw last week. It did a weird kind of coot bobbing thing a few times but mostly ate copious amounts of greenery, which at times looked more like something it was throwing up rather than nomming on.
In all, a nice beginning and I think I got better shots of the grebes this time, so woo for that.
Blackie Spit
A boat plies through the narrow band of water off Blackie Spit.
We then spent 10 hours travelling south to Blackie Spit, thanks to Google Maps directing us to busy highway intersections without traffic lights and asking us to then turn left. Once there, we heard but didn’t see (or did we?) Savannah Sparrows, but we did get shots of a House Finch impersonating one. There were also a lot of sand wasps here, furiously digging burrows as they do.
We hoped for a repeat of seeing a California Scrub Jay after a guy on a scooter advised us of some in the area, but alas, we didn’t see any. We saw lots of pollinators again, though.
The tide was extremely low, which in itself made for some interesting scenery shots.
When we left, I marvelled at how my skin had not turned crimson.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
A goose-rich view of Piper Spit.
We rounded out the day at Piper Spit, where the level of the lake was almost as high as the piles of seeds from all the criminal bird feeders. When not telling girls destined to be sociopaths not to kick at pigeons, we saw pigeons, blackbirds, and a Song Sparrow that kind of looked like it had exploded, but didn’t seem to mind. The ducks were mostly avoiding the pier and hanging out in Eagle Creek.
There were a lot of Canada Geese around and some of the babbies have become sullen teens with mostly adult colours and bad attitudes.
When we left, after silently cursing the people with seed, I was just grateful karma didn’t put us behind a 150-car train before we could head out.
But the weather was nice!
In all, a fine day with maybe a bit too much travelling (but no U-turns), but redeemed by all those grebes.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Despite appearance, this American Coot is eating, not barfing.
This is the coot just being a coot.
Bumblebee doing some upside down pollinating.
Mallard appearing to rest her head on a lily pad.
Northern Flicker on the path.
Parent and a slightly clingy youngster who maybe wants food RIGHT NOW.
Parent and child on the move.
Pied-billed Grebe family portrait.
A young Pied-billed Grebe gulping down a fish brought by the parent on the left.
A young grebe yawning or, likelier, demanding food.
Grebe, some day to fly.
Nothing yummier than slimy greens, straight from the pond.
A Hover Fly on a flower, pretending to be a bee.
A ladybug on a leaf.
A grasshopper of some sort, between hops.
House Finch in a tree.
Decrepit pier over absent water.
A boat traverses a narrow strip of water during low tide.
Red-winged Blackbird voicing opinions.
A Cackling Goose. Like a Canada Goose but smaller and less horrible.
Female Brown-headed Cowbird looking off quizzically.
A cowbird after having a bath.
A Song Sparrow with tufted feathers that looks like they exploded or something. The sparrow seemed unperturbed.
A gull and a goose walk into a bar...
Sand wasp on a tansy.
Terrifying close up of a sand wasp.
A Rock Pigeon on full alert.
Snoozing Mallard with some of his shiny green still intact.
Male Wood duck in shadow, still handsome.
Eastern Kingfisher, chilling out between diving attacks on possible prey.
Spoiler: I forgot to wear sunscreen. I am the lobster.
DeBoville Slough
The slough as we started out.
We previously visited the slough in extremes of heat and cold, but today it was in the Goldilocks zone of just right, if Goldilocks was into sloughs instead of stealing porridge from bears. By the way, we did not see any bears, but we did see frequent reminders of bears along the trail, one of which Nic shot because he loves poop. Just kidding, there was a butterfly on it. I opted to go meta and took a photo of him taking a photo of the poop (with a butterfly on it).
Nic shoots the poop:
The best part is it doesn’t move.
Once more, we heard yellowthroats, but never got any photos. They are as elusive as the Sasquatch, albeit a lot noisier. In general, birds were a bit tricky to shoot due to distance or foliage, but sometimes they’d sit out nicely on the topmost branch of a tree or something.
Cedar Waxwings were in relative abundance, looking snazzy and elegant as always. We watched one snatching a spider atop a tree.
