Where: Piper Spit (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park
Weather: Sunny, 15-18C
The Outing
Today was a rare weekday outing, starting in the afternoon when it was already warm and sunny.
Piper Spit was perhaps busier than expected, but that was due in part to some school group in attendance. They fed the ducks and scattered fairly quickly.
While we did not see any new migrants, most of the usual birds and birbs were present, and the shorebirds had expanded to both the east and est side of the pier. A killdeer was also in attendance, though no bobbing was observed.
There was regular drama spread out among several of the species: coot drama, goose drama, mallard drama. Maybe it was the squirrels. Because I have never seen so many squirrels at Burnaby Lake before. Gathering nuts for winter? Convention in town? They were everywhere, whatever it was.
We moved on to Tlahutum Regional Park and did the full (for us) tour this time, spotting a decent number of white-crowned sparrows, an Anna’s hummingbird, but not a lot else, bird-wise. We did see a squirrel, though, which I don’t think has ever happened here before. As I said, they were everywhere. Probably parachuting in.
In the community garden, we heard some weird bird calls, some of which sounded like a person badly trying to do a bird call.
It was a parrot.
The owner was tending a garden and the parrot was nearby in a cage, making assorted whistles and calls, as they do.
As we departed, one of a pair of cyclists suggested we come back at night with night vision gear to shoot coyotes, as he can always hear them howling at night. No thanks!
I walked to Burnaby Lake and had gone out earlier, so I ended up putting on about 26,000 steps a day after putting on over 27,000. I think I’ll rest my feet for a bit now.
The Shots
Pigeon perching on the Piper pier
A Douglas squirrel clearly deriving pleasure from the seeds
A goose ponders
A goose ponders, with duck in background
Green-winged teal basking in the afternoon sun
Green-winged teal drifting past the pier
Coot looking fluffy after a bath
A little blurred, but behold the unhinged jaw of the American coot
Yes, I finally got off my lazy butt and actually went through the photos I took on Saturday (October 7) and put together a gallery, which you can observe by looking right below:
Anna's hummingbird, pausing for a moment on a wire fence.
Adolescent blackbird has seed
Chickadee on a branch
Chickadee on a railing, against a golden backdrop
An apple awaits its future fate.
Check your apples before eating!
Fox sparrow in the bright light of morning
C14 at rest
Grassy goose
A ring-billed seagull in flight over Iona Beach
A ring-billed seagull in flight over Iona Beach
An empty barge on the Fraser River, named Barkley Sound
Heron standing on a bird box because no way it's fitting in that joint.
Looking over the marshlands of Reifel to the mountains of Vancouver Island.
A merganser on the move
The moon over Reifel
Northern pintail
Ring-billed duck--the first sighting of Fall 2023
Robin chirping in a tree
Broken chair on the northern jetty of Iona Beach
Snoozing greater yellowlegs
A mallard gliding slowly across a still pond
A greater yellowlegs looking for food in one of the inner ponds
The day started bright and early at Reifel, and it was indeed bright–a clear and ultimately warm (possibly record-setting) sunny day.
We immediately got shots of hummingbirds as several duelled or took turns going to the feeders, then moved on to find a lot of the usual birds not in the usual spots, or just absent altogether. We only saw a single pair of wood ducks, which is kind of weird, and the Canada geese were keeping themselves confined to several specific areas instead of going wherever they wanted, as they usually do.
And Chickadee Country was now Chickadee Empire. I have never before and may never again take so many shots of chickadees. To say it was a target-rich environment would be an understatement–they were everywhere, and in large numbers, so large that they seemed unconcerned by our stinky human presence, making it possible to get some very close-up shots.
The blackbirds were also ever-present, and eating seeds in their usual “wear all the food on your face” manner, which makes for great pics.
The four avocets were still in the big main pond, but were a little too far from shore to get good shots, alas. We did have better luck with the mostly-snoozing yellowlegs near the entrance, plus one that had again gone rogue and was looking for food along the shore of an inner pond, mingling with the ducks and geese.
We also saw a turtle, and for a time were confused about which end was its butt. This happens when you can pull your body parts into a shell.
