Birding

Birding, January 25, 2025: Towhee Town, Junco Junction

Where: Richmond Nature House, Iona Beach Regional Park (Richmond)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 3-6°C

The Outing

Richmond Nature House

Some of the feeders, squirrel gorging at the central one.

The nice thing about Richmond Nature House is the birds gather nicely together for you, thanks to a bunch of feeders arranged behind a fence just north of the house itself. It’s like a birding buffet.

Despite the cooler temperatures, there was no wind here, so it felt fine. As before, juncos were very well-represented, and towhees were also rather abundant. We did see a nuthatch, but it didn’t stay around long, though a hairy woodpecker gave us plenty of opportunity for photos. Squirrels of various types were back gorging themselves in the feeders and even the rat was back, nibbling at seeds on the ground with its creepy yet cute forepaws, which kind of look like little human hands.

A number of Anna’s hummingbirds were present, too, and I actually got some decent shots of them in flight (albeit with blurred wings, since I was letting the camera do all the heavy lifting).

In all, we got a very nice set of birb photos here.

Iona Beach

Shot as we were leaving, with the tide starting to go out. The foam at the bottom-right is frozen.

I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of birds at Iona, and the wind picked up, so it was a tad cold. The tide was also in, which meant the opportunities for seeing shorebirds was greatly reduced–or so we thought!

There were a bunch of herons ringing the main pond, like silent stabby sentinels. Unfortunately, most were a little too far away, but at least they don’t jump all over the place when you’re shooting them.

Our trek past the pond and through the wooded area yielded no birds, but we did see a pair of bald eagles land on a log boom as we swung by the river. Further up were a trio of cormorants resting on some pilings, along with some gadwalls and wigeons (to be clear, the gadwalls and wigeons were not on the pilings with the cormorants, though that would have made for some very interesting shots).

There was also a crow standing on top of a sign, acting very dramatic. We took pictures, it seemed satisfied, then flew off.

Just before heading out, we saw a very round song sparrow, which are probably the birbiest of birbs around here. We thought we were done, but as we started driving off, we saw the tide was now beginning to go out and lo, there were shorebirds!

We got some shots of dunlins and killdeer tooling around along the shore, as well as a look at probably hundreds of pintails gathered in one of the ponds adjacent to the sewer/water plant. Most were snoozing. Presumably it doesn’t smell that bad in there. Or pintails have a lousy sense of smell.

The biggest surprise, though, was an area of bushes and trees along the pipe leading to the jetty, where a surprisingly large number of ruby-crowned kinglets were flitting about. We both managed to get some decent shots of them, which is normally something of a miracle, especially for me.

I seemed to have better luck with Nic’s camera this time. I’m not sure what I did differently, though maybe having full use of both arms and hands helped. Whatever it was, it was nice to not have a giant boatload of blurry photos to sort through (I had a smaller boatload of blurry photos, but most were pretty decent!)

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Hairy woodpecker
  • House finch
  • Purple finch
  • Red-breasted nuthatch
  • Ruby-crowned kinglet
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s jay

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American wigeon
  • Common merganser
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Dunlin
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Gray squirrel
  • Black squirrel
  • Douglas squirrel
  • A rat. An American rat? I am not an expert on rat types.

Birding, January 18, 2025: Wrong shoes and Jesus ducks

It was a chilly but tolerable day of birding, thanks to little breeze, though it started getting a wee bit nippy toward the end at Piper Spit.

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 3-5°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

A view over the marshland from the West Dyke, with Rusty the pipe mid-shot.

We started out a tad later than usual, thanks to my second-to-last IV therapy. Because my morning routine got disrupted, I also forgot to change into my trail runners for the outing, but my feet survived.

The parking lot was packed. There were people everywhere. There were chickadees everywhere. We started off by having an Anna’s hummingbird sit on a wire fence and pose in front of us, then got to mix and mingle up close with the Sandhill crane family (two adults, two kids, strutting around like dinosaurs of yore).

The east dyke provided a rare glimpse of a saw-whet owl, but it was all tucked in and hard to see. The first bird blind had a heron standing on a log right outside it, though, affording some nice backlit shots.

