Where: Centennial Beach and Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Tsawwassen)
Weather: Sunny, 8-11°C
The Outing
The first birding of December was pleasantly sunny and mild, though we got a late start, due to me having an appointment to get stabbed multiple times in my left arm.
After the stabbings, we headed to Centennial Beach, and we saw an actual raptor in the vicinity of Raptor Trail. We also saw various bald eagles, some in trees, some flying too high to really get good shots of. I got probably my best eagle butt shots ever (it was sitting above us in a rather tall tree).
Sparrows proved to be surprisingly plentiful here, as well later along the Boundary Bay Dyke trail. The light was low and a bit golden even from the start, but we made due. We skipped the usual journey onto the mudflats, as the tide was in, but spied numerous shorebirds further out, including dunlins that kept flying about, dwarfed by the occasional seagull towering over them. There were even rarely-seen surf scoters, but they were far enough out that they just looked like duck-shaped blobs through my telephoto lens. Too bad, because they are seriously freaky looking.
By the time we arrived at the dyke trail, the sun was quite low, but we pressed on to The Big Pond™ near a private residence…that proved to be waterfowl-free. Bummer! The adjacent and smaller pond on the western side of the property was populated prodigiously with perpetually propelling and peeping wigeons, mallard and others, however. The wigeons, as in our previous outing, were constantly nipping at and chasing each other. Maybe they are going through the wigeon equivalent of Pon Farr.
By the time we reached the pond, the sun was already sinking over the distant trees, but it did mean we got our first set of sunset shots in a while. We got back to the car three minutes after sunset and returned for dinner in darkness…at 5 p.m.
It was a sunny if brisk day. I headed out before sunrise! I took this photo while waiting at the SkyTrain station for the train to arrive:
We headed off to Reifel and the lack of any real wind helped a lot with staying warm (the extra layers helped, too). We were immediately greeted by the sight of at least four sandhill cranes, grazing about in the grassy area near the hummingbird feeders, and covetously eyeing the yum-filled Rona bucket. The light was pretty terrible here, and proved to be an interesting challenge throughout the day. The birds, however, were plentiful and adorable.
Also, for reasons I could not fully suss out, the sanctuary and Piper Spit (and the restaurant we lunched at) were all super busy. It’s not a holiday (sorry, Black Friday doesn’t count :P), so I’m not sure what was up. I speculated that maybe people were afraid this would be the last sunny weekend for the next four months.
The crowds meant the birds were being well-fed, which meant we had plenty of targets of opportunity. Even the towhees, normally on the shy side, were feeling friendly, with one hopping right up to me, too close to even get a shot. A chickadee casually hopped between Nic and me, Another swooped right past Nic’s face, perhaps as a show of force by the Chickadee Empire.
It was also a heronpalooza. They were all over the place at Reifel, including in the air. And we saw a rare harrier perched on a tree (if only for a few moments), so that was neat.
Four avocets were still in the big pond by the outer dyke, so they may be settling in for the winter. They were too far out for me to get good shots, though. Boo. A guy coming out from the haunted bird blind1It’s more isolated than the others, but I can’t say I’ve seen any ghosts there–yet! gave vague directions on an American bittern he’d seen, but we never saw it. I was a little sad, Nic was a little bittern.
The shortage of wood ducks at Reifel continued–we only saw a single pair, and they were too obscured by low branches to get good shots of. Also, somewhat weirdly, no Canada geese were present, though the snow geese were raising a ruckus along the shore, along with some swans (which we got shots of flying overhead, woo).
We also saw buffleheads and mergansers. Nic caught a shot of one male merganser that looked like he was about to take off, but was actually just taking a massive poop instead. Nature is not always pretty.
The wigeons were being whacky, and we observed various bits of wigeon warfare. I also witnessed some wigeon wuv2Sorry! Mostly. as a pair did this strange head-bobbing ritual, followed by the male, er, doing the deed, then the female going into a flapping frenzy afterwards. I’m not judging!
And I took pictures.