Some new arrivals included fox sparrows and a ring-necked duck, plus the snow geese are back, though we only saw them far off in the distance.
After wrapping up at Reifel, we headed to Iona Beach, where the tide was…in! This was very unusual for us, and it meant the odds of seeing shorebirds were low and the odds of walking out on the tidal flats were zero, unless you wanted to wade in up to your hips (spoiler: I did a variation on this later in our visit).
The pond area did not yield much, save for some b;blackbirds, but we saw a nice selection of sparrows along the trail that leads toward the north jetty. Feeling saucy due to the summer-like weather, we pressed on farther than usual, to the first cut in the jetty that was put in to allow salmon and other fish to pass through.
After getting shots of gulls and scenery and things, we turned around for our long journey back to the car. Because the tide was in, we only had a narrow strip of shore to walk along. I walked a little close to the tide washing up a few times, getting my feet a little damp, then grossly miscalculated one stretch and got my feet just plain soaked.
In a way, it was a relief, because it meant I no longer had to be careful and could just stomp through the tide like a little kid. Which I did. We reached one area where we had to ascend up and over bramble and logs to continue through, and this is where Nic’s leg met a sharp thorn for the second bird outing in a row. The blood sacrifice made, we ventured on without further injury.
In the end, we both got some very nice shots, equally struggled with focus issues (with the cameras, not with what we were doing), but enjoyed being out on what was really a glorious early fall day.
The Shots
Anna's hummingbird, pausing for a moment on a wire fence.
Adolescent blackbird has seed
Chickadee on a branch
Chickadee on a railing, against a golden backdrop
An apple awaits its future fate.
Check your apples before eating!
Fox sparrow in the bright light of morning
C14 at rest
Grassy goose
A ring-billed seagull in flight over Iona Beach
A ring-billed seagull in flight over Iona Beach
An empty barge on the Fraser River, named Barkley Sound
Heron standing on a bird box because no way it's fitting in that joint.
Looking over the marshlands of Reifel to the mountains of Vancouver Island.
A merganser on the move
The moon over Reifel
Northern pintail
Ring-billed duck--the first sighting of Fall 2023
Robin chirping in a tree
Broken chair on the northern jetty of Iona Beach
Snoozing greater yellowlegs
A mallard gliding slowly across a still pond
A greater yellowlegs looking for food in one of the inner ponds
Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Crescent Beach (Surrey), and Piper Spit (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 12-17C
The Outing
We hit four sites on our first official fall bird outing and the weather, though sunny, was indeed fall-like, with it starting at only 12C at Centennial Beach, along with a brisk wind. It warmed up to around 17C by late in the afternoon.
Centennial Beach: Raptors on Raptor Trail once again failed to materialize, but we did see a bald eagle out on the tidal flats. Shorebirds were also scarce, possibly due to the tide being way out, as it often is when we visit. We saw gulls, a Brewer’s blackbird couple, a wigeon or two, plus a bunch of goldfinches that would not stop flitting about.
Boundary Bay Dyke Trail: Planes were plentiful, and birds were, too, but much like earlier, they were flitting like mad from tree to tree and branch to branch, making good shots a fun (?) challenge! We did see a Northern harrier or two, as well. As always, the view was nice.
Crescent Beach/Blackie Spit: Seagulls were flying around in abundance, as were some herons, but no loons, alas. We did see some more yellowlegs and a few cormorants. The beach and park were fairly busy, which surprised me a little. Apparently everyone wanted to be outside on the first nice Saturday of fall. By now it was warm enough to doff jackets, if desired.
Piper Spit: This place was crawling with people and children (not that children aren’t people, but you know what I mean). Coots were croaking, but all the shorebirds were in one tight group, snoozing. Golden hour was setting in, so light was rather harsh. We shot a heron grooming up in a tree. They always look weird up in trees. I did not notice any pigeons or seagulls, and the land mass seems to be continuing to expand, so I assume they are letting more water flow out of the lake, Or maybe it’s magic.