Waterfowl were either tucked away among lily pads or absent, but we did spy a few Mallards and Wood Ducks.
And when there were no birds, the scenery was always gorgeous.
Blakeburn Lagoons Park
Lagoon view, with housing in the distance.
Second spoiler: We did not see any Green Herons. Or any other herons, actually.
But we were treated to two different families of Pied-billed Grebes, the babbies looking weird and adorable with their striking stripe-covered heads. One in particular was almost constantly glued to the parent, begging to be fed. Eventually the parent swam off and returned with a fish that wasn’t so much transferred to the baby Grebe as it was snatched so quickly the best camera EVAR would have been challenged to capture the moment. The baby immediately started begging for more.
The other Pied-billed Grebe family was tightly clustered, as were five photographers shooting them with their mega-lenses. This is how we knew something might be up–always look for The Gathering of Mega-Lenses. One of the parents dove and came up with a rather large fish that could not be swallowed up by any of the babies, so it just sort of passed it around for nibbling. At one point it dropped the fish, but after a few attempts, managed a recovery, to the delight of the insatiable babbies.
We also saw a fair number of dragonflies here and most surprisingly, in one of the lagoons, swimming near a Mallard–a lone coot! Have they returned early? Did they never really go away but just cleverly hid? Is this a rogue coot who never left? I guess we’ll know if we start seeing others. I normally haven’t observed them returning until August.
Alouette River/Trans Canada Trail
A farm along the Alouette River.
The birds were leanest along the Alouette River, but we did watch an Osprey flying down the river, looking down for yummies, and got to see horses, rustic boats and plenty of pleasant scenery. We also saw a Cybertruck, as if to remind us the world can also be cruel. This was offset by a White-crowned Sparrow singing on a post.
In all, a pleasant and step-rich day of birding, marred only by me being silly and forgetting the sunblock. I VOW TO NEVER FORGET SUNBLOCK AGAIN.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Pitt River.
Female blackbird on a lily pad.
Pitt River.
Scenery along the DeBoville Slough.
Blue damselfly.
Scenery.
A farm along the Alouette River.
American Robin in a tree.
A Tiger Swallowtail and its long, freaky proboscis.
A Willow Flycatcher with a nearby fly.
Willow Flycatcher looking right.
A young Pied-billed Grebe showing off its winglets.
Lily pads at Blakeburn Lagoons, with dragonfly.
Parent Grebe bringing home a meal for the youngster.
Eager Grebeling about to get fed.
A Glaucous-winged Gull perched atop a McDonald's. He's lovin' it.
A horse on a farm, being very horse.
Sand Wasp on a flower.
Song Sparrow stare.
Spotted Towhee calling out.
A yellow valve near a boat launch on the Alouette River.
A Cybertruck, with extensive photo enhancement to bring out the natural beauty.
In which a crow demonstrates why the Raptor Trail may need to be renamed Corvid Trail.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
A green London Slough, filled with Canada Geese and a couple of turtles.
Our first stop was Reifel, which I haven’t been to since the surgery. Much like myself, the sanctuary has mostly healed from its own issues, namely all trails are now open, though at least three are rather lumpy, with signs warning you to walk like you’re an ATV.
Despite sunny skies, comfy (not hot) temperatures the front gate was open and, indeed, there weren’t too many people around. Something non-birding people may not realize is that summer is actually about the worst time for birding, because:
Maximum tree canopy makes birds in trees harder to spot. Birds like trees.
It’s an in-between season, meaning a lot of spring migrants have already left and the winter migrants are yet to arrive, so it’s mostly local birds, which may disappoint some looking for something more exotic.
Also, the higher-then-normal temperatures this spring mean the various ponds and waterways are already getting a lot of algae and slime, so the views are sometimes a little green in a way that is less aesthetically pleasing.
Still, we saw C21 (a goose with one of those dorky big collars) and for some reason I couldn’t remember the name of the explosive compound so mused incorrectly about watching out for C1, then C2, then Nic reminded me it’s actually C4 and I was like, that’s totes what I meant. Watch out for the C4 goose, it hisses and then BOOM.
