Photography

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

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

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

Spoiler: I forgot to wear sunscreen. I am the lobster.

DeBoville Slough

The slough as we started out.

We previously visited the slough in extremes of heat and cold, but today it was in the Goldilocks zone of just right, if Goldilocks was into sloughs instead of stealing porridge from bears. By the way, we did not see any bears, but we did see frequent reminders of bears along the trail, one of which Nic shot because he loves poop. Just kidding, there was a butterfly on it. I opted to go meta and took a photo of him taking a photo of the poop (with a butterfly on it).

Nic shoots the poop:

The best part is it doesn’t move.

Once more, we heard yellowthroats, but never got any photos. They are as elusive as the Sasquatch, albeit a lot noisier. In general, birds were a bit tricky to shoot due to distance or foliage, but sometimes they’d sit out nicely on the topmost branch of a tree or something.

Cedar Waxwings were in relative abundance, looking snazzy and elegant as always. We watched one snatching a spider atop a tree.

Waterfowl were either tucked away among lily pads or absent, but we did spy a few Mallards and Wood Ducks.

And when there were no birds, the scenery was always gorgeous.

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

Lagoon view, with housing in the distance.

Second spoiler: We did not see any Green Herons. Or any other herons, actually.

But we were treated to two different families of Pied-billed Grebes, the babbies looking weird and adorable with their striking stripe-covered heads. One in particular was almost constantly glued to the parent, begging to be fed. Eventually the parent swam off and returned with a fish that wasn’t so much transferred to the baby Grebe as it was snatched so quickly the best camera EVAR would have been challenged to capture the moment. The baby immediately started begging for more.

The other Pied-billed Grebe family was tightly clustered, as were five photographers shooting them with their mega-lenses. This is how we knew something might be up–always look for The Gathering of Mega-Lenses. One of the parents dove and came up with a rather large fish that could not be swallowed up by any of the babies, so it just sort of passed it around for nibbling. At one point it dropped the fish, but after a few attempts, managed a recovery, to the delight of the insatiable babbies.

We also saw a fair number of dragonflies here and most surprisingly, in one of the lagoons, swimming near a Mallard–a lone coot! Have they returned early? Did they never really go away but just cleverly hid? Is this a rogue coot who never left? I guess we’ll know if we start seeing others. I normally haven’t observed them returning until August.

Alouette River/Trans Canada Trail

A farm along the Alouette River.

The birds were leanest along the Alouette River, but we did watch an Osprey flying down the river, looking down for yummies, and got to see horses, rustic boats and plenty of pleasant scenery. We also saw a Cybertruck, as if to remind us the world can also be cruel. This was offset by a White-crowned Sparrow singing on a post.

In all, a pleasant and step-rich day of birding, marred only by me being silly and forgetting the sunblock. I VOW TO NEVER FORGET SUNBLOCK AGAIN.

The Shots

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

Gallery coming soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American Crow
  • A Glaucous-winged Gull

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Osprey

Non-birds:

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

It burns (Day 35)

By which I mean me, because I forgot to put on sunblock when I went out birding today and got burnt to a crisp as a result.

Tonight I will sleep in a bath of aloe.

One preview from today’s birding:

A horse, of course.

Also, I otherwise held up fine, no issues or anything, just a red, red lobster right now.

Birding, June 20, 2026: Crows call for a harried Harrier

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17-23°C

In which a crow demonstrates why the Raptor Trail may need to be renamed Corvid Trail.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

A green London Slough, filled with Canada Geese and a couple of turtles.

Our first stop was Reifel, which I haven’t been to since the surgery. Much like myself, the sanctuary has mostly healed from its own issues, namely all trails are now open, though at least three are rather lumpy, with signs warning you to walk like you’re an ATV.

Despite sunny skies, comfy (not hot) temperatures the front gate was open and, indeed, there weren’t too many people around. Something non-birding people may not realize is that summer is actually about the worst time for birding, because:

  • Maximum tree canopy makes birds in trees harder to spot. Birds like trees.
  • It’s an in-between season, meaning a lot of spring migrants have already left and the winter migrants are yet to arrive, so it’s mostly local birds, which may disappoint some looking for something more exotic.

Also, the higher-then-normal temperatures this spring mean the various ponds and waterways are already getting a lot of algae and slime, so the views are sometimes a little green in a way that is less aesthetically pleasing.