Overall, it was a good day of birding, even if we didn’t see anything super exotic, and even though a lot of the birds were even more uncooperative than usual. Don’t they know we just want to capture them in all their pretty glory?
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American blackbird
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Black-capped chickadee
Brewer’s blackbird
Golden-crowned sparrow
Goldfinch
Northern flicker
Savannah sparrow
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Steller’s jay
Yellow-rumped warbler
Waterfowl:
American coot
American wigeon
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Greater yellowlegs
Green-winged teal
Mallard
Northern pintail (possibly)
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Glaucous-winged gull
Ring-billed gull
Pacific gull (?)
Raptors:
Bald eagle
Northern harrier
Non-birds:
Douglas and gray squirrels
Dragonflies
Grasshoppers
A fuzzy little caterpillar dude (or dudette, who can tell?)
Where: Piper Spit (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 21-23C
The Outing
Today was an unplanned outing, but the weather was nice, it’s the last official day of summer and the 10-day forecast starting tomorrow looks like poo in the form of clouds and showers pretty much every day.
And so off we went for an abbreviated tour of Piper Spit and Tlahutum’s community gardens.
Piper Spit featured an increase in the coot count, as the croaking critters are cavorting in copious quantities now. The mallards are catching up to the wood ducks with their breeding plumage, and shorebirds are still present in decent numbers.
The highlights were a pair of killdeer that were bobbing and bathing and hopping and looking forlorn, as they do, plus a rare sighting–a merlin, just like the bird app, but instead an actual bird. These are small raptors and this one would perch atop nearby trees, then dive across the spit, spooking the shorebirds, before finding another spot to perch, sometimes high, and sometimes right down on a log in the water. At one point it took a bath, because you should wash your, uh, appendages, before eating.
Interestingly, the shorebirds (mainly yellowlegs, from what I saw) were indifferent to the merlin when it was grounded. In fact, a large gang/flock of them all seemed to saunter en masse quite close to it, as if they were trying to show they weren’t afraid of no raptor. Until it took to the air again.
After Piper Spit, we took a quick tour around the community gardens at Tlahutum. Initially there was a lot of birb activity, but in the end we didn’t actually shoot too many, mainly some white-crowned sparrows, an Anna’s hummingbird (too fast for me) and a goldfinch. Also, much like at Piper Spit, squirrels were everywhere, like they had all been instructed to start gathering food for the winter RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
It was a gorgeous last day of summer, and I am sad that I now have to wait eight months for summer to come around again. But for now, we have the coots.
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Terra Nova (Richmond), Piper Spit (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 17-25C
The Outing
We hit five places today, one for each finger!
Reifel Bird Sanctuary: It was about 17C when we arrived in the morning, but it actually never felt cool and ended rather warm, which was a nice wrap-up for our last visit to the sanctuary for this summer.
More winter migrants are arriving, with northern shovelers joining the coots. We also saw two rare birds, which was spiffy: a white-fronted goose, and four avocets. Unlike when we saw a single avocet here last fall, these four were close to one of the bird blinds, allowing us to get much better shots. There were also chickadees everywhere, right from the parking lot on forward. The wood ducks were also seen in increasing numbers and seem to be racing ahead of the mallards in getting their full breeding plumage back. Pretty boys everywhere. The geese were acting strange and weird, as always.
It was here that I made a discovery about my camera issues. A small leaf landed on the camera and I started blowing on it to get it off. Nic advised me that I could also use my hands to, you know, just lift it off. I didn’t want to do that, lest I touch something I didn’t want to touch (on the camera, that is, though I also don’t know where that leaf had been, either). It was then that the proverbial light bulb went off over my head. I regularly turn my camera off to save on battery when I am not expecting to be shooting photos for at least a few minutes. The on/off switch is right next to the dial that selects shooting modes. With the leaf gone, I looked down and thought, THIS is how I had changed modes without realizing it, by pushing on the dial when I was moving the on/off switch (they are very close together).
Now that I know this, it should happen less often. I am also experimenting with leaving the camera on all the time once I start shooting, to see how quickly I go through the batteries (I start each bird outing with three fully charged, which should always be more than I need). We’ll see how it goes!