The Sandhill Cranes were out and about, which is always nice to see. Like Mallards and a few other species, they are generally indifferent to people, so you are sometimes presented with the challenge of them getting too close for a good shot.
We saw one Wood Duck, I think. The rest were Mallards, the males looking pretty scruffy now.
Barn Swallows were present near the entrance with a few tending nests, but I did not see any babbies.
Speaking of babbies, a family of goslings was trundling about, now in their gawky teen “all legs” phase. Not quite cuddly anymore, but cute in a goofy sort of way.
There were also plumes of sand wasps along the Outer Dyke trail. We took some photos, then I suggested we move on because I was concerned about smooshing some accidentally and doing that when surrounded by them seemed like it might lead to an unpleasant turn of events. They are still wasps, after all.
I also got my first dragonfly shots of the season, which turned out OK. I was generally not thrilled with today’s shots, but I admit, I am not a Hardcore Birder/Photographer. Maybe I should be and start a blog called hardcorebirderphotographer.com.
Anyway, we shot a lot of bugs, because most song birds were hiding. I suggested we hit Centennial Beach next, so we did.
Centennial Beach
Boundary Bay, unbounded by water. The people provide perspective!
We started near the pond and worked our way to the pump station, then back, walking along the Raptor Trail as one does along the way.
Near the pond we saw some Brewer’s Blackbirds, which I haven’t seen in approximately a hundred years. Their eyes are a striking yellow and they have a kind of cute derpy quality to them that I like. It’s why I did one for my bird art.
We saw more sand wasps, panting crows, baby ducks and a few Killdeer (which were weirdly hard to shoot, in part because they kept moving and I don’t mean bobbing their heads, though they did a lot of that, too) walking around the very low tide area. On the aforementioned Raptor Trail we spotted a Northern Harrier flying high overhead. Then another bird emerged–a crow! The crow did not like the harrier being there and assumed attack formation. The harrier quickly vacated the airspace and the crow went back to the invisible line marking the periphery of its territory. No one messes with crows.
A few more scenery shots (nice views across the expanse of the bay, though the horizon was hazy) and we set off to our last stop, Illegal Bird Feeding Place.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Typical late afternoon wind rippling the lake surface, towers in the distance.
Which is to say Piper Spit. The illegal bird feeding didn’t happen until we were just leaving, though, so our rage was more contained. I’m pretty sure they could erect a 10-metre sign here saying IF YOU BRING SEED WE WILL KILL YOU DEAD and people would casually walk by, clutching their bags of seed. It’s just the world we live in now. What we need, clearly, are Guard Geese.
The island is still submerged, though the water is shallow enough for the geese to stand in and geese were once again the dominant waterfowl here, with Mallards and Wood Ducks comprising most of the rest. A couple of Sandhill Cranes were on hand, too, though they were stalking about separately.
Blackbirds flitted about, smearing seed over their bills as they do, and a few pigeons were once again playing sexy and generating no interest whatsoever from the other pigeons. As they do.
In all, a perfectly cromulent day of birding and a nice break from the torrid heat of the previous outing. Next stop: Summer 2026!
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.
Some of the shots in the gallery are not exactly sharp, but I chose each for a reason, usually stated in the captions.
Barn Swallow tending nest.
Barn Swallow hanging out.
Barn Swallow hanging in the shade.
Two male Brown-headed Cowbirds expressing themselves.
Male Brown-headed Cowbird up close, with seed.
Not a great shot, but this Great Blue Heron cooling itself looks totally metal.
A crow panting in the heat.
Marshland scenery at Reifel.
Not a great shot, but great drama. A crow informs a Northern Harrier it has invaded the crow's space.
Killdeer on the shoreline at Centennial Beach.
A baby duck being very cute.
A female Brown-headed Cowbird.
A somewhat pondering Sandhill Crane.
Sandhill Crane strutting across the shallows.
Bald Eagle coming in for a landing at Reifel.