Since the shorebirds were not close by and in bad light, we headed to Piper Spit for some golden hour hijinks and hopefully get better, closer shots of some dowitchers. As I mentioned, it was packed here as well, with lots of bird feeding, feeding frenzies, and birds all over the place. The only disappointment was no Steller’s jays this time.
The light at the lake was especially weird–not just increasingly golden as we neared sunset, but also with lots of interplay between shadow and light, in part due to so many people moving along the pier, with the sun being low behind them. It produced some dramatic shots, as well as some not-so-great ones.
We also saw the world’s largest gray squirrel. I’m not one to fat shame a squirrel, but let’s say this particular one was set for this winter and possibly several others.
In all, a fine outing, and we got out just as the temperature started to plunge (though we got caught by a train and had to take photos of it while we waited). I feel I got a much higher ratio of good shots vs. last week, so I am pleased.
The Shots
Blackbird showing off its colours.
Chickadee with fall colours in the background
Coot in the shade, with a shaft of late light hitting its belly.
Cormorant with a catch too big to handle
Sandhill crane snacking in the grass
Feeding frenzy at Piper Spit
Female mallard in an inquiring mood
Golden-crowned sparrow in the grass
Glaucous-winged gull looking up
Landing gear deployed
A rare (for me) glimpse of trumpeter swans flying overhead
Great blue heron up close and in harsh light
Mallard in a mouthing moment
Northern pintail head-on
Northern pintail looking sly
Ring-necked duck
Northern shoveler after a successful shoveling, presunably
Snow geese on the shoreline outside the public part of Reifel Sanctuary
Maybe the chunkiest gray squirrel I've ever seen
Black squirrel getting seedy
Spotted towhee up very close
Wigeons about to do the dirty
Stuck behind a train at the end of our outing
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American robin
Black-capped chickadee
Dark-eyed junco
Fox sparrow
Golden-crowned sparrow
House finch
Red-winged blackbird
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Waterfowl:
American avocet
American bittern
American coot
American wigeon
Bufflehead duck
Canada goose3Technically we didn’t see them at either location, but I saw some in a field outside of Reifel
Where: Green Timbers Urban Forest Park (Surrey), Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 5-10°C
The Outing
Saturday birding was replaced with kooky Friday birding, due to what looked like better weather on Friday. The weather was indeed sunny, though it cooled noticeably once the sun began to dip (more on that below).
The other downside of weekday birding is rush hour traffic, which caught us multiple times.
But we started out relatively early and in a new location–Green Timbers Urban Forest Park. It lived up to its name, with both green and timbers being present. And it started out with wacky hijinks. Instead of going immediately to the lake, we went to a small foot bridge that connected a smaller pond to the lake to take some shots there. Nic took the cap off his telephoto lens and then, as if for comic effect, it dropped onto the bridge, landed on its edge and rolled just enough to go over the edge.
It didn’t land in the water, but was unreachable without clambering down. Which Nic did. Lens cap secured, we moved on.
We focused mainly on the area around Green Timbers Lake, a pretty if petite body of water as seen below. The east side of the trail hugs the lake, affording us good views. The trail arcs wider on the west and the adjacent area to the lake there is fenced off, so all the more exotic birds were hanging out there. And by exotic, I mean a heron, a fair number of cormorants, and some buffleheads. On the east side, where the people were feeding ducks, despite signs saying not to, were, well, ducks. And plenty of ’em.
We also saw a sign (sadly, I did not take a photo of it) warning of Deep Water Thin Ice, which Nic thinks would make for an awesome album title by some goth band, so I record it here for posterity.
On the trail west of the lake and on and around a large concrete block (?) someone had sprinkled a lot of seed, which was attracting chickadees, towhees, a squirrel and multiple Steller’s jays. We have been seeing them all over lately, and I have no idea why. They are fabulous, so this is quite welcome.