As mentioned, chickadees were flitting all over the place, but also a lot of towhees, perhaps being bolder due to the colder temperatures and scarcer food supplies.

The main pond was largely empty and the entire area was absent of all wood ducks and geese. Some geese were seen outside the sanctuary in nearby fields. I wonder if they don’t like mingling with the winter migrants. Maybe the shovelers scare them.

Many of the smaller ponds had thin layers of ice and I saw a few ducks landing, but they all proved fairly coordinated, so no slapstick opportunities to be had.

I managed to take photos with the IV in my arm, but my good-to-bad ratio is way off. I’m probably being a bit of a dope, since I’m not used to the camera, plus I was trying to be extra careful in how I loved my right arm. Anyway, I got some good shots, at least.

Piper Spit

Assorted waterfowl in front of the land mass at Piper Spit.

There were also people a-plenty at Piper Spit and by later in the afternoon, a bit of a breeze was picking up, so it was cooler, too, but not Fonzie cool1Kids, ask your parents. Or maybe even grandparents at this point.. The land mass seemed to be occupied mostly by crows and gulls. There were geese here, but not many, and they kept relatively quiet. Always unnerving.

Blackbirds were all over the place and the waterfowl were getting regular handfuls of seed, which makes it easy to get chaos shots of dozens of birds thrashing about, but less so for the “gliding serenely along the water by itself” ones. Most of the winter birds were accounted for. My best shot was probably one of a regular ol’ crow. But it was a nice shot.

We opted to not check the Butterfly Garden since it is currently bereft of butterflies or any real garden. Maybe in a few months!

We’ll see how the next outing goes. The last few have felt a bit weird due to various technology or health issues, not to mention the regularity has been very irregular due to bad weather and things. There might be a little SAD thrown in, too, though it was mainly sunny for the day, which was spiffy. But it was still nice to get out!

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Woodpecker (possibly a Downy, we couldn’t see its head)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada goose
  • Common merganser
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Pied-billed (?) grebe
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Trumpeter swan
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier
  • Northern saw-whet owl
  • Northern shrike

Non-birds:

  • A gray and a black squirrel

Birding, January 11, 2025: Chestnut backs and jogging tracks

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

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

The Outing

Snoozing shorebirds, looking west from the pier.

Piper Spit

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River desktop wallpaper shot, 2025 edition.

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

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

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

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

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

The Shots

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

A blackbird on a bench on a pier on a lake, in a park.

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

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

Birding, December 18, 2024: An eagle bum is better than nothing

Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Mostly sunny, some clouds, 9°C

The Outing

Centennial Beach

The tide was in, making Mud Bay look more bay, less mud.

In our last outing of 2024, the weather was actually pretty decent–and milder than normal, to boot.

I am still working my way around using Nic’s (borrowed) old camera, but managed to get some decent in-flight shots of geese today, so progress. My hand/eye coordination has finally learned the shutter/back button combo for taking photos, too. My brain is growing!

Centennial Beach had a decent mix of songbirds, plus a passel of yellowlegs and even some surf scoters, though they were way out on the bay (as usual). The tide was also way up, so no traipsing across the mud flats today. I saw a (for me) rare common goldeneye in the li’l pond near the picnic area, but my shots were only so-so. I fared better with others, including a few decent shots of robins, to prove I could still do it. I would be more upset if I regularly took blurry photos of, say, birds of paradise.

And yes, I shot eagle bums. But also eagle fronts, too. They were a bit high up, but that’s eagles for you.

In all, Centennial Beach turned out to be perfectly cromulent.

Piper Spit

This is actually one of the brighter shots I took of Burnaby Lake.

It felt colder here, mostly due to the wind, and clouds started blotting out the sun, making for darker, if moody, shots. The land mass remains intact and is still being claimed mostly by gulls and crows. We didn’t see as many songbirds, though there were chickadees darting about, and a few song sparrows.

Off the pier, most of the winter migrants were present, including a lone bufflehead, looking small and adorable, as is their way. Duck drama was a lot more toned down than on other recent visits. Maybe everyone has established their turf, or something.

