Birding

Birding, July 29, 2023: Beach, beach, scum

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Surrey), Tsawwassen Beach (Tsawwassen)
Weather: Partly cloudy and Sunny, 17-25C

The Outing

Reifel: We arrived a bit early, and it was somewhat busy at the start, with lots of families out feeding the ducks and such. The kids were generally not terrorizing the birds. Near the first slough, we caught sight of a goose that was both banded and had some kind of module around its neck, with the designation C19. C19 did not seem to mind the thing. We later saw two geese (one of them was possibly C19) and they were clearly not concerned with the tracking (?) devices, as they were snoozing. And speaking of terrorizing and geese, one of them was going full-on berserk by the aforementioned slough. We didn’t encounter too many others on the trails directly, though they were ever-present.

The ponds are continuing to see a lot of bloom and one particularly slimy and had a group of ducks swimming and dunking in it, which led to them being covered, seaweed-like, in the stuff. Scum ducks. Like C19, they didn’t seem to mind their particular condition.

The blackbirds were gathered around the tower as usual, and one juvenile was especially insistent that he be fed. His dad was totally not having it, constantly flying off a short distance, only to be followed by the demanding youngster, its maw open in that FEED ME NOW pose. I got some good shots on that particularly bird. I imagine it eventually got some seed on its own. Or maybe it ran away from home, to guilt-trip its parents.

We heard but never saw any chickadees (or at least I never caught a glimpse of one). But there was a marsh wren and some waxwings and a harrier, which has been absent for quite some time. Finally, we saw oodles of shorebirds (mainly dowitchers), which have been scarce of late, and made good use of the bird blind we rarely visit on the east side of the main pond to better observe them.

Centennial Beach: Raptor Trail once again failed to live up to its name, but we saw some herons, a few somewhat distant killdeer and a new lifer for both of us–a Bonaparte seagull (named after a cousin of the emperor, who apparently contributed a lot to ornithology back in the 1830s). We also had a Savannah sparrow handily land on a rope fence right in front of us, just long enough to get a few photos. Nic was pleased. The tide was in, making the beach look rather ordinary, and it was also very windy. Kites were flying, and I watched someone’s beach umbrella get loose and start tumbling. Amazingly, it managed to avoid hitting anything before getting stuck in the sand.

We also discussed art and AI here, which has nothing to do with birds. Overall, not a great amount of birds here, but it’s always a nice visit when you’re not getting assaulted by driving hail.

Tsawwassen Beach: After making the semi-treacherous sprint across the highway to the ferry terminal, we walked along the beach until I noticed a proper trail running next to it. We got all civilized by moving onto it and headed off, spotting herons, terns, tons of geese and near a pedestrian bridge, a lot of barn swallows (and possibly others) that were nesting underneath the bridge and hunting in the river and waterways nearby. There were also sandpipers and killdeer and–baby killdeer! They’re fluffy and adorable. We also came across a spot where dozens of seagulls were hanging out on a couple of pseudo-islands near the shore. The trail goes on for quite a way, so we made a note to return and park further up and not on the opposite side of the highway. We shall return!

We ended by getting dinner at the nearby Tsawwassen Mills mega-mall. This has nothing to do with birding, but I’d never been before. The place is so big you can rent out vehicles to drive around inside the mall. You could probably hang glide in there, like a bird.

The Shots

I made Nic pick photos from my batch to go into this gallery. He was openly uncomfortable doing this, which kind of delighted me. He selected 32 photos in total, which I further narrowed down to 10. I may add in a few more later. It’s my first “curated” gallery!

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Barn swallow
  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Black-capped chickadee (heard, but not seen)
  • Goldfinch
  • House finch
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • Canada goose
  • Caspian tern
  • Dowitcher
  • Killdeer
  • Mallard
  • Great blue heron
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Harrier (!)

Non-birds:

  • Bees, bees, bees
  • Dragonfly (several types)
  • Grasshopper
  • Ladybug
  • Some kind of beetle thinger

Birding, July 22, 2023: Duck drama, heron drama and wasps

Where: Iona Beach Regional Park and Terra Nova (Richmond)
Weather: Sunny, 23-27C

The Outing

Deferring our pilgrimage to the heron refuge in Chilliwack one more time, we stayed local and still saw herons, plus heron drama. It seems no body of water is big enough for some herons to share with others.

We started at Iona Beach and I had a plan–a second pair of sneakers to wear, so I could get them muddy and wet and still have a nice dry pair waiting in the car after. I also had bug spray to prevent a repeat of the Episode of Many Bites from the previous summer. Between the bug spray and sunblock, I was assured that every piece of sand would glue itself to my exposed skin. Which it did.

