Birding

Birding, August 15, 2026: Poop, flies, kings, and bears

Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park, DeBoville Slough Port Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 21–25°C

Brought to you by the colour green and a whole lot of bear poop.

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the two lagoons, this one featuring a sneaky Green Heron.

I suggested Blakeburn Lagoons Park because Green Herons have been known to hang out there and we fleetingly saw one fly off on one visit. I didn’t actually expect to see one.

But we did!

At the first viewing platform was a couple with binoculars and cameras and the man described to us a nearby Green Heron at the edge of the lagoon. He also politely asked Nic to not squee too loud as the heron is apparently skittish.

And lo, there it was, hunkered down in front of the grass on the lagoon edge, very well camouflaged. We watched it attempt to grab a fish (it looked like it missed), then it flew off…but landed in a nearby tree, where it hung out for a good while, preening, and looking about before moving on. Neat.

We also saw three grebes, two adults and a younger one following one of the adults, because it was carrying a yummy fish in its bill. Most of the two lagoons were occupied by Mallards. The single coot was not present, except in our hearts.

DeBoville Slough

One of the spacious fields popular with bears.

Having scored early, we headed off to the DeBoville Slough, where it felt a lot hotter than it was, dang humidity. We saw a lot of bear poop on the trail and when we approached the first vast farm field on the left, there was a large black bear strolling through it, possibly looking for a place to poop (again). We later had people advise us of a black bear in a tree (we did not see it) and a mother bear with two cubs traversing the river’s edge (we also did not see these, which I am thankful for, because mother bears don’t always understand that humans without guns are harmless and not good to eat).

But what really stood out were the Eastern Kingbirds. We don’t seem them too frequently, but here they were out in abundance, flitting from tree to tree, chasing each other and occasionally sitting just right on a branch for us to get awesome shots. I don’t know if there was a Kingbird Festival going on or what, but I was pleased to get my best Kingbird shots.

Before the Kingbirdpalooza, we shot some young Savannah Sparrows hopping around on the trail, but it later turned out they were actually Chipping Sparrows. The adult males have extremely dapper scarlet caps on their heads (the colour, not actual caps, though those would also look very dapper) and while these younger ones lacked the colour, they were still very cute and energetic.

We also got some good views of kingfishers (it was a royal day for birding), spotted some waxwings, robins, and others, making the slough a surprisingly decent birding spot (we usually fall back on all the pretty scenery).

Tlahutum Regional Park

A lot of haze in the sky, but not much water in the Coquitlam River.

We concluded at Tlahutum, stopping first by the drinking fountain, which had a “Wasp Nest” sign on the opposite side from us. Handy.

Having not gotten stung, we ventured into the community garden and perhaps due to it being later in the afternoon and quite humid, we did not see many birds about. We did see even more Kingbirds, though. The Coquitlam River was very low and the big pond was almost nothing but mud, the water largely absent, revealing Nazi warships a plastic crate long hidden.

There were pollinators and plenty of pretty flowers, though, so it was fine.

At the end, I checked my stats and I had walked 500 miles. Or at least it felt like it. And I would walk 500 more (for another Green Heron, maybe).

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Chipping Sparrow
  • Eastern Kingbird (roughly one million)
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Willow Flycatcher
  • Yellow Tanager

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green Heron
  • Mallard
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling
  • Some seagulls

Raptors:

  • Northern Harrier
  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Grasshoppers, grasshoppers, grasshoppers
  • Black bear
  • Western Painted Turtle

Birding, August 8, 2026: Bad day to be a fish

Where: Serpentine Fen, Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach (Surrey), Brydon Lagoon (Langley)
Weather: Sunny, 21–27°C

In which certain aspects of the food chain are demonstrated live.

Serpentine Fen

The start of our trek at Serpentine Fen, featuring the Serpentine River.

As we often do, we saw some Great Blue Herons at the fen, standing in or near the river, waiting to stab fish. We saw a little action, but didn’t notice any great blue success.

That would change farther down the river, where some gulls were hanging out. One took off, circled over the river, came in to land and promptly snapped up a sizable fish. It then started gliding around the very still water and dunked its head in, coming up with an even larger fish that took several large gulps to swallow. I swear I could see the fish twitching from inside the gull on the way down. It was a vivid demonstration of how gulls can hunt and eat more than just French fries.

We also watched a pair of Kingfishers chase each other about in the sky above us. Whether it was love or war I could not determine.

We also saw a sole Hooded Merganser, which allegedly don’t migrate, but like coots, pintails and shovellers, seem to hide somewhere during the summer.

One of the three viewing towers has a hole in the (wooden) floor and it seems to be getting a little bigger each time we visit. I guess if you stick to the parts of the floor where the planks are intact, it’s still safe?

We also saw a million grasshoppers because it’s grasshopper season. They continue to demonstrate the power of excellent camouflage, as I often did not see them until we got close enough to prompt them to vamoose.

It was nice to return to the fen, even if birds were a bit in short supply. This is expected in summer, but we could at least appreciate the lush vegetation and warm weather.

Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach

Small bay at Blackie Spit.

Blackie Spit’s parking lots were full, so we had to park on a nearby street. This meant we started a bit further down on Crescent Beach, where I saw a hydrant that I had to shoot (with my phone). Nic said he overhead some guys walking by commenting on the weirdo shooting photos of the hydrant. Yes, I am that weirdo!

Here is the hydrant:

A sturdy little plug.

We saw bunches of herons here, along with some Greater Yellowlegs, and Killdeer. Sadly, most of them were a bit far away, but we were lucky to see them at all, as the tide was actually in when we arrived (it’s usually not just out, but way out).