We even saw two coots being…affectionate?

In all, a good visit, even if the light could have been a bit better. Here’s to brighter days of birding in 2025.

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird (heard)
  • Bewick’s wren
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned kinglet
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Surf scoter
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada goose
  • Common goldeneye
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • None?

Birding, November 30, 2024: Rust(y) never sleeps

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, some drizzle, 5-7°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Mashland, with Rusty in the center, and a distant ship on the strait.

The last time I was at Reifel was September 21. It was still summer! Last time it got to 19C. It was 5C when we arrived this morning, “but feels like 2C” as per the weather app. I renewed my yearly membership, more than a month after it had expired. This is why you don’t renew early on memberships affected by weather.

Since my camera decided to shuffle off its electronic coil, Nic generously loaned me his old camera, a Sony A7iii. The biggest difference is, well, it’s bigger. It’s a full-frame camera, but worked similarly enough to mine that only minor adjustments were needed. I only needed five shots to actually learn how focus was set up.

After that, I had a few fuzzy shots that I blame myself on, but also a lot of very nice shots. I had trouble with birds walking or swimming by, with motion blue or just plain old blur in most shots, something I generally didn’t find with my camera. I will experiment, while pondering what to do with my old and currently mostly-dead camera.

We quickly found at Reifel that it is now All Birds Love You season, as towhees and chickadees were bopping all over the place and being downright friendly, hoping we were carrying caches of seed. I’m pretty sure we had mallards occasionally following us.

Reifel actually had a surplus of both sparrows and waterfowl, though some that we rarely see there, like common mergansers and cormorants, were far off in one of the sloughs. A guy mentioned a green heron in one of the inner waterways, but we never saw it. We did accidentally spook a couple of great blue herons, though. Whoops!

Most of the winter migrants have arrived, though a few, like the ring-necked ducks, are still relatively few in number. Shovellers are starting their annual takeover, showing up pretty much all over the sanctuary, while the Canad geese vacated the place entirely. Instead of their constant honks, we got the adorable peeps of wigeons.

Piper Spit

Piper Spit, looking east. Gray all the way down. And up.

After lunch, we went to Piper Spit, and despite a relatively low water level (the land mass by the pier is quite large now), there were no shorebirds to be seen. We did see lots of gulls, which had largely claimed the land (when they were not pecking away at the dead salmon), plus mallards. Lots and lots of mallards. There were geese here, but only a handful, assuming you had giant goose-holding hands. They were quiet.

The wood ducks put on a good show and I got some spiffy shots of them. My attempt at capturing gulls in flight was no better with Nic’s camera than with mine, so I’m going to chalk that up to me not taking the time to shoot these kinds of shots properly. I am a lazy photographer.

Also, with the weather cool and dreary, we often had the entire pier to ourselves. I felt special! And the camera worked the whole time, which also felt special!

In all, a good outing.

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Canada goose
  • Common merganser
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Trumpeter swan
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Assorted gulls

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Black squirrels

A very tiny birding gallery

As mentioned previously, Windows 11 hard-locked while I was editing photos the other night, so I only got two ready. Because I am unsure how many more disasters await, I have opted to post what I have so far, so I at least have something.

I present My Smallest Birding Gallery Ever. It has two photos. More to come, hopefully.

Birding, November 26, 2024: Interrupted

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 6°C

The Outing

Piper Spit

A bunch of ducks, taken with my iPhone 12, which I bought the same month as my Canon camera. At least the phone still takes photos. Also: bonus coot.

Today the forecast was for mostly sunny, so I packed up my camera and walked the 6 km to Piper spit, intent on an hour or so of bird and birb photography.

It ended up being mostly cloudy, but at least there was no threat of rain. Initial results were good, with multiple towhees hopping all around and sometimes right up to me, possibly hoping my pockets were full of yummy seed (they were not).

When I arrived at Piper spit, a woman with a gigantic telephoto lens advised me that a pair of cormorants were out and aboot. They don’t usually come near the spit, so that was neat.

But I never saw them.