"Look into my freaky eyes," said the fly.
A red dragonfly.
Sand wasps wasping together.
Sand wasp up close and thinking of digging a burrow.
Canada Goose not quite snoozing.
A gosling chilling out on the grass.
Don't zoom in. I was lucky to grab this shot of a heron flying overhead.
A male Mallard unfussed about his scruffy looks.
Boundary Bay, with less bay thanks to low tide.
Shady pigeon.
A pigeon trying to convince a female Mallard that it is very sexy.
A sitting duck.
Song Sparrow in shadow.
Song Sparrow mid-song.
A male Wood Duck contemplating life (well, a few months) without a resplendent mullet.
A Bewick's Wren having a dirt bath, as ones does.
The bill is not in focus due to extreme FOV but I love the derpy look of a Sandhill Crane from the front.
Where: Campbell Valley Regional Park (Langley), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, 26-32°C
This was my second time birding since surgery and I may have been a bit overly ambitious on setting out an extravagantly long route around Campbell Valley as the temperature eventually climbed to 32C.
Campbell Valley Regional Park
Quaint old buildings near the South Valley entrace.
We parked at the South Valley entrance, where the car seats would get set to “broiling” while we wandered the many trails of the park. We eventually began questing for a water fountain and settled for a bathroom sink by an old red barn.
Our first visit here was in March 2023 and did not yield too many birds. This time there was a lot of activity and a surprisingly large variety of birds–but many proved elusive, either appearing fleetingly, or only taunting us from somewhere in the dense foliage.
One of the reasons I suggested Campbell Valley on this day was the forecast–I remembered it had a lot of shade. And the shade is maxed out in the summer. It was quite nice to stroll under the relative cool of the canopy, but the sections where it opened up were Africa Hot and I regretted not having a camera bag large enough to hold a big ol’ water bottle.
We also saw the Historic Langley Speedway, which is now just a curious paved oval in the middle of the forest.
Toward the end I was further regretting the long, elaborate route I’d suggested. Then we got to the Shaggy Mane Trail and encountered about a dozen horse (with riders) split into a few groups. Most of the rest of the way out from here was navigating around horse poop–big fresh piles of tapestry (I had opined earlier about the tapestry of nature)–and passing a disturbingly large number of EMERGENCY CALL 911 signs because apparently horses or horse riders apparently have lots of accidents or something.
In an ironic twist, we came across a flooded part and had to navigate across on a plank, while simultaneously parched and desperate for water.
By the end we had managed a few decent shots, more than a few foiled attempts and a desire to return either in the spring or fall, when there are fewer places for the birds to hide and temperatures will be cooler.
Still, a welcome trip back, if a wee bit more than was perhaps sensible given conditions.
Tlahutum Regional Park
Coquitlam River.
We went hunting for a bunting here, but the hunt was unsuccessful. I shot more kitsch than birds in the community garden, but it was 32C by now, so the sensible birds were hiding in the shade. Nic managed a shot of an American Goldfinch. Had it stayed put for another second, I would have gotten a shot, too, but it finched right off just as I lifted my camera. I had better luck with some House Finches in a tree.
We opted to not venture to the big pond, but did see a single scruffy Wood Duck in one of the increasingly swampy waterways.
A few high clouds blotted out some of the sun, which provided a little relief in the late going.
In all, not a bad day of birding at all, even if it was silly hot and the birds were largely (and wisely) absent.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26. The light and shadows were especially harsh. And my camera may have started melting.
A fly. We actually don't see many flies. But they really liked this leaf.
Anna's Hummingbird, up high.
Willow Flycatcher. I had to adjust some dials as the light was pretty bad here.
Fixed-wing bird, with contrails.
A Spotted Towhee, caught in the nanosecond before it started madly hopping around again.
Red-bellied Sapsucker. The shadows were harsh, I did what I could!
Song Sparrow with classic, "Whatchoo lookin' at?" pose.
Posing done, singing commences.
Song Sparrow singing.
One of a bunch of Cedar Waxwings in a tree at Campbell Valley Regional Park.