Green Timbers, with lake. Image from Google Maps
We decided to round out our trip there by going to the Surrey Nature Centre and checking out something called the Big Hill. I was intrigued because Surrey generally doesn’t have many hills, especially big ones. Curiously, the sign directing us down the trail for the 20-minute walk to the Nature Centre dumped us on a road with no indication of where to go next (just down the street a short way, as it turned out). We chatted with a nice park worker there, who informed us of a red-tailed hawk that sometimes flies over the area (she correctly surmised that two guys with cameras bearing telephoto lenses were birders and not, like, peeping toms). We did not see the hawk, but the worker did point out the Big Hill to us. I have included a shot of it below, with arrows to better identify it. It’s big if you are very small. I mean, I’m not saying I was unimpressed, but I walk up a bigger hill just to go to the local grocery store.
The “Big Hill”, image from Google Maps
After wrapping up at Green Timbers, we moved on to Blackie Spit, which is wonderfully quiet during the week.
We headed out to the spit first, though a new(ish) sign indicated not to go all the way out due to birds. But even as we contemplated the sign, we saw a heron land not far away and in an area we don’t normally see them. Then another heron landed not too far from the first one. Then there was heron drama. After, only one heron remained. I mean, they didn’t battle to the death or anything, one just chased the other away.
We saw more herons in their usual locale in the marshy area to the south. We also saw large numbers of wigeons–including Eurasian wigeons, which we don’t see often–as well as wood ducks, mallards and northern pintails. The tide was in, so shorebirds like yellowlegs and dowitchers were not to be seen. We did see a kingfisher, though.
And we saw loons. We have seen loons here before, but this time they were kind enough to be closer to the shore, so I finally got decent shots of them, rather than my usual “you can tell by its shape that it’s a loon” photos.
For sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds, we saw some Northern flickers, sparrows of the song, golden and white-crowned variety, as well as one especially vocal crow. There were some finches and juncos for good measure, and what Merlin tells us was a sharp-shinned hawk sitting atop a distant tree. Neat!
We also discovered a trail we have missed despite being to Blackie Spit many times. We noticed a woman sitting on a bench on the other side of a creek, where we assumed you could not reach. Clearly she had reached it. We then discovered the path, which is narrow, but affords a different view. We now know for the future.
By the time we finished lunch and wound up the trip to Blackie Spit, the light was getting low. As mentioned, we had not seen any shorebirds, and Nic wanted to see shorebirds, so we headed off to Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake, to get in a few minutes of birding before the sun set. We arrived a little over half an hour before sunset and stayed until ten minutes before. By that point, the light had shifted from (very) golden to dim and the temperature began to drop noticeably.
But we did see shorebirds! And more Steller’s jays. Those guys are everywhere now, it seems. It was kind of fun to get shots in the somewhat extreme lighting conditions, but that’s what the denoise filter is for, amirite?
We also saw a bunch of people launching canoes from Piper Spit. Now, canoeing on the lake is fine, but launching your canoes from the middle of a bird sanctuary is a bit rude. They temporarily displaced most of the birds as they moved out. One woman on the pier was quite animated about how she felt about these canoodlers. This also happened as the sun was dipping behind the trees, so I don’t know if they were planning to paddle by the light of the crescent moon or had flashlights, because pretty quick it was going to be dark.
In any case, we were done, and I somehow took over 700 shots, of which several were actually salvageable. Woo! Time to watch more camera tutorials, because then I can blame someone else for my shots of varying quality.
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Overcast, 10°C
The Outing
Considering the forecast for the day was heavy rain, we got lucky! It was actually reasonably decent for the first few hours and when the rain did come, it was when we were basically done and heading back to the car–and it only started raining heavily once we were inside. Thank you, Mother Nature.
And as an extra bonus, we actually saw a surprising number and variety of birds at both locations.
The area between the Nature House and Piper Spit was replete with sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds, all hopping around the one cool spot that coincidentally had a lot of seed. We saw plenty of towhees and chickadees, some of the seasonal migrants like juncos and as an extra treat, a pair of Steller’s jays. Neat! Also, a lot of squirrels were darting about, prepping for the winter. The grey squirrels seem to be massive now. One of them even looked a little surly. It would probably beat me in a fight.
We saw what Merlin (the app, not the bird or wizard) claims is an Iceland gull, but neither of us was 100% confident in its identification. Gulls have about a billion variations. Even the gulls probably couldn’t tell you which they are.