I did see lots of other waterfowl and began my initial series of photos, working my way along the pier. I shot a group of dowitchers off in some poor light, then lined up what would have been Shot #79. I pressed the shutter button halfway down to focus. I then pressed the rest of the way to take the photo and…nothing happened. Well, that’s not strictly true. What happened is the EVF1Electronic ViewFinder briefly went black, then switched back to the regular view, with no photo taken, so satisfying shutter sound, nothing. I tried a few more times. Same result.

I did all the troubleshooting I could, most of which I knew would have no effect:

  • I turned the camera on and off (Tech troubleshooting 101)
  • I swapped lenses
  • I swapped batteries
  • I petted the camera and told it that it was the best camera

None of these things worked. So I left.

When I got home, the issue persisted, but the camera was still cold and if the cold was responsible, what would happen once it had been home for a while and got all cuddly warm again?

I tried and the issue persists. Alas.

My next step is to search the vast riches of the internet for answers. Or just curl up in a ball on some nice carpet. I haven’t decided yet.

In the meantime, how about them coots?

The Shots

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

NOTE: This list may not be comprehensive, due to my shortened time on the pier.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Various gulls

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Douglas squirrel

Birding, November 15, 2024: Seedy business

Where: Richmond Nature House, Terra Nova (Richmond)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 8°C

The Outing

Richmond Nature House

Shooting birds. And leaves.

Our usual birding day is Saturday and unlike previous years when the weather on Saturday was pretty good in the fall, this year it has been very bad, It is Saturday as I type this, and it is raining yet again.

But we were able to get out yesterday–Friday!–for a mid-November bit of birding during a rare sunny afternoon. And there were birds! And birbs.

Our first stop was the Richmond Nature House, where the renovation work is now largely complete and we were able to park, unlike the last time we tried. The feeders were full and the birds were taking advantage. At first it seemed to be primarily chickadees and juncos, and the juncos had a definite preference for the flat, open feeder styled like a house.

Eventually, other birds showed up. Towhees started appearing along the ground, a song sparrow flew in and we got to see others that don’t pop up as often, like a downy woodpecker, a red-breasted nuthatch (again!) and a mourning dove, which spent most of its time on the ground, oddly.

Speaking of on the ground, a small pond between several feeders proved an appealing place to get a rink for numerous birds, some squirrels and even a rat. It seems weird to see rats in the wild. It sat there and cupped its weirdly human-looking forepaws to sip water. They’re kind of cute when they’re not climbing through dumpsters and spreading disease.

The sun was out most of the time, but when a cloud passed over it and we were put into the shade, you could immediately feel the temperature drop. I wondered how chilly Terra Nova would be.

Terra Nova

Clear skies, cool temperatures.

As it turned out, Terra Nova was chilly! There was a good breeze scouring the water and making whitecaps. I’d worn my lined hoodie and brought gloves, just in case, so it was fine.

We found at least one person feeding birds, which probably explained why the chickadees were literally flying at us, probably hoping our cameras were bedecked with seed. It allowed us to get some good shots in the increasingly golden-hued light. Because yes, it seemed we’d barely gotten started and it was now barely more than an hour until sunset. We spotted an Anna’s hummingbird at the community garden, and some wigeons and green-winged teals were just offshore (a bit far, alas). While I got some good shots, today was a day when towhees, which were at both spots, proved to be my nemesis. The ones at Terra Nova were being very puffy bois, likely due to the chill.

We did not see any grebes at what I think of as The Grebe Pond, but there were mallards, lazing in the weird red much still covering much of the pond. They didn’t seem to mind.

In all, a nice outing, with some more rarely seen birds and actual sun as bonuses.

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Downy woodpecker
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • Mourning dove
  • Red-breasted nuthatch
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American wigeon
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard

Common:

  • American crow

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Douglas, black and gray squirrels
  • A rat! Like, in nature!

Birding, October 26, 2024: Duck drama

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 16°C

The Outing

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

The view from Piper Spit, looking west, with bonus coot.

It took 26 days before circumstances and weather finally allowed us to go birding again. With the forecast looking a bit iffy, we opted for a repeat of last time.

