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,
Where: Rocky Point Park (Port Moody), DeBoville Slough (Port Coquitlam) Weather: Mostly sunny, 21°C
Today the weather was more seasonal, but still a bit warmer than normal. It was warm enough for a lot of birds to go bathing, however.
Rocky Point Park (and environs)
Looking west across the inlet.
Our first stop was the heron rookery just past Old Orchard Park. We did see plenty of nests and plenty of adult herons, variously grooming, snoozing and staring out, but no baby dinosaurs were visible–yet. We may have to return in a few weeks. Or rent a drone or something. Or a Great Blue Heron costume, along with tree-climbing skills, the latter of which I’m fairly certain you can’t rent.
Bottom line: no baby herons on this trip.
We headed along the trail to Rocky Point Park and along the way spotted a number of Killdeer and out and about and bobbing, along with a flock of seagulls enjoying the cool of the water flowing in from nearby creeks, as well as a murder or two of crows doing the same. The crows would carefully (and sometimes trippingly) make their way to a shallow spot in the water suitable for bathing, then energetically splash about before hopping out to let the next one in. Very civilized. The gulls, being swimmers, were just bathing wherever, or snoozing in the shallows while cooling their butts.
We also saw a number of herons variously stalking, flying or creeping under the pier and disappearing. A bird condo out in the water had what appeared to be at least one Purple Martin couple shacking up.
And as always, the lower number of birds is compensated for in part by some pretty nice scenery.
DeBoville Slough
The DeBoville Slough, sloughing along.
The last time we were at the DeBoville Slough, we were shooting icy fronds. Today I wore sunblock. Apparently there was enough sun to scare off most of the birds, as we saw even fewer than normal, but we did see a peppy spider and a bee both working their way along the trail (unsure why the bee wasn’t, you know, flying). There were also geese honking here and there and the mountains and the slough providing scenic views, but the piling that previously had an osprey nest is nest-free this spring, boo.
Sadly, there wasn’t much activity here, so I can’t really elaborate more. Pretend there are a few paragraphs below detailing birds of paradise or something.
But despite the relative lack of birds, it was still a perfectly pleasant outing.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Heron in a nest
Ship off of Rocky Point, Port Moody.
A crow ponders bathing.
A crow taking a bath.
Rinse cycle engaged.
Profile shot of a seagull in flight.
Seagull sipping from a freshwater puddle.
A Mallard taking a drink.
Walk like an Egyptian, Killdeer edition.
A killdeer acquiring something.
A killdeer stepping through a small stream on the mudflats.
Still strolling.
A killdeer doing...I'm not sure what. Bowing? Stretching? Passing gas?
I love the graphic on this sign.
You can practically feel the futility of this guy trying to pull his leg out of the quicksand-like mud.
Where: Piper Spit/Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, 28°C
The weather today was more like what you would expect in about two months, when it’s, you know, summer. Crazy climate change. But this time II wore sunblock and even reapplied it!
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Clear skies, no birds. Well, a few birds.
It was a shorter and simpler day of birding, which was just as well, because it seemed the unusually warm temperatures were keeping a lot of birds tucked out of view, no doubt in cooler places.
But it started with adorable goslings, still fuzzy and not yet ready to hiss or honk. I even caught one in an adorable, fuzzy little yawn.
After the geese and a robin, we did not see many other birbs on the way to Piper Spit, but we did come across one fuzzy caterpillar.
At the pier, it was strangely quiet, with few people around. We speculated that all the naughty bird feeders were in church confessing their sins. And also, we didn’t even see anyone feeding them today, though there were a few piles of seed scattered around (and few takers).
Despite low water levels, no shorebirds were around, boo. Well, unless you count seagulls, in which case there were two.
With the relative lack of birds, we focused on some of the regulars, like the ever-fabulous wood ducks and teals. Some geese were nesting, while others were watching over their broods. No baby ducks yet, but soon™.
Before we left, a very orange Sandhill Crane flew in to pose and preen. They are quite good at both.
The butterfly garden yielded no butterflies, but it did contain one garden, just as the signs promised.
We took advantage of the water fountain to hydrate, then headed back to the car for the next and final stop of the day.
Tlahutum Regional Park
Classic shot of Coquitlam River, looking a bit low today.
Tlahutum proved to be teal-rich. On the way in, we saw a Cinnamon Teal in one of the creeks, but the shrubbery proved our nemesis, and we were unable to get shots before it went…elsewhere.
The main pond had a pair of Blue-winged Teals, with their fancy diagonal white racing stripes, but they were both fairly distant and were so busy dunking their heads most of my shots make them appear headless.
Tree swallows were abundant in the community garden, and we heard yet again the taunting calls of Yellowthroats, who proved even more elusive than Marsh Wrens or Virginia Rails. Well, maybe not more than Virginal Rails. But close!
Among more visible avians were some Brown-headed Cowbirds, more robins, and a few Anna’s Hummingbirds, one of which was sitting on a branch that was bouncing so much from the wind that the hummingbird has motion blue, even though it was sitting still.