Still, we saw C21 (a goose with one of those dorky big collars) and for some reason I couldn’t remember the name of the explosive compound so mused incorrectly about watching out for C1, then C2, then Nic reminded me it’s actually C4 and I was like, that’s totes what I meant. Watch out for the C4 goose, it hisses and then BOOM.

The Sandhill Cranes were out and about, which is always nice to see. Like Mallards and a few other species, they are generally indifferent to people, so you are sometimes presented with the challenge of them getting too close for a good shot.

We saw one Wood Duck, I think. The rest were Mallards, the males looking pretty scruffy now.

Barn Swallows were present near the entrance with a few tending nests, but I did not see any babbies.

Speaking of babbies, a family of goslings was trundling about, now in their gawky teen “all legs” phase. Not quite cuddly anymore, but cute in a goofy sort of way.

There were also plumes of sand wasps along the Outer Dyke trail. We took some photos, then I suggested we move on because I was concerned about smooshing some accidentally and doing that when surrounded by them seemed like it might lead to an unpleasant turn of events. They are still wasps, after all.

I also got my first dragonfly shots of the season, which turned out OK. I was generally not thrilled with today’s shots, but I admit, I am not a Hardcore Birder/Photographer. Maybe I should be and start a blog called hardcorebirderphotographer.com.

Anyway, we shot a lot of bugs, because most song birds were hiding. I suggested we hit Centennial Beach next, so we did.

Centennial Beach

Boundary Bay, unbounded by water. The people provide perspective!

We started near the pond and worked our way to the pump station, then back, walking along the Raptor Trail as one does along the way.

Near the pond we saw some Brewer’s Blackbirds, which I haven’t seen in approximately a hundred years. Their eyes are a striking yellow and they have a kind of cute derpy quality to them that I like. It’s why I did one for my bird art.

We saw more sand wasps, panting crows, baby ducks and a few Killdeer (which were weirdly hard to shoot, in part because they kept moving and I don’t mean bobbing their heads, though they did a lot of that, too) walking around the very low tide area. On the aforementioned Raptor Trail we spotted a Northern Harrier flying high overhead. Then another bird emerged–a crow! The crow did not like the harrier being there and assumed attack formation. The harrier quickly vacated the airspace and the crow went back to the invisible line marking the periphery of its territory. No one messes with crows.

A few more scenery shots (nice views across the expanse of the bay, though the horizon was hazy) and we set off to our last stop, Illegal Bird Feeding Place.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Typical late afternoon wind rippling the lake surface, towers in the distance.

Which is to say Piper Spit. The illegal bird feeding didn’t happen until we were just leaving, though, so our rage was more contained. I’m pretty sure they could erect a 10-metre sign here saying IF YOU BRING SEED WE WILL KILL YOU DEAD and people would casually walk by, clutching their bags of seed. It’s just the world we live in now. What we need, clearly, are Guard Geese.

The island is still submerged, though the water is shallow enough for the geese to stand in and geese were once again the dominant waterfowl here, with Mallards and Wood Ducks comprising most of the rest. A couple of Sandhill Cranes were on hand, too, though they were stalking about separately.

Blackbirds flitted about, smearing seed over their bills as they do, and a few pigeons were once again playing sexy and generating no interest whatsoever from the other pigeons. As they do.

In all, a perfectly cromulent day of birding and a nice break from the torrid heat of the previous outing. Next stop: Summer 2026!

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

Some of the shots in the gallery are not exactly sharp, but I chose each for a reason, usually stated in the captions.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Bewick’s Wren
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brewer’s Blackbird
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow
  • Willow Flycatcher (heard)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • (Feisty) American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • A few gulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Bugs, bugs, bugs
  • Some Western Painted Turtles

Progress?

The Metro Vancouver area is in dire need of more luxury condo towers, so it’s good that more are being built1!

Shot today at Metrotown, when I was out buying a JAWS t-shirt 50 years late.

Who needs affordable housing, anyway?

Unrelated, here is what’s happening next door to Royal Columbian Hospital as they presumably remove the construction crane seen on the left. Also in portrait format!

Truck assuming position of vehicle in high-speed chase through San Francisco.
  1. This is one of probably three somewhat political posts I’ll make this year. Enjoy! ↩︎

Day 26, post-surgery: The night before the surgeon

Which is to say my follow-up appointment with the surgeon is tomorrow. Hopefully news will be good, but I will deal with it whatever the news may be.