But no bites and no burn!

As is nearly always the case, the tide was extremely low and after going through the wooded area near the river, where we saw flycatchers, sand wasps, goldfinches, a bazillion dragonflies and more, we moved onto the tidal flats, where the sand was unusually firm1Obligatory “That’s what she said” joke here, affording us a sense of security that would later partly betray us as we did a big loop out into the area north of the jetty, only to encounter much muckier and slipperier sand as we approached the beach. We both stayed upright and my feet never got wet, though. I love it when a plan works.

At Terra Nova, the birds were fewer, including a few seagulls, distant herons and some more furtive goldfinches (Nic got nice shots, I got shots). I did get a decent pic of a seaplane, though! And the views are always nice.

I did some experimentation with adjusting ISO on the fly this time, and it looks like it somehow got stuck at a setting a few times that was way too high, blowing out several images (easily fixed in post, however). I may have to read the documentation.

Despite the heat (both areas offer little shelter from the sun), it was a perfectly pleasant outing. Who knows what setting on my camera I will next figure out how to sort of use?

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Goldfinch
  • Flycatcher
  • Northern flicker
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Swallow (could not ID which type)
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • Mallard
  • Great blue heron

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Sand wasps (roughly one million)
  • Dragonfly (several types)
  • Grasshopper

Birding, July 16, 2023: In the inlet

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver) and Tlahutum1Formerly known as Colony Farm Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny with late cloud, 25-28C

The Outing

We ventured out on a special Sunday edition of Birding With the Boys™ and our first stop was Maplewood Flats, which we had not visited in the summer before.

As it turns out, most of the birds in the summer hide in all the lush vegetation and trees. Near the entrance, a sign indicated several dozen species spotted and while we caught a glimpse here and there, and we heard but didn’t see a few more, the birds were overall a bit scarce.

Until we moved out onto the beach, where a super low tide allowed us to venture a bit further out than we’d normally get. There were crows and seagulls in abundance, along with a bunch of purple martins, who were nesting in bird boxes that are normally surrounded by the water of Burrard Inlet.

We also saw some large ex-crabs and then about a million tiny living ones. They are pretty cute when they’re that small, but we grew concerned we might be inadvertently mashing entire families under our feet, so we tread carefully and tried to avoid the watery parts of the flats where they tended to cluster.

There was seagull drama over the possession of molluscs.

After baking under the glare of the sun on the flats, we moved onto Tlahutum Regional Park, where we…continued to bake under the glare of the sun, as shade there is hard to come by. We saw a group of immature starlings, some fleeting flickers and cowbirds and even a few ducks in the pond, but overall, the quantity of birds was on the low side. Probably avoiding the heat, unlike us.

The community gardens featured a lot of immature white-crowned sparrows, looking young and scruffy, one here-and-gone Anna’s hummingbird that I managed to get a shot of, plus glimpses of others.

Overall, it wasn’t a great outing in terms of birbs, but it was still nice to be out and to see Maplewood Flats in its full summer dress.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Northern flicker
  • Purple martin
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • Mallard

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Tiny crabs
  • A few garter snakes that slithered off before we could get shots
  • One scruffy-looking squirrel that also did not stay and make cute poses for us

Birding, July 8, 2023: Yellow, red, blue and gray

Where: Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Piper Spit (Burnaby) and Tlahutum
Regional Park1Formerly known as Colony Farm (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 18-22C

The Outing

My energy level was greatly improved over last week, which was fortunate because as I type this late Saturday evening, I have over 28,685 steps on the day. Also fortunate, it never got hot, though Nic kept insisting the reported temperatures were wrong and it must have been at least 32 degrees or something.

I missed a few spots and got some light sunburn on a couple of small areas around my neck and also above my chin, which I totally forgot to put sunblock on. It looks kind of weird, like the area below my lower lip is angry.

As for the trek, we hit three places again:

  • Boundary Bay Dyke Trail: We walked about 100 km up and down the trail and were rewarded for our efforts with Savannah sparrows, common yellowthroats and a grasshopper with the best camo ever. Also, planes. Lots of planes. And curiously, lots of herons–all of them flying. And bald eagles. Really, there was a lot more than expected, and other than being out in the sun on a dusty trail the entire time, it was pretty good.
  • Piper Spit: This was better than expected. The land mass has returned with the dry weather, and though geese dominated, they entertained with their shenanigans, particularly the young ones testing out their wings on the safety of the water. A male blackbird was again feeding a youngster, though also dropping food for it, so it could learn to stop mooching off of dad. Some pigeons unexpectedly posed for us at the end of the pier, and I got my requisite cute squirrel shot.
  • Tlahutum Regional Park (formerly known as Colony Farm): We did not get the bounty of shots at the community garden that we were hoping for, but we did get a few shots of finches, flickers and the always=gorgeous cedar waxwings. The Coquitlam River was unusually shallow, allowing us to venture well out beyond where we normally could, though the river bed was covered with thick and extremely heavy mud. It came off on the dusty trail and grass later without much effort, though. By the end, we were both starting to get a little tired. At the end of the day, Garmin credited me with burning an impressive 599 calories and my watch mildly scolded me for overdoing it.