The sky yielded both a Red-Tailed Hawk and an Osprey. I got a few decent shots of the Osprey, but the hawk mostly eluded me. I had better luck with an Air Canada jet, and managed to sneak in a Tree Swallow in the same shot by accident.
In all, it was a rather quiet day, but also kind of nice. A breeze at Tlahutum kept the heat from being horrible, which is not a thing I’d expect to say a few days into May, but here we are!
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery shots taken on a Samsung Galaxy S26.
A small gallery of shots:
A goose on a log.
A twitchy squirrel.
Sandhill Crane, resplendent in orange.
A gosling, adorably yawning.
A juvenile Great Blue Heron striking a pose.
Tree Swallow on house.
An Osprey showing off his impressive wingspan. And terrorizing voles.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Anna’s Hummingbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Yellowthroat (heard repeatedly, tauntingly)
The weather was once again fabulous. I once again got sunburn. I even had my sunblock, I just didn’t put it on. I’ll learn by the next outing, I swear.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
This is the main pond, reflecting the general absence of birds.
This was my second trip back to Reifel after the Barge and Bridge Incident™, with all trails save the North Dyke Trail now re-opened, though a few are still in pretty rough shape.
Three things stood out this day:
There was a lot of bird drama (here and elsewhere) and it wasn’t just mad geese, though they figured prominently, as always.
Most of the birds were absent, either nesting, hiding or visiting their pocket dimensions due to the unseasonably warm weather, perhaps.
Poop.
Let me start with the poop. We had just entered and had barely made it past the entrance when some birds flew overhead, one depositing a load on both my left and right wrists. I was wearing a long-sleeved light hoodie, so it could have been worse. It could also have been a heron pooping, which would have been much worse. Still, it was an annoying way to start the day and despite being reassured by Nic and Jeff that getting pooped on by a bird is good luck, I was not convinced. I didn’t win the lottery later that evening, so there.
After cleaning up in the washroom, we got to touring the open trails and as mentioned, many of the ponds were strangely bereft of birds Even the sparrows seem to be reduced in numbers. It was odd and a wee bit disappointing.
We saw three Sandhill Cranes, one by itself, the other two (a couple) strolling around together. At one point it seemed one of the pair may have landed on a small island possibly already occupied with a goose nest. And goose. Drama ensued and the other half of the crane couple called out in its weird, loud trilling croak for quite a while after.
The Killdeer family was nowhere to be seen, alas.
The geese were strategically placed all over the sanctuary, asserting their dominance, one even perching itself magnificently on the railing of the platform with the sign that assures you if you are very quiet, you might see a Virginia Rail. Sure, that could happen, if you didn’t have a Canada Goose literally standing there, lording over the area, ready to start blatting out its war cry on a moment’s notice.
At the viewing platform, we saw two wasps doing something. I’ve looked at my photos and I’m still not sure. Were they making out? Was one eating the other? They eventually separated and one flew off, so I guess it was mutual something or other. Still not as strange as dragonflies copulating.
A number of swallows were in a nest-building mood, and were gathering bits of straw, down and other nest-building material. Soon, the babbies, with their giant mouths and endless cries of, “FEED ME! FEEEEEED ME!”
By early afternoon, we completed our circuit and freshly sunburnt, headed off to our next stop: Centennial Beach.
Centennial Beach
Very low tide, with Mt. Baker in the background.
We started at the entrance near to the pump station and saw some herons stalking about, spied some gulls way out with the extremely low tide and got shots of Mt. Baker, which was standing against a bright blue sky.
And there were shorebirds! Specifically, Least and Western Sandpipers. We watched them scamper along the shoreline, take off in brief bursts of flight and repeat until they decided to fly off.
We saw our only shovelers here, what was likely a mated pair, in the small pond near the other entrance to the beach.
And the Raptor Trail delivered, with what turned out to be a fight or exchange between a male and female Northern Harrier. The male had caught a bird and made it an ex-bird. The female showed up, the male dropped it and the female apparently made off with it. I have no idea if this was planned or just one harrier shaking down another.
Back out on the bay, a young Bald Eagle was standing on a distant sandbar and would occasionally fly off to another. At one, he appeared to be noshing on something that turned out to be a large crab. He got the crab to go, and flew off. The eagle, not the crab. Well, the crab flew off too, but was in the talons of the eagle and was an ex-crab at that point.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Look at all the birds that might be here, but aren’t!
Still sunburnt, we went to our last stop: The Piper Spit Bird Hangout and Illegal Seed Sharing Site. Here we saw a lot of Wood Duck drama, for some reason, with males flapping, chasing and flaring out their mullets. Cowbirds and pigeons were both looking unsuccessfully for love and there were shorebirds here, too.
Most of the winter migrants have departed–we saw no Scaups, Buffleheads or Ring-necked Ducks (a single pair of the latter were at Reifel), but we still have coots.
The butterfly garden proved to have no butterflies or fancy spiders this time, but at least we didn’t have to wait for a train to pass before leaving.