Today I sneezed several times, and they are close to being nothing more than just annoying regular sneezes now.

And I went for a walk and took some photos at the river. Here’s one of them.

Brunette River, pre-summer look.

Birding, June 14, 2026: Big fresh piles of tapestry

Where: Campbell Valley Regional Park (Langley), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 26-32°C

This was my second time birding since surgery and I may have been a bit overly ambitious on setting out an extravagantly long route around Campbell Valley as the temperature eventually climbed to 32C.

Campbell Valley Regional Park

Quaint old buildings near the South Valley entrace.

We parked at the South Valley entrance, where the car seats would get set to “broiling” while we wandered the many trails of the park. We eventually began questing for a water fountain and settled for a bathroom sink by an old red barn.

Our first visit here was in March 2023 and did not yield too many birds. This time there was a lot of activity and a surprisingly large variety of birds–but many proved elusive, either appearing fleetingly, or only taunting us from somewhere in the dense foliage.

One of the reasons I suggested Campbell Valley on this day was the forecast–I remembered it had a lot of shade. And the shade is maxed out in the summer. It was quite nice to stroll under the relative cool of the canopy, but the sections where it opened up were Africa Hot and I regretted not having a camera bag large enough to hold a big ol’ water bottle.

We also saw the Historic Langley Speedway, which is now just a curious paved oval in the middle of the forest.

Toward the end I was further regretting the long, elaborate route I’d suggested. Then we got to the Shaggy Mane Trail and encountered about a dozen horse (with riders) split into a few groups. Most of the rest of the way out from here was navigating around horse poop–big fresh piles of tapestry (I had opined earlier about the tapestry of nature)–and passing a disturbingly large number of EMERGENCY CALL 911 signs because apparently horses or horse riders apparently have lots of accidents or something.

In an ironic twist, we came across a flooded part and had to navigate across on a plank, while simultaneously parched and desperate for water.

By the end we had managed a few decent shots, more than a few foiled attempts and a desire to return either in the spring or fall, when there are fewer places for the birds to hide and temperatures will be cooler.

Still, a welcome trip back, if a wee bit more than was perhaps sensible given conditions.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River.

We went hunting for a bunting here, but the hunt was unsuccessful. I shot more kitsch than birds in the community garden, but it was 32C by now, so the sensible birds were hiding in the shade. Nic managed a shot of an American Goldfinch. Had it stayed put for another second, I would have gotten a shot, too, but it finched right off just as I lifted my camera. I had better luck with some House Finches in a tree.

We opted to not venture to the big pond, but did see a single scruffy Wood Duck in one of the increasingly swampy waterways.

A few high clouds blotted out some of the sun, which provided a little relief in the late going.

In all, not a bad day of birding at all, even if it was silly hot and the birds were largely (and wisely) absent.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26. The light and shadows were especially harsh. And my camera may have started melting.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Black-headed Grosbeak
  • Brown-headed Cowbird (possibly)
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch
  • Red-bellied Sapsucker
  • Rufous Hummingbird
  • Savannah Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Steller’s Jay
  • Tree Swallow
  • Willow Flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Flies on leaves
  • A majestic slug
  • A few errant squirrels

Day 23, post-surgery: Hitting limits

Today I went birding and the temperature rose from 26C in the morning to 32C in the afternoon. We ventured on a long loop around Campbell Valley Regional Park.

Good: A lot of the park is forested and provides nice shade.

Bad: all the other parts where the sun beats down on you mercilessly.

I felt by the end of the afternoon I had maybe miscalculated how ready I was for something so taxing. I’m OK as I type this, but tired and aware that I probably won’t sleep great again tonight.

And I also realize that unless something starts changing significantly in my rate of recovery, I may not sleep great for weeks to come. I don’t sleep terribly, but I never really feel rested. Somewhat surprisingly, I also never feel like I’m dragging through the day as a result. Why, I don’t know. But today was the closest I’ve come to wanting to just lay down in a nice shady spot and stay there for a while.

I did get a few nice bird shots, though (coming soon).

In the meantime, here are some of the trees that provided welcome shade:

Trees along the Deer Trail in Campbell Valley Regional Park. No deer were seen.

Sleep like an Egyptian (post-surgery, Day 22)

Specifically, last night I found I could sleep OK if I laid on my back, with the covers pulled away from my chest, like if I was an Egyptian mummy, except not ancient, mummified and in a sarcophagus. On my side was still uncomfortable. The covers on my chest were uncomfortable. But on my back, like a mummy, was OK.