On the waterfowl front, there were bursts of duck drama, but also duck and seagull bathing, coots causing commotion and plenty of gulls, which always seem to take refuge at the spit after a big storm.
Speaking of storms, we had a big storm last night, with winds up to 70-90 km/h. The trails were carpeted with fresh leaves, twigs and other debris, and I counted multiple large sections of trees down, along with an entire tree itself alongside the main trail.
Tlahutum didn’t offer as many birds, but it did offer some we didn’t see at Piper: mergansers, buffleheads and a kingfisher. Sadly, my kingfisher shots were fuzzy and out of focus. Boo. Nic’s were better, so at least one of us got some decent ones. We also saw the birbiest golden-crowned sparrow I’ve seen in a while.
The weather started to turn just as we were wrapping up at Tlahutum, which was convenient. We saw the kingfisher on the way out, so that was a nice treat to end the birding, even if my photos didn’t quite turn out (also, don’t ask about my junco shots).
In all, this was an unexpectedly good day, both for the number and variety of birds, and also in the weather holding back long enough for us to fully check out the two places we had planned to visit.
The Shots
Seagull preparing for a nice bath
Chickadee against fall colours
Fox sparrow on the fence
Golden-crowned sparrow going full birb
Canada goose searching for answers
Gull demonstrating the fine art of, "What are you looking at?"
Gull strutting and crying while other gull is indifferent
Steller's jay perched on a branch
Steller's jay poised on a bench
Fixed-wing bird flying through the mist
Mallard action shot. I had to look at this for a while before seeing the head.
Where: Lower Hume Park (New Westminster), Brunette River Conservation Area (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 12°C
The Outing
I didn’t want to spend all day cooped up inside and the weather was better than expected, so with the usual Saturday birding cancelled, I decided to head out for a mini-birding trip along the Brunette River today. My unofficial goal was to shoot a heron.
And I did!
I also shot fall scenery, some mallards, crows and a surprise hooded merganser.
I almost shot a black squirrel, but the light was very bad. The light in general was very bad, so the photos are a bit grainy. I might try fiddling with settings more, because it’s probably going to be a long, grainy winter.
In all, a quick outing, but with better-than-expected results in the bird department.
The Shots
Male mallard gliding on the river
Great blue heron on the Brunette River
This crow unexpectedly took off, prompting a duck to do the same. Blurry because ACTION.
Pendant hanging in a tree
Very sad soccer ball
Crows and ducks gathered in a field
Female mallard and male hooded merganser at the river's edge
From the birding on October 28, 2023, a photo of two adult female ducks, one a green-winged teal and the other a mallard, standing on a pipe next to each other.
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (both in Delta)
Weather: Sunny, 5-8°C
The Outing
It was sunny but cool in that mid-fall way today, with the temperature a mere 5C to start and only climbing up to 8C in the afternoon. I wore my lined hoodie and was fine, mostly due to there also being very little wind.
We started at Reifel and were delighted to see the Sandhill cranes right at the start, though one of them mostly kept its head in a Rona bucket filled with food. We moved in and it was sleepy time for most of the ducks.
The Chickadee Empire is still in force, with many of its loyal citizens gathered around one apparently very interesting bench (probably because of nearby seed). Towhees, juncos and various sparrows were joining in as well.
Several ponds were curiously empty, though, and we did not see any wood ducks the entire day. Maybe they all went to Piper Spit on a field trip.
We think we saw five–not just four!–avocets in the pond adjacent to the West Dyke trail, but were unable to confirm 100% as they were snoozing, with their heads tucked in and their legs completely submerged. We also saw some harrier activity and would see even more at Boundary Bay.
Most of the winter migrants have arrived now, and we could only count scaups as a notable omission. Apart from the missing wood ducks, we actually saw quite a large variety of birds at Reifel, everything from grebes to pintails, ring-necked ducks and a few white-crowned sparrows.
For the first time that I can remember, we saw sparrow drama, so it looks like all birds can be dicks, just like people! There was no coot or goose drama this time out, however.