Community Garden kitsch at Tlahutum.
American Robin "panting" to beat the heat. It was 32C at this point.
Black-capped chickadee seeking shelter from the sun.
A House Finch pondering berries before digging in.
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Cloudy with some sun, 15-16°C
This was my first birding since the surgery and it went fine. The only thing I noticed is getting a tiny bit tired holding the camera up for an extended period of time. But that can also happen without surgery.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Looking west, with a Wood Duck photobombing the shot.
We were a bit boxed in by weather (showers in the morning) and fabulousness (Nic had to help with a VMC show in the early evening) so we dropped our initial plan to check the heron rookery in Port Moody and went with the Piper Spit/Tlahutum split.
We didn’t see anyone feeding birds at Piper Spit–in fact, there were few people there, likely because of the earlier showers–but the ground and pier were absolutely festooned with seed. Perhaps the Bird Police had been occupied eating artisanal organic donuts.
The recent showers meant the water level was quite a bit higher, with the island completely submerged and no chance of shorebirds. Initially, it was mostly just Goosetown, with geese arrayed across where the island would normally be. The geese were disturbingly well-behaved, perhaps because their dominance was unchallenged.
Some other waterfowl did show up, and the wood ducks and mallards are both starting to look quite scruffy, now that spring fever/mating/babby-making is largely over. I did not observe any migrant waterfowl, it’s just the locals for now.
One blackbird was acting weird, fanning its wings in a show of…something. Most of the other birbs were indulging in the plentiful seed.
We did not stay too long, because there really wasn’t much activity.
Tlahutum Regional Park
For a change of pace, the creek adjacent to the Coquitlam River.
We started at the community garden, wary of the showers creating mini-lakes here, but it was fine and we saw collections of cowbirds, swallows posing, robins acting rascally and what appears to be a Willow Flycatcher, which I’ll have to check if it’s a lifer or not (I can never keep my flycatchers straight). As usual, I kept my eye out for kitschy decorations in the plots.
The trails netted us a pair of Eastern Kingbirds and a guy claimed to see a seal in the river, though maybe it was an otter, which would make more sense. A lot of pigeons were flying overhead–in both directions. No idea what was going on there.
Bonus shot: The mostly empty big pond, with patchy blue sky overhead.
The big pond had a few ducks and a number of swallows darting overhead, but it seemed quieter than usual, a recurring theme through the afternoon. Still, by this time the weather was pretty decent, it was pleasantly mild, and it was one of the first “normal” activities I’ve engaged in since the surgery, so overall, a perfectly cromulent bit of birding.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.
Zen goose.
Canada Goose contemplating drama.
Male Brown-headed Cowbird, up close.
Fluffed out female Cowbird looking for seed.
Female Red-winged Blackbird vamping or…something.
A scruffy-looking male Wood Duck, losing his breeding plumage.
A male Wood Duck with mullet intact.
Female Wood Duck cruising along.
Female Wood Duck, posing.
Song Sparrow preparing to belt it out.
Song Sparrow belting it out.
A different Song Sparrow doing its thing.
Coquitlam River running high.
A ruffled crow atop a bench at Tlahutum Regional Park.
A fly on a daisy.
A ladybug checking things out.
Big-eyed fly of some kind.
Eastern Kingbird perched.
On the same tree, another Eastern Kingbird, with a freshly-caught bumblebee.
Where: Brydon Lagoon, Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Cloudy with some sun, 11-16°C
Unlike recent outings, the weather was unseasonably cool today. I still wore shorts.
Brydon Lagoon
Brydon Lagoon, under a brooding sky.
The last time we were at Brydon, we saw a bounty of birds or BOB. Today, the bounty mostly came in the form of every kind of swallow, gulls and Mallards. Except for a few Ring-necked Ducks still noodling around, the winter migrants are gone. We are cootless again.
The wind was quite brisk and it started out only around 11C. This may not sound cold, but we’ve had summer-like weather just long enough to get used to it.