Overall, a good batch of birds, along with weather that was warm, but not hot.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Northern flicker
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Grasshopper
  • Ladybug
  • Moth (I am unsure of the variety)
  • Butterfly (yellow and black)

The colours:

  • Yellowthroat
  • Red sunburn
  • Blue sky
  • Gray grasshopper

Birding, July 6, 2023: A hazy and humid trip to the river

Where: Sapperton Landing, New Westminster
Weather: Sunny, 28C

The Outing

Feeling somewhat human again after a week of being sick, I ventured over to Sapperton Landing on the Fraser River and spent an hour or so taking in the sights on a day that was quite warm, somewhat hazy and muggy. The light was a challenge, with high cloud causing light to shift from bright sun to shadow, but this was my first real chance to shoot birds with my adjusted diopter and check the results. Overall, I’m fairly happy with the results.

In terms of birds, it was the usual suspects: herons, crows, song sparrows, geese and gulls. Strangely, no ducks at all were to be seen. The bufflehead duck I’d seen around a few times was also absent.

In terms of people, I didn’t see anyone else for nearly the entire time I was there. Someone finally passed me as I was heading out, over an hour after I’d arrived. It was kind of weird.

Overall, it was nice to get out, stretch and test my mad camera skills again.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Song sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • Canada goose
  • Cormorant
  • Great blue heron

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • None that I could see

Birding, July 1 2023: Canada Day crowds, fuzzy birds and a desire to be carried

Where: Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest, Serpentine Fen, Crescent Beach (all in Surrey)
Weather: Sunny, 22C

The Outing

I went out with a minor bit of trepidation. A few days earlier I’d caught a bug from Jeff, but on Friday I was feeling fairly decent and got a lot of stuff done, so I was hoping some birding on Saturday would be fine.

I was mostly right. By the time we got to our third and final stop, Crescent Beach, I was beginning to flag. Despite asking really nicely, Nic refused to carry me out. I managed to get out on my own two feet.

As for the various locations:

Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest: The name is a bit of a misnomer, because most of the area is shrouded in semi-permanent shade due to the abundance of very tall trees. It’s great for that forest vibe, and is neat to walk off a street and into the middle of fairly dense woods. The Merlin app was going cuckoo, reporting as many as seven different species at once, yet we actually saw very few birds, most of them remaining high up in the trees or away from the trails. My shots here were not great, though I did get a couple of nice shots of some fungus and then, right as we were about to enter the parking lot to leave, a junco came out and did a bunch of posing for us. What a nice junco!

Serpentine Fen: It had been a while since we’d visited here and the weather was ideal–sunny, but not hot. It was very pleasant, and the area was lush, though the river was very low. We did see more birds here, including an abundance of geese and herons in the river. Songbirds were more elusive, but we caught sight of a wren, a Savannah sparrow and a few song sparrows. Strangely, no ducks at all–not even mallards in the ponds. Again, my shots were not great.

Crescent Beach: We arrived here around 3 p.m. and given that it was:

  • Canada Day
  • A Saturday
  • Gorgeous weather

The beach was very crowded. We could not find parking in the usual lot and ended up parking further away, near a café, and had to walk in from there. As we trekked across the beach and through the trails, I began to flag, but managed to stay upright. We again saw no ducks, but there were song sparrows, some herons and purple finches were in abundance. A cedar waxwing also made an appearance, as did some Savannah sparrows.

Yet again, my shots were not great. As we left, I pondered this. A lot of the birds were far away, and the lighting was often not great (shadows or bright sun), but there seemed to be more to it than just the specific conditions of the shoot.

Later, when Nic and I talked about it, I mused that my shots had been getting worse–blurrier–for some time now. I am cleaning the lenses and contacts regularly, so I didn’t think those were the cause. As Nic looked over my camera, he noticed that the EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) was blurry. I concurred, but had always figured that it was my eyes and not the EVF (my prescription for lenses is about two years old now). Nic consulted the internets and discovered where the diopter1In this context it’s the control under the EVF that sets how sharp the image is in the EVF is located. I’d known about this before, but had completely forgotten about it. Fiddling with it brought the EVF into sharp focus. It is very possible this was at least one of the major culprits of my shots not being as clear as they could be. I will find out more the next time I go out and aboot shooting birds.