Richmond Nature House: The feeders were still empty, so we saw no birds here, but Nic’s curiosity was sated.
Terra Nova: We did not see many birds here, but did shoot a distant heron, some gulls, a few song sparrows and I shot a bunch of planes, or fixed-wing birds, as I call them. We also shot a grebe, but it was not close and not in great light.
Piper Spit: The land mass at the spit is back, and it’s actually quite large. I expect it will grow in size as long as the dry weather holds out. Again, we saw oodles of pretty wood ducks, some coots, lots of geese, and many greater yellowlegs. Several ducks were having baths, making for some great action shots. Today, it felt like Piper Spit was coming out of its sleepy summer state, with more birds coming in and general birdiness all around.
Tlahutum Regional Park: We only visited the community garden here and observed two hummingbirds battling again), spotted some newly-returned golden-crown sparrows, some white crowns and a fleeting flicker. There was also a squirrel eating the head of a giant sunflower. And speaking of eating, three deer were helping themselves to an all-you-can-eat buffet (though we only directly saw two). Deer have freakishly giant tongues. And no manners.
By this time (closing in on 6 p.m.) we were in the golden hour, high clouds were moving in and Nic only had room for a few more dozen photos on his SD card, so we wrapped up. Still, we saw a bounty of birds, I actually got some of my best shots in a while and the weather was pleasant throughout the day.
Also, I decided to experiment and shot in both JPG and RAW. My total file size ended up being just over 21 GB. Yikes.
The Shots
Soon™
An Anna’s hummingbird to start:
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American blackbird
Anna’s hummingbird
Bewick’s wren (possibly heard, but not seen)
Black-capped chickadee
Golden-crowned sparrow
Northern flicker
Song sparrow
Spotted Towhee
White-crowned sparrow
Yellow-rumped warbler
Waterfowl:
American coot
Avocet (rare)
Canada goose
Gadwall
Great blue heron
Greater yellowlegs
Hooded merganser
Mallard
Northern pintail
Northern shoveler
Sandhill cranes (briefly, flying overhead)
White-fronted goose (rare)
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Ring-billed seagull
Rock pigeon
Raptors:
Northern harrier
Non-birds:
Douglas, black and gray squirrels
Deer
Western painted turtle
Grasshopper
Bees ‘n dragonflies
Various helicopters, passenger jets and seaplanes in and around YVR
It was not overly hot today, but with very little shade on the long trails next to the Pitt and Alouette Rivers, it felt hot. I ended the day with over 28,000 steps!
This was mostly new scenery for us, save for one part we’d been to before, and we were curious to see what sort of birds we’d behold.
As it turned out, not many, alas. They probably hid away due to a combination of the sun and us being out around nappy time.
But we did see some, including white crown and Savannah sparrows, various robins, towhees and ducks, including some common mergansers. We saw a few more birds along the Shoreline Trail, which is, unsurprisingly, in a place called Shoreline Park in south Pitt Meadows, along the Fraser River, including a Bewick’s wren.
We also saw probably the most horses ever. With people riding them. And the horses pooping. Nic stepped in horse poop twice (but it was the dry kind).
With fewer birds, we had to rely on the scenery for most of our shots. Fortunately, with the rivers and coastal mountains, the scenery was very nice. The Alouette River is kind of weird. It’s not very wide, it’s also quite calm, so we saw many people kayaking or on paddle boards. Apparently due to a mix of federal and provincial jurisdiction, the river is also a bit of a dumping ground for old abandoned boats, of which we saw more than a few.
It is also, improbably, home to a floating bridge from Washington State that is moored just east of the Pitt River Bridge.
Overall, it was a good day for shooting scenery (for a change), with just enough birds to make it not a washout as a bird outing. But more birds next time will be welcome.
Also, all of my robin shots came out grainy and blurry. I officially hate robins again. For now.
The Shots
Great blue heron and common merganser passing by in the shallows.
Golden Ears Bridge as seen from Shoreline Park, Pitt Meadows.
Mountains and fields, Pitt Meadows.