In all, a decent day of birding, though I was a bit disappointed by the lack of birds and also the overall quality of my shots. I got some good ones, but there were a lot of misses, too. And I wasn’t even trying to shoot flying swallows.
But at least the weather was again faboo.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery shots taken on a Samsung Galaxy S26.
A few shots, gallery pending:
A Sandhill Crane, sitting on the grass near the Reifel entrance.Watching and waiting…I don’t know what this Wood Duck was reacting to. They were all a bit weird.
Where: Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach, Serpentine Wildlife Management Area (Serpentine Fen), Green Timbers Lake (Surrey) Weather: Partly sunny, 16-18°C
We spent the day birding in the city where tomorrow lives. We did not encounter tomorrow, but we did see a Tufted Duck!
Blackie Spit
A small bay lacking most of its water at Blackie Spit.
It was unusually mild and as a bonus, there was almost no breeze at all at Blackie Spit, so it really did feel like 16C or warmer, thus making this our first shorts-wearing birding of 2026.
Despite the balmy weather, there weren’t as many people there as expected. The super low tide might have been a factor.
Walking the path to the end of the spit itself, we had copious opportunities to get snazzy shots of the equally snazzy Savannah Sparrows, some of which were singing their little hearts out, because spring has sprung, and you can’t mate with yourself.
At the end of the spit, we spotted some Long-billed Dowitchers, but they were rather far off, thanks to the aforementioned extreme low tide.
The trail to the pump station yielded better results, with sparrows a-plenty in the trees, bushes and on the ground. A female blackbird sat proudly on a branch for a bit, holding a juicy ol’ caterpillar in her bill. Yum!
With low tide putting many waterfowl out of reach of even our telephoto lenses, we headed to Serpentine Fen, to see if our luck would change.
Serpentine Fen
One of the larger ponds at Serptentine Fen, with Mt. Baker in the background.
As it turned out, the Serpentine River was also probably the lowest we’ve ever seen and the overall number of birds was relatively small, though we did get some decent variety, with an eagle in a tree near the start, a few herons, a cormorant and a Canada Goose nesting on what would normally be a small island but is currently a hill surrounded by a lot of mud. I’m sure the future goose babbies will be safe, regardless.
An unexpected surprise came in the form of a few Greater Yellowlegs strutting around some of the ponds in the area, mingling with the shovelers and Mallards.
The view of Mt. Baker was quite nice, too, with a tuft of white cloud caught on the top of the peak and being pulled away by the wind like cotton candy. I took a photo using my phone’s 30x digital zoom. It looks like an impressionist painting. My camera yielded a less opinionated version of the mountain.
Green Timbers Lake
Green Timbers Lake, looking northeast.
And speaking of tufts…
We originally planned to go to Brydon Lagoon, but Nic had already driven a lot for reasons, so he suggested we go to the closer Green Timbers Lake instead, as a rare Tufted Duck has been seen there recently.
We arrived and I noted again how they have two signs over each other, one that says WELCOME and the other which says DANGER.
And lo, there in pretty much the middle of the lake (a bit far away, boo) was a Tufted Duck.
If you check the link, you’ll see the usual range of a Tufted Duck is Europe, Asia and Africa, none of which are North America, so he is a long way off course. He didn’t seem to mind.
Despite being a lifer, I felt strangely indifferent to seeing it, because they look almost exactly like a scaup, just with a little black mullet on the back. I like scaups, don’t get me wrong, but it’s…just not very different.
We ended our visit to the lake with a Douglas squirrel going big on a pile of sunflower seeds atop a fence post, giving us a nice cute-squirrel-pose before wrapping up.
In retrospect, the number of photos I took vs. the variety of birds we saw is probably among the most skewed ever–only 384 photos in total (and if that sounds like a lot, I regularly shoot over twice that and sometimes more than 1,000–without using burst mode, too!) The particular circumstances and locations meant a lot of the birds were far away or too fleeting to get shots of. But sometimes that’s the way it goes.
The weather for the third week of April was totally fabulous, though, apart from some increasing high cloud later on.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery shots taken on a Samsung Galaxy S26.
A few shots, gallery pending:
A Bald Eagle in very dull, dim lighting.A boat racing through one of the narrow strips of water at Crescent Beach.Singing Savannah Sparrow.White blossoms and a White-crowned Sparrow.Pondering which sunflower seed to gobble next.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American Bushtit
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Anna’s Hummingbird
Black-capped Chickadee
Dark-eyed Junco
Golden-crowned Sparrow
House Finch
Orange-crowned Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
Rufous Hummingbird (heard)
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
White-crowned Sparrow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
American Coot
American Wigeon
Bufflehead
Canada Goose
Common Loon (heard)
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Greater Yellowlegs
Green-winged Teal
Killdeer
Long-billed Dowitcher
Marsh Wren (heard)
Lesser Scaup
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Tufted Duck
Wood Duck
Common:
American Crow
Some gulls
Raptors:
Bald Eagle
Non-birds:
A single turtle sunning itself, probably a Western painted turtle
A Douglas Squirrel nomming away on sunflower seeds