In the meantime, and as a bonus, I have also discovered how to make quick exposure and ISO changes. I’m finally learning to use my camera two and a half years after buying it! Go me.

As for the outing, I put in 25,000+ steps, which was probably way more than my body was in condition for, but the weather was nice, and I was glad to be out.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Blackbird
  • Chestnut-backed chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • European starling
  • Purple finch
  • Robin
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Wilson’s warbler

Waterfowl:

  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron

Common:

  • Crow

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Bumblebee
  • Butterflies
  • Some dogs at Crescent Beach
  • A drone buzzing a farm building

Trees, birds, and pacing myself

I’m still recovering from a head cold or maybe the flu (who can say for sure?) but thought a gentle day of birding would be fine. I mean, it was, except that I walked way more than intended–over 24,000 steps. That was perhaps too much, and toward the end I was flagging pretty hard. Some food and rest later helped, but I haven’t felt this bagged in quite a while.

We hit three spots:

  • Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest
  • Serpentine Fen
  • Crescent Beach

Overall, my shots were not great, but I may have found out partly why–more later when I have more energy to typy-type.

For now, here’s a shot looking up in Sunnyside Acres, taken on my iPhone:

Canada D’eh 2023

I have no idea why I’ve never used this terrible title for Canada Day before, but I’ve fixed that now!

It is a day of birding and, hopefully, relaxation and recovery.

Here’s a bonus bird shot from this week that I hadn’t posted to get things started:

I should be so chill in the sun

Birding, June 28, 2023: Snoozefest at the lake

Where: Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake, Burnaby
Weather: Sunny, 25C

The Outing

The waterfowl were mostly sleeping when I was there, and at times I was the only one on the pier. That made for a peaceful outing, but made shots a bit more challenging.

Still, the weather was very nice, I didn’t get sunburned, and sleeping ducks are pretty dang cute.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Gray and Douglas squirrels
  • A pill bug!

Birding June 24, 2023: Cool, windy and full of cowbirds

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Centennial Beach, both in Delta
Weather: Cloudy, 17C

The Outing

I’ve actually done several bird outings between this one and the last one I wrote about on May 24, but for some reason never put together write-ups or galleries. Lazy? Bad? Who can say! I may eventually put up at least galleries for each later.

For now, though, on to the most recent birding, which was also the first outing of Summer 2023. The weather was not particularly summer-like, as it was cloudy, windy and around 17C, but no rain, no hail and no risk of sunburn, so it was fine.

We started out early at Reifel I opted to keep my hoodie on. This was a wise choice.

We got some quick pics of the sandhill crane family adjacent to the parking lot to start, but the main pond was unusually quiet. We headed off toward the bird blinds, where Nic had seen an owl last week when I was in Kamloops, but alas, no owls on this day. Also, the left bird blind was closed due to birds nesting in it. They clearly do not understand what a bird blind is for.

The theme at Reifel was cowbirds, and plenty of them. We only saw a couple of chickadees, no squirrels at all, but plenty of ducks, geese, and the cowbirds, who were spread out across nearly the entire sanctuary. It was kind of weird.

As befits summer, the marshland is starting to look appropriately lush and green, besmirched only by that now abandoned sailboat, which is badly listing to port now and has been there for many weeks.

The outer trails were especially breezy and cool, but some workers pointed out an oriole nest we’ll keep an eye on in future visits. The inner trails were warmer, but festooned with giant swarms of flying bugs. Fortunately, they are not the biting kind. The swallows were very well supplied.

The oddest sight may have been a small group of Northern pintails. They should have migrated weeks ago, but they either got lost, lazy or just like it here.

Centennial Beach proved a bit lacking for raptors and killdeer (we saw the latter, but only flying overhead and away from the beach), but we did see Savannah sparrows and house finches. A few others, like goldfinches, teased with their presence, but never made for good shots. The weather improved enough that the sun almost came out a few times, and it was almost warm enough to doff the hoodie.

It’s warm and sunny as I type this the day after. 😛

Overall, it was nice to be out, and I got some of my best cowbird shots ever because a) they were plentiful and b) some of them stopped frantically jumping around and stood still for several moments.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Chickadee
  • European starling
  • Goldfinch
  • House sparrow
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl:

  • Blue-winged teal
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Killdeer
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Some giant freaky catfish (?) in a slough at Reifel
  • Cows in a field