While my energy and general wellness continue to improve, sleep has been, by far, the most vexing part of my recovery. I don’t know if this is typical, abnormal or somewhere in-between. I suspect it’s pretty normal. After 22 days it’s also now pretty annoying.

At least in a few more days I should be able to roll onto the side that got cut up without risk of opening anything up.

I make this sound kind of terrible, but it’s not, it’s just what it is. I think writing about it helps me to manage the bother. Also knowing the surgery may have staved off something much worse down the line helps, too!

In the meantime, I took a walk to Sapperton Landing today to get some exercise in. I’m up to 103 intensity minutes for the week, woo. Next week I could theoretically hit the minimum, 150.

The weather was quite nice. Here are a few shots I took on my Galaxy S26.

Looking east across the Fraser River, Port Mann Bridge in the background.
A plaque-free stone, plus an old boat with baby boats on the river behind it.
A fish mosaic embedded in the ground, by J. McConnell.
Enjoy the view while also feeling important.

I have a spider in the bathtub

And an internet pal has informed me that in Portugal this means I have money coming my way. I kind of doubt that, but would welcome it!

The spider is hanging just above the soap tray. We’re leaving it be for now, since it’s not in the way or anything. I do wonder what sort of meals it gets from the tub, though.

Spider: He is our hero

Birding, June 6, 2026: The Return

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Cloudy with some sun, 15-16°C

This was my first birding since the surgery and it went fine. The only thing I noticed is getting a tiny bit tired holding the camera up for an extended period of time. But that can also happen without surgery.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Looking west, with a Wood Duck photobombing the shot.

We were a bit boxed in by weather (showers in the morning) and fabulousness (Nic had to help with a VMC show in the early evening) so we dropped our initial plan to check the heron rookery in Port Moody and went with the Piper Spit/Tlahutum split.

We didn’t see anyone feeding birds at Piper Spit–in fact, there were few people there, likely because of the earlier showers–but the ground and pier were absolutely festooned with seed. Perhaps the Bird Police had been occupied eating artisanal organic donuts.

The recent showers meant the water level was quite a bit higher, with the island completely submerged and no chance of shorebirds. Initially, it was mostly just Goosetown, with geese arrayed across where the island would normally be. The geese were disturbingly well-behaved, perhaps because their dominance was unchallenged.

Some other waterfowl did show up, and the wood ducks and mallards are both starting to look quite scruffy, now that spring fever/mating/babby-making is largely over. I did not observe any migrant waterfowl, it’s just the locals for now.

One blackbird was acting weird, fanning its wings in a show of…something. Most of the other birbs were indulging in the plentiful seed.

We did not stay too long, because there really wasn’t much activity.

Tlahutum Regional Park

For a change of pace, the creek adjacent to the Coquitlam River.

We started at the community garden, wary of the showers creating mini-lakes here, but it was fine and we saw collections of cowbirds, swallows posing, robins acting rascally and what appears to be a Willow Flycatcher, which I’ll have to check if it’s a lifer or not (I can never keep my flycatchers straight). As usual, I kept my eye out for kitschy decorations in the plots.

The trails netted us a pair of Eastern Kingbirds and a guy claimed to see a seal in the river, though maybe it was an otter, which would make more sense. A lot of pigeons were flying overhead–in both directions. No idea what was going on there.

Bonus shot: The mostly empty big pond, with patchy blue sky overhead.

The big pond had a few ducks and a number of swallows darting overhead, but it seemed quieter than usual, a recurring theme through the afternoon. Still, by this time the weather was pretty decent, it was pleasantly mild, and it was one of the first “normal” activities I’ve engaged in since the surgery, so overall, a perfectly cromulent bit of birding.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch (probably)
  • Northern Flicker
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow
  • Willow Flycatcher (lifer–I think?)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators, mainly bumblebees
  • Fuzzy caterpillars
  • A snail shell

Some photos from a sunny stroll by the river

It’s cloudy today, but a few days ago I went for my first “real”1 post-surgery walk and touched trees and such along the Brunette River. Here are a few shots, taken on my Samsung Galaxy S26.

I have again used the cheesy Polaroid theme from FooGallery because I like cheese.

  1. I’m not sure why I put “real” in quotes. I was definitely, actually walking. Maybe because I was less than 2 km from home. ↩︎