Barn framed in green, near the Alouette River, Pitt Meadows.
Alouette River, Pitt Meadows.
The Alouette River is also unfortunately a bit of a dumping ground in spots for abandoned boats.
Mighty mountain.
Leaf in a stream.
Black-capped chickadee hanging out.
Near the entrance to Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.
We’ve had a northern flicker come bug-hunting outside our condo for a little while now, and today it seemed like it would stay long enough for me to grab a few shots, so I did. I had to shoot through a dirty living room window, so I did what I could to clean up the shots (they are grainy if you zoom in, alas). And it was almost too close at times to keep in frame. Shot with my Canon EOS M50.
I have uploaded the full set of photos I deem acceptable from the August 26th birbing extravaganza. The link to the gallery is below. I’ll work on the other photo-less galleries soon™.
This gallery has a bit of everything: bugs, birds, boats. I also indulged and converted three photos to black and white, but kept the originals, so people can argue over which is better.
Lonesome gull.
Great blue heron keeping vigil, Centennial Beach.
Warning on a calm sea.
Room for one only.
Greater yellowlegs doing a balancing act.
Shorebirds by the shore.
Greater yellowlegs strolling for food.
Piling it on.
Pipes!
Pipes! But now all artsy in black and white.
Sand wasp.
A somewhat scruffy crow.
Boat plying the water off Crescent Beach.
Boat, but now black and white, save for a daring splash of colour. But is it art?
Brewer's blackbird, giving everyone The Eye.
Brewer's blackbird, triumphantly having acquired a seed.
Ducks before muck.
Killdeer at rest, looking slightly weird, as they do.
Killdeer doing the flap.
Shiny black beetle.
Female harrier swooping by, up close.
Grasshopper between hops.
Private plane landing at Boundary Bay Airport.
Chairs with a view.
Chairs, but black and white. Does less colour make them less comfortable?
Anna's hummingbird, between rounds of feeding and fighting.
It was actually kind of hot, which was somewhat unexpected, even though it is technically summer for a few more weeks. It was warm at Reifel even mid-morning, but it never got uncomfortably hot. The heat may have affected how many birds we saw, though, as some were no doubt seeking to keep cool in the shade.
At Reifel, we got some early shots of yellowlegs as they were parked up front right in the main pond. There were also swallows still buzzing about, but we declined to try shooting them this time. We next moved on to the London Slough, which had some herons on the periphery and the logs replete with geese and gulls–and two western painted turtles hanging out at one end. There were also several wood ducks who were in their full breeding colours, and were strutting their stuff on the runway fence railing.
We saw a plenitude of chickadees, the usual ducks (wood and mallard), along with a few less seen but technically not migrant waterfowl: mergansers and a pair of Northern pintails.
We saw more numbered geese (wearing collars around their necks bearing numbers like C29) and, of course, goose drama, though perhaps the heat kept any of them from going truly berserk.
The highlight may have been right at the end, when we saw the young eagle that sometimes hangs out at the main pond, trying to catch prey. Apparently it’s not very good at flying or hunting yet, and the staff have dubbed him Doofus. Ouch. He looks appropriately menacing in that raptor way, sitting on the rooftop of the viewing area, though.
Next up was Piper Spit, where most of the landmass is now again submerged following the recent showers. The water is still quite shallow, so that meant more yellowlegs, yay.
There were also a lot of pigeons, who alternated between flying in a group around in circles and landing in a long line near the end of the pier. More importantly, we saw a winter migrant! Two, in fact, and it was our buddy the original weird bird, the American coot. Now we know for sure the season is changing.
We rounded out with an abbreviated trip to Tlahutum Regional Park, where we saw a heron hunting (we don’t see them often here) and, thanks to a couple on the lookout, a rare sighting of a Lewis’s woodpecker. They appear in BC, but very seldomly make it this far west. Unfortunately, it was atop a telephone pole quite far away. I got some shots, but they’re of the “Yes, there is a bird” variety.
Still, a nice lifer. And we also saw some of Nic’s favourites in the community garden, white-crowned sparrows, so we left on a chirpy note.