The beach and picnic areas were very active, so with birds, especially songbirds, a bit on the rare side, I took more scenery shots of boats and random objects.

Brydon Lagoon

Looking north across the lagoon.

Our final stop was Brydon Lagoon, which gave us a single Grebe and our first Wood Ducks. There were gulls here, too, but instead of hunting, they were mostly bossing around the ducks, establishing just which floating objects they could sit upon. We saw one rather young Wood Duck that still could not fly and it was either parent-free or the parents were letting it test its freedom. It seemed to be fine.

Overall, a perfectly cromulent day of birding. The fall/winter migrants should be arriving soon, so variety should be improving. Also, the mostly absent squirrels might return. I have no idea where or why they are hiding. Maybe they don’t like the sun. I mean, if you were fur-covered, would you?

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow Tanager

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Mallard
  • Killdeer
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators

August 3 2026 birding gallery is up

As the title says. This one is a mix of bugs, birds, and scenery, with a few horses thrown in.

Original post here.

Birding, August 3, 2026: Hawks on the ground, eagles in the sky

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Boundary Bay (Delta)
Weather: Sunny, 18–23°C

The first birding of August, just before the fall fliers1bird and consumer joke rolled into one start arriving.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Marshland and distant mountains at Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

We started at Reifel, which was packed in the morning with both hardcore birders and their Very Big lenses, and assorted families and holiday goers (today is BC Day here in, well, BC).

We did a reverse of our usual route, which isn’t especially radical, but does give a slightly different view on things.

As expected, no fall arrivals have shown up early, but the barn swallows are still hanging around. In fact, we saw one actively maintaining a nest, so at least one more batch of babies is on the way.

Nic shot a billion swallows in flight. I shot a few and the results were not horrible, nor good, but somewhere in the middle. Horrigood.

Most of the ponds were devoid of any waterfowl, but we did see some:

  • A pair of Spotted Sandpipers in the pond by the viewing platform
  • A pair of Greater Yellowlegs in one of the small ponds east of the viewing platform
  • A large group of Long-billed Dowitchers in one of the large main ponds

The dowitchers and sandpipers were not very close, alas, but the yellowlegs compensated.

Sparrows seemed to be mostly hiding from the sun, but some chickadees and House Sparrows were out. And we saw a scruffy young Yellow-rumped Warbler, who was just starting to show some of its yellow.

The geese had filthy mouths and fluff beards, but were well-behaved. A large gaggle on the shore past the marshland may have been migrating.

The oddest moment came when a bird of some sort flew directly over us on the outer dyke and landed on the trail ahead. The profile seemed to be a hawk of some sort, but having one land on the trail is very weird. It flew a bit into a shadier spot, and we got some photos before it…walked into the grass, then popped out and finally flew off. I correctly ID’d it as a Cooper’s Hawk because it’s one of the few I know are local.

And near the end we saw the Sandhill Crane family, so in all, a fine outing, even if many of the ponds are a little too green.

Boundary Bay

Boundary Bay minus the bay, due to low tide.

We originally went to Centennial Beach, but for some reason it was so busy the parking lot was full and backed up. Nice weather + holiday = overcrowded? Whatever it was, I finally relented and agreed to go to Boundary Bay. As always, the scenery was nice, but the tide was extremely low, so seeing shorebirds meant walking about a km across the mudflats to find some water and hoping for the best. We did not do this.

Instead, we walked a few km along the trail mostly populated by cyclists and a few people on horseback, and shot a lot of grasshoppers. We did see a few errant birds, such as some Cedar Waxwings, but that was it.

I am sated on this stretch of Boundary Bay for, let’s say, the next year. Or more. 😛

But overall, the weather was lovely (not too hot) and we saw some birds we don’t see often, so a good time was had.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Collared Dove
  • House Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Spotted Sandpiper

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Cooper’s Hawk
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A red-eared slider (turtle)
  • Woodland Skipper (approx. one million)

Birding, July 25, 2026: Briny beaches and between bridges

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.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Bushtit
  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Swainson’s Thrush
  • Tree Swallow
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Willow Flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other naughty bugs
  • A lone black squirrel

Birding, July 18, 2026: Blood on the beach

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.

Soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard)
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Willow Flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Killdeer
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other naughty bugs

July 18 birding preview

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.

Birding, July 11, 2026: Abbreviated avian adventure

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.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, briefly seen)
  • House Finch
  • Northern Flicker
  • Rough-winged Swallow
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow (?)
  • White-crowned Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other bugs

Birding galleries for June 27 and July 4, 2026 are up

Yes, I finally went through my photos!

June 27:

July 4:

Birding, July 4, 2026: Greedy Grebelings gobbling goodies

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.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • House Finch
  • Northern Flicker
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Savannah Sparrow (heard)
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot (probably the same one)
  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Another Glaucous-winged Gull

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other bugs
  • A few dragonflies
  • An errant squirrel
  • Frogs (heard frequently, seen never)

Birding, June 27, 2026: Barns, bees, benches, birds, boats, bogs, bugs, butterflies, and a lobster

Where: DeBoville Slough, Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Alouette River/Trans Canada Trail (Pitt Meadows) 
Weather: Mostly sunny, 17-22°C

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.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Barn swallow (possibly)
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Black-headed Grosbeak
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Cliff Swallow (maybe)
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • Northern Flicker
  • Purple Finch
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Savannah Sparrow (heard)
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Swainson’s Thrush (heard, according to Merlin)
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Willow Flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot (!)
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Mallard
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • A Glaucous-winged Gull

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Osprey

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Copious dragonflies
  • Frogs (heard frequently, seen never)