We started our trek around Boundary Bay at Beach Grove Park, which we hadn’t done for quite a while, going as far as just before the golf course before turning back. The tide was out, so we ventured onto the flats to start to get some scenery shots before moving back up to the trail. At first, the picking were pretty slim, but eventually we saw a lot of birbs and birds, including some we hadn’t expected, like yellow-rumped warblers, cedar waxwings and a Cooper’s hawk apparently picking on a northern harrier. We also saw the first bufflehead duck of the season.
Overall, today’s outing was a bounty of birds, and the cold weather actually wasn’t that bad. I could still feel my fingers when using the camera! However, I had a weird and higher-than-average number of blurry shots, so boo on that. I will try to camera better next time.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American blackbird
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Black-capped chickadee
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Dark-eyed junco
Golden-crowned sparrow
House finch
Lincoln’s sparrow
Savannah sparrow
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Steller’s Jay
Waterfowl:
American wigeon
Bufflehead duck
Canada goose
Cormorant
Great blue heron
Hooded merganser
Mallard
Northern shoveler
Pied-billed grebe
Ring-necked duck
Sandhill crane
Snow goose
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Rock pigeon
Seagull
Raptors:
Bald eagle
Cooper’s hawk
Northern harrier
Non-birds:
Fuzzy caterpillar
Gray squirrel
Various fixed-wing birds in and around Boundary Bay Airport
Where: Iona Beach, Terra Nova, Richmond Nature House, Garry Point (all in Richmond)
Weather: Overcast, 12-13C
The Outing
It was our first truly fall bird outing of the season. I wore pants! I needed them. And not just for the sake of decency.
We had a quest: to find snow geese. We knew they are in the area, but wanted to see them up close and honking. Our first stop was Iona Beach and voila–snow geese! A small group was snoozing and milling about just north of the parking lot. We got our shots in early, but more is always better. We did an abbreviated tour of the beach, as this was not our usual birding day, and saw a lot more snow geese on the far side of the Fraser River, along with cormorants, various gulls and ducks. Also, a lot of giant mushrooms, no doubt benefiting from all the recent rain.
When we circled back, more snow geese had arrived, forming two groups, so we did indeed get more shots.
The tide was in again for the second time in a row at Iona, and it was cold and windy, a big change from our last visit.
We next ventured to Terra Nova, but alas, no snow geese. We did find some solace in a pair of grebes dunking around in a pond covered in red slimy gunk, apparently changing colour for the season. They didn’t seem to mind. Also, there was an assortment of juncos, golden crowns and song sparrows near…the washrooms. Probably just a coincidence.
I shot a few jets taking off and disappearing into the clouds, which looks kind of eerie. The stuff from which bad horror stories are made.
After Terra Nova, we popped by the Richmond Nature House. The feeders were full and the joint was jumping. There were chickadees, both black-capped and chestnut-backed, juncos, towhees, house finches, song sparrows, golden crowns, a Steller’s jay (neat!) and probably every squirrel in Richmond. Everyone was flitting about, diving into the feeder boxes or grabbing seed to go from the hanging feeders. One squirrel actually squeezed inside the cage surrounding a hanging feeder and proceeded to gorge itself.
We ended with a very cooperative Anna’s hummingbird sitting in a nearby tree, singing and showing off its gorget.
Our final destination (not to be confused with the clever/terrible horror movies) was Garry Point. Here we did see more snow geese–but they were off in the distance, beyond where we could go without being able to fly ourselves. Which we cannot do.
But we did round out the afternoon with a few more scenery shots, and a few robins and shorebirds.
In all, it was a good outing, with plenty of birbs, birds, and snow geese, just as we’d hoped. And it didn’t rain!
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Black-capped chickadee
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Dark-eyed junco
Golden-crowned sparrow
House finch
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Steller’s Jay
Waterfowl:
Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Pied-billed grebe
Mallard
Snow goose
Common:
American crow
Rock pigeon
Seagull
Raptors:
Northern harrier
Non-birds:
Black, gray and Douglas squirrels
Kites and various fixed-wing birds in and around YVR
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