Also, did I mention it was hot?
The Shots
Full gallery soon (for real, I swear), but here’s a shot to get started.
Greater yellowlegs about to disturb the slumber of a fellow shorebird
Where: Blackie Spit (Surrey), Centennial Beach (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Smoke haze and sun, 23-26C
The Outing
Two bits of good news to start:
Despite the return of the smoke haze after a brief respite, it wasn’t as bad as previously. The main change is it was no longer causing a distinct yellow cast to the lighting. Today it mainly affected the visibility of distant scenery (no shots of Mt. Baker) and the sky looked whitish-blue instead of just blue.
I never had any of the shenanigans that happened last week with my camera. I set it to P (Program) mode before heading out, and it stayed there the entire day. Woo. All lousy photos were my own fault, just as nature intended.
We hit four places today. It was kind of crazy, but the good kind of crazy. Mostly.
We started at Blackie Spit and at first the birds were as scarce as the water (it was low tide). Once we moved away from the beach, our luck improved with some house finches, purple martins, a northern flicker, distant herons, a gaggle of ducks in a creek huddled against the shady side (smart ducks–it was hot!) but best of all, a group of greater yellowlegs hanging out on a couple of logs, most of them initially snoozing. They were eventually joined by others, along with a pair of short-billed dowitchers, and began feeding and bobbing and doing the things they do.
We moved onto Centennial Beach next and there we saw some Brewer’s blackbirds, a couple of waxwings, some raptors (not on the Raptor Trail but technically above it), herons and more shorebirds, including a variety of gulls, some terns, more yellowlegs and the ever-cute and weird killdeer. We also saw a very shiny beetle, which ended with Nic taking a photo of his own foot. Nic got some really nice shots of a red-tailed hawk and was able to crop out all the weird stuff that showed up in multiple images, then mysteriously went away on its own. We agree that my dial of doom curse had somehow transferred over to his camera, at least for today.
From there, we moved on to fill our tummies with lunch, then headed for an unplanned trip to the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail. We saw many grasshoppers, though Nic has declared he is done with them, but they remain a freaky favourite of mine. Birds were a bit scarcer here, but we did see some more finches, chickadees (however fleetingly) and a trio of red-necked pharalopes, which I’d never shot before. They were not especially close, but I did get some shots that were good enough for Merlin to ID. I also got some extreme close-ups of planes landing at Boundary Bay Airport, of course. We also saw a male and female harrier and were able to get some of our best shots ever. Even I got a decent shot, woo.
After this, we were still not done, and headed to Tlahutum Regional Park for a quick check of the community gardens. We saw more flickers, white crowns, but best of all, hummingbirds that cooperatively supped at flowers nearby. We both got good shots of these pointy-beaked birbs when they weren’t chasing each other in a territorial dispute..
We each also drank our own weight in fluids. Did I mention it was hot?
Overall, a very respectable outing, with enough birb surprises to almost make up for no Savannah sparrows.
The Shots
This gallery has everything. Birds! Bugs! Boats! Black and white! Yes, I indulged myself and converted three photos to black and white, but I kept the originals for comparison.
Lonesome gull.
Great blue heron keeping vigil, Centennial Beach.
Warning on a calm sea.
Room for one only.
Greater yellowlegs doing a balancing act.
Shorebirds by the shore.
Greater yellowlegs strolling for food.
Piling it on.
Pipes!
Pipes! But now all artsy in black and white.
Sand wasp.
A somewhat scruffy crow.
Boat plying the water off Crescent Beach.
Boat, but now black and white, save for a daring splash of colour. But is it art?
Brewer's blackbird, giving everyone The Eye.
Brewer's blackbird, triumphantly having acquired a seed.
Ducks before muck.
Killdeer at rest, looking slightly weird, as they do.
Killdeer doing the flap.
Shiny black beetle.
Female harrier swooping by, up close.
Grasshopper between hops.
Private plane landing at Boundary Bay Airport.
Chairs with a view.
Chairs, but black and white. Does less colour make them less comfortable?
Anna's hummingbird, between rounds of feeding and fighting.