That same wind provided a benefit in trying to shoot swallows, though, as they slowed noticeably when pushing against the wind. Nic took about a billion shots, adjusted his camera’s settings and regularly cleaned stuff from the sensor, which is apparently cursed by black magic to always mysteriously attract stuff to it. But this all paid off, as he got several very spiffy shots.
I only tried a few times, my camera mostly refused to lock on, but I did grab a few where you could look at the photos and say, “That’s a swallow.”
The highlight here, though, was the normally unassuming Song sparrow, as a young and fuzzy one was sitting in a bush, demanding to be fed, and a parent was obliging, stuffing seed and whatnot down its gullet. We both got very nice shots of the feedings. Once sated, it flew off.
As did we. Well, we didn’t fly, we had to drive.
Blackie Spit
Another Xtreme low tide at Blackie Spit.
Here I added a light hoodie to my other light hoodie, as Blackie Spit is on the ocean and even though there was another extreme low tide, the wind was still kicking up high enough to threaten sweeping the cap off my head.
We saw an Anna’s Hummingbird sitting atop a small tree, looking even more like it was ready to kill than usual, but it was likely just leaning forward into the wind to avoid being blown off the tree.
Blackbirds were out and about, some festooned with crumbs and seed all over their bills, as is their way. And we saw our first ducklings, though they were in the south creek, which is mostly obscured by bushes. Nic got one so-so shot, I did not get any, sadly. The ducks seem to be lagging behind the geese in making babbies. This does not bode well in saving us from goose domination.
Although I didn’t get shots, Nic managed to capture some Hudsonian Whimbrels, which are shorebirds with long bills that hook down. Maybe we’ll see them again when the tide is not a kilometre away.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Sun and clouds, with a grooming Sandhill Crane.
This was our first visit with the Nature House open for the season. We did not go in, but I took a photo of the sign. We observed no Bird Police on the pier, but also didn’t see anyone feeding the birds. There was a pile of seed on the ground, though. To be fair, it looked like healthy seed, not like half a loaf of stale Wonder Bread.
It was still windy as all heck, but had finally warmed up to 16C. With winter migrants gone, I focused mainly on cowbirds, wood ducks and the Sandhill Crane, which was back and very into grooming itself.
There was word of a Red-necked Phalarope at Piper Spit and lo, there she was! We got plenty of photos, but the phalarope stayed conspicuously away from the pier, so they were not great. The phalarope did not drive a monster truck or shout “Yeehaw.”
The one goose nest near the pier now looks empty and we did see a group of rapidly growing goslings by Eagle Creek, with a protective parent going ape on every other bird in the vicinity. The other birds seemed nonplussed.
Nic also took another billion shots of swallows. I took a few. I’ll be more motivated when it’s warmer (and harder to shoot them).
In all, a decent outing, with the weather actually being a tad better than expected.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.
NOTE: Normally I present the photos in the same order as they were taken, but for this gallery I opted to end with the young Song Sparrow sequence because it’s adorable.
House sparrow at Brydon Lagoon.
Female wood duck at Brydon Lagoon.
Northern Flicker atop a pump station at Blackie Spit.
Anna's Hummingbird showing off his gorget at Blackie Spit.
Anna's Hummingbird, looking sassy.
A female cowbird standing on a block of wood at Piper Spit.
Sandhill Crane getting down.
The classic Sandhill Crane profile shot.
A male Mallard having a bath.
The mallard, clearly pleased with the results.
A gosling in the bright sun at Piper Spit.
An older gosling with a parent freaking out behind it at Piper Spit.
Male Wood Duck on alert.
A pigeon strutting its stuff on the pier.
Rock Pigeon up close. Coo coo.
A rare Red-Necked Phalarope at Piper Spit. It kept its distance from the pier.
Cityscape looming in the background at Burnaby Lake.
A Northern Rough-winged Swallow taking a break at Brydon Lagoon.
A young Song Sparrow demanding to be fed.
The parent arrives to feed the kid.
Down the hatch.
The young Song sparrow grumpily awaiting moar food.
Delivered straight to your beak.
The parent and kid hanging out briefly, post-feeding,