We arrived at Burnaby Lake and watched a couple of salmon at the top of the fish ladder at Cariboo Dam swimming oh-so-close to the gate into the lake, but not quite making the push through. They looked old and tired.

After that, we arrived at The Stump, where the scary old fungus face is all but gone now. However, there were chickadees all over, a nuthatch (again!) and a Steller’s Jay. A good start. We moved on to Piper Spit. Nic realized then that he only had a tiny bit of charge left in his camera battery, swapped it out for the spare to find the spare was dead. The third battery was fully charged, however! and back at his apartment. So I stayed at Piper Spit and shot birds, while Nic took the roughly 90-minute round trip back to his place to get the fresh battery.

He was duly mocked.

As for Piper spit, no new arrivals, but the teals were more plentiful, as were the pintails. And the was drama all around, with pretty much all species, save for the dowitchers, going mental on each other at one point or another. The mallards seemed especially mad. Maybe this is just how they entertain themselves when it’s not mating season.

The dowitchers could have been closer, but at least they’re still hanging out in the area.

In all, it was fine, with conditions being milder than expected and the light, especially earlier on, being not bad at all.

Tlahutum Regional Park

An example of the pondscape at Tlahutum. I have no idea what the guy was shooting.

We next went to Tlahutum and there’s not much to report. The clouds had thickened, so it was darker and a few drops feel a couple of times. The community gardens were largely impassable due to giant ponds that formed after last wee’s atmospheric river. We hoped for more along the trails, but only saw a few distant wood ducks and even more distant robins and crows. :sadtrombone: Ironically, after the battery drama (not to be confused with the duck drama) earlier, Nic ended up taking no photos at all at Tlahutum.

For me, the best part may have been that I took 489 photos and somehow had not a single issue with my camera. Weird. But nice!

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Red-breasted nuthatch
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Steller’s jay

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Several very weary-looking salmon
  • A non-living salmon
  • A Douglas squirrel
  • A millipede

Birding, September 30, 2024: Flappin’ ‘n a-fightin’

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

The Outing

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

View looking east from the pier, some of the landmass visible on the left.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River: shallow, yet full. Like me, after a meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

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

Birding, September 21, 2024: Summer ends, but the honking endures

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 14-19°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Outer pond at Reifel.

We made good time heading out, though ominously a few light showers began as we travelled the highway. They didn’t last long and it ended up being mostly sunny for the rest of the day, which was also the last day of summer. Goodbye, summer, I’ll miss you!

It was a fair bit cooler at Reifel than last time, but still warm enough by the end to doff our jackets and hoodies.

Unlike our last visit, we got to see the Sandhill cranes, both on the ground and in the air. Also right up front was a healthy mix of shorebirds, including Greater Yellowlegs, some dowitchers and maybe a few others tucked in. Nic got some great shots of the yellowlegs flying (they were often flying in little spurts across the pond) and may post some of the photos in his store. BUY THEM ALL AND MAKE HIM RICH.

Chickadees were present, but elusive, while the first juncos, fox sparrows and golden crowns of the season made appearances. Yellow-rumped warblers were in numbers plentiful enough that even I got a few respectable shots.

Blackbirds did not seem as numerous as usual, so they may have gone off to wherever it is they go off to (it doesn’t seem to be far, because they always come back). In their place were a lot of house sparrows.

The geese were honking, but drama was on low. I got approached by several geese with mouths agape, but I think they were hoping I’d toss seed into their maws. I feel kind of bad when they do this, because I never have seed. I’m hoping they don’t have good memories.

After Reifel, we went to Blackie Spit in surrey, only to find a rowing event in progress and no parking. I suggested Boundary Bay, so we headed off there, and lo, there was parking.

Boundary Bay Dyke Trail

Have a seat and take in the bay.

The downside for me with Boundary Bay is the birds we see are usually never close. The upside is I can shoot prop planes up close basically forever. And I did.

We also saw some robins, which have been pretty rare in the places we’ve visited over the summer, plus a few remaining Savannah sparrows. We also saw a cute li’l bunny just as we started out, which I was not expecting, although if I think about it, I’m never really expecting bunnies.

