Photography

Photos I’ve taken of scenery, interesting objects and other things.

Birding, September 5, 2026: Random objects, plus some birds

Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 21-23°C

The first birding of September, which yielded no fall migrants (boo), but some photogenic locals (yay) and no tree frogs.

Looking north across the lake from the rowing pavilion.

Burnaby Lake Regional Park

We checked out the west end of Burnaby Lake again and it started with the flash of promise–a fleeting Savannah Sparrow. Then we saw no birds, but did catch some nice scenery. When we got to a view of the lake (something that may surprise a lot of people: on the 10 km loop around the lake, there aren’t actually many clear views of the lake itself) we saw a Great Blue Heron holding vigil in a tree far above us. It started to ruffle its feathers and I figured this meant one of two things: imminent flight, or pooping. But it tricked us and stayed put, even doing the one-legged thing.

As always we saw Canada Geese, both on the ground and in flight, with and without dander stuck to their bills. No Xtreme molting this time, though.

At the bridge over Deer Lake Brook we watched a Song Sparrow bouncing from lily pad to lily pad, thinking it was drinking, but further examination revealed the lily pads were festooned with bite-sized bugs perfect for noshing on (if you’re a Song Sparrow).

Nic opted to not try to shoot a Barn Swallow at the rowing pavilion. I was a little surprised some are still hanging around. Maybe it felt bad for us, since there were no fall migrants to be seen. Maybe they are waiting until actual fall starts.

We crossed over the new pedestrian bridge again, and with the better light, I got some semi-artsy shots of it.

In all, it was a nice trek, even if birds were scant.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The big pond at Tlahutum, now with water again.

There were a few more birds at Tlahutum, but being mid-afternoon, they proved a bit elusive, often chirping and singing from the trees, but not venturing out into the sun. We did catch sightings of House Finches and American Goldfinches. One goldfinch even cooperatively landed on a railing not far ahead of us, but my camera inexplicably refused to focus on it and it flew off. The goldfinch, not my camera. I was a but peeved, but technology, amirite?

We had better luck with pollinators, including a hover fly, another freaky sweat bee (?!) that was a shiny green, unlike the previous shiny blue one we saw. Or maybe they change colours. I don’t know how they work.

We saw a spider on the trail and got some shots, but looking at them later, we discovered the spider was carrying a whole load of babies on its back. Both delightful and terrifying.

We also saw a White-crowned Sparrow that had something very wrong with its face, though we couldn’t determine what it was–a mess of feathers on its right side that seemed to be obscuring the eye. It seemed to be faring all right, but was annoyed by whatever it was.

With birds keeping to themselves, I shot more kitsch than usual and experimented more with composition and just taking weird shots of things. I amused myself.

In the end, not a lot of bird shots (or shots, period) but it was nice to be out and the weather was a lot better than the original forecast, so hooray for that.

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 Goldfinch
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee (heard)
  • House Finch
  • Savannah Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee (heard)
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A ladybug
  • A fuzzy caterpillar
  • A spider and her brood
  • The promise of frogs, but no actual frogs (again)

August 22 2026 birding gallery is up (finally)

A wee bit late with this one. It’s a kooky mix of snoozing ducks, weird shots of random objects and pigeons.

Original post here: Birding, August 22, 2026: When life gives you mallards…

Blahgust

The more I try to think what to write, the more the thoughts run away, nimble and free.

But I remain hopeful that I’ll find my way back to waxing poetic/inanely on whatever wanders into my mind.

In the meantime, here’s a photo I took of a pile of gravel, with all kinds of filters applied to punch it up, a reflection of the artificial times we live in.

And for fun, the original as it looked straight from my phone (what a weird thing this would have been to write in 1980):

A little rain, a little fun guy

Actually, a fungi.

After some showers a bunch of mushrooms suddenly appeared in a planter that is currently just soil. How do they even appear so quickly? Sorcery!

Shot with a Samsung Galaxy S26 and with me crouching way down.

Birding, August 22, 2026: When life gives you mallards…

Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 21°C

…you take a lot of photos of mallards. But there were other birds and things, too.

Burnaby Lake Regional Park

View from the Rowing Pavilion, where lily pads do not reign supreme.

We started out a bit late and under cloudy skies that threatened showers, but it actually stayed dry while we were out and at 21C, it was quite comfy. We got some early shots of Ol’ Stabby Face (a Great Blue Heron) at the Cariboo Dam, but saw very few birds on the 2 km walk up the trail to Piper Spit.

Once at Piper Spit, we noted very few people (unsurprising, given the weather) and most of the people who were there had Very Big Lenses. The fall migrants are still flapping their way here, so we had to make do with the locals, which mostly meant Mallards and plenty of ’em. A few males are starting to show tiny bits of their iridescent green again, as they get ready to pretty up for the fall. There were also plenty of Wood Ducks and geese, as well as a few gulls and some pigeons, including at least one young pigeon sporting a relatively undeveloped bump thing on its beak. You know what I’m talking about. And yes, I could look up the exact name, but where’s the fun in that?1Fine, it’s called a cere and no one really knows what it does.

There were also some Long-billed Dowitchers toodling about, thanks to the return of shallow water. And speaking of shallow water, the landmass is not only back, it’s expanding and getting rather close to the pier. If that happens, chaos will undoubtedly ensue.

After we wrapped up at the spit, we moved onto the area around Still Creek. The nearby athletic fields were filled with people playing sportsball and geese. The geese were not playing sportsball. One goose was going through some Extreme Molting and looked quite funky. We literally observed feathers popping off. The goose was unperturbed.

We went to the bridge at Deer Lake Brook and spent some time testing its structural integrity by jumping up and down on it like five year olds. Admittedly, I did this a lot more than Nic. It’s fun except for the fact that I was probably actively reducing the lifespan of the bridge (which is getting replaced eventually). Since we were close, we also checked out the new pedestrian/cycling bridge that crosses over the No. 1 highway and connects Burnaby Lake to the area near Deer Lake. It’s a nice bridge. It does not bounce when you jump up and down on it.

On our return back to Still Creek, we got actual shots of actual birbs–in this case, some White-crowned Sparrows snacking around a pump station, so that was a nice way to wrap things up.

And next time, who knows? There may be coots.

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 Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • House Finch
  • Song Sparrow
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Western Warbling Vireo (heard)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Some seagulls

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A cricket
  • An otter. Or a muskrat. One of those. But not both.
  • The promise of frogs, but no actual frogs

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.