Nic got weird and took a photo of people golfing. People! Like, humans, not birds. He rejected all of my suggestions for captions:

  • People with tiny balls
  • Swingers
  • The Last Putter
  • Foreplay

I mean, one of them wasn’t even dirty.

I also opted to put on sunblock here, which I think was both the right call, as well as my own final salute to summer. Tomorrow, I put on my parka.

In all, a good day for birbs, with multiple migrants returning, pleasant weather, and some good shotss all around.

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren (heard, not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Dark-eyed junco (returned!)
  • Fox sparrow (returned!)
  • Golden-crowned sparrow (returned!)
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Yellow warbler
  • Yellow-rumped warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Hooded merganser (returned, though they allegedly don’t migrate)
  • Short-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Raven
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Copious grasshoppers
  • One bunny
  • One squirrel
  • Western painted turtle

Birding, September 6, 2024: Thank you for not hissing

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 23-31°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

View of bird condo from the northwest bird blind.

Due to various circumstances, we made an unusual afternoon trip to Reifel, and on a Friday. Unsurprisingly, the gate was open when we arrived, due to a low number of bookings, so we drove over the speed bumps from hell and headed in.

To our delight, the Sandhill crane family was in the grassy area right near the gift shop at the entrance, preening and such, offering us plenty of opportunity to get good shots. The two babbies are now nearly as big as the adults, with their upper bodies and heads looking a lot more adult-like than even the last visit a few weeks ago.

We also saw our first Northern shovellers of the season, though of course, they don’t migrate, they just hide nearby, apparently, then come out of hiding at the same time every year, by coincidence!

Though there were shorebirds, most of them were farther out in the ponds, affording poorer opportunities for getting shots. Most were also snoozing, which made sense given the time of day and the relative warmth. Nic kept insisting it was hotter than the reported 23C, but it felt fine to me. Maybe my sunblock repels heat or something. It makes me smell pretty, so anything is possible.

Songbirds were in scarce supply, but the heat was probably a major factor there, too. We saw one spotted towhee and one chickadee. We each got a single shot of the chickadee before it took off, as if it had appeared specifically to tease us.

What was not in short supply were the Canada geese. They were legion and they were everywhere, their constant quiet honking (and sometimes less-than-quiet) created an atmosphere ripe with the tension of potential goose drama. The actual drama was minimal, with it mostly relegated to groups of geese suddenly flying from one end of a pond, then back to where they started, perhaps in an attempt to beat the heat. Or maybe they’re just weird.

We rounded out the trip with one look at the cranes, then headed off into rush hour hell to visit Piper Spit.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

View looking east from the pier.

Piper Spit started with what seemed a rare opportunity–a handsome garter snake right next to where we parked. But sadly, it turned out its tiny snake skull had been crushed, and it was deceased.

We moved on to the pier and happier sights, like the growing population of coots, pintails and teals. There were a lot of geese here, too, possibly coordinating through long-range honking with the ones at Reifel. The ones here were behaving themselves.

The light was on the right side today, affording us better shots than our last visit, and more male wood ducks are sporting full mullets now. Blackbirds were also plentiful, as were pigeons, which repeatedly swooped down from nearby trees, hung around on the pier for a bit, then went back to the trees.

And we saw several young song sparrows, to complement the handful of other songbirds we’d seen.

There were shorebirds here, too, but also farther away, much like the ones at Reifel. Boo.

Also, on a glitchy note, after changing the battery in my camera just after arriving, my camera started acting cray-cray, and I’m wondering if the battery was being goofy or something. Testing will be done. Also, the batteries I have are nearing four years old, so it’s probably time to look into getting some fresh back-ups, anyway. It made shooting quite annoying (constantly turning the camera off and on), but I still managed some decent shots.

In all, a not-unexpected quieter day for birbs, but as always there were still things to see, the weather was gorgeous (if perhaps a tad warm–I believe we broke records today) and everything is still very pretty.

The Shots

Soon™

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

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren (heard, not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Yellow-rumped warbler (possibly)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose (roughly one billion)
  • Cormorant (unable to verify which type)
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller (the return!)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Western painted turtle
  • Fewer dragonflies and butterflies
  • Various spiders