Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Iona Beach, Feb.11, 2023

The day was gray, and the sun only poked out a few times, but it was nice as always to get out among the birds. While the light was not always great, the birds often gave good pose to make up for it.

Here are a few of the photos I took.

Goose pondering, plus bonus goose pondering
The stare of a spotted towhee burning through your soul
Bald eagle hanging out atop a favourite tree
A song sparrow seriously questioning what I’m doing
A black-capped chickadee with the weirdest expression I’ve ever seen on one
An American coot having a nice stretch

And for now, I leave you with two blackbird photos, each weird in its own way.

The motion blur on this one gives the blackbird a spooky, spectral quality
This is what a blackbird looks like head-on when it’s screeching. Terrifying.

Golf ball drama at Piper Spit

I went solo today for birding and managed an hour or so at Piper Spit, getting home just as the rain started. Timing!

Here are a few shots, including some action involving a fluorescent golf ball, some crows and seagulls.

This mallard declared himself King Duck, briefly.
The wind floofing a coot.
Two participants in the golf ball drama.
Pardon the blurriness. The golf ball drama.

The missing frog

On June 25, 2022, I went to Burnaby Lake to shoot photos, then never posted any of them. Oops.

Today, while pruning out my photos on OneDrive, I came across these photos and found one of a frog–the only frog I’ve taken a photo of at Burnaby Lake (or anywhere). so here is the frog, seven months late.

A Bewick’s wren and other birbs

Yesterday at Burnaby Lake I managed to get some photos of a Bewick’s wren, which I’d never seen before. Spiffy! Plus chickadees and other assorted birds. Here are a few shots.

Bewick’s wren. Totally adorable.
Chickadee. Perfectly adorable.
Canada goose. Somewhat adorable when young, or not hissing at you.
Seagull, definitely not being adorable.
Coot adorably demonstrating water physics.
Lesser scaup adorably caught mid-preen.
Long-billed dowitcher, adorable in the shallows.

Random shots around Hume Park

My goal in walking around Hume Park today was to take shots of things I don’t normally take shots of, or to shoot things from different angles. One of those “see things in new ways” kind of things.

Looking up to one of the trails that line the western side of the ravine (look closely, you can see the fence).
From the path connecting the lower and upper parts, looking out across the Brunette River and beyond it, the future maintenance yard for the Millennium Line.
Moss on a tree.
Picnic area.
Just some trees catching the sun.

Soggy sojourn at Piper Spit, January 2023

A few images from a brief visit to Burnaby Lake on Saturday, January 7th. Brief mainly because it was pouring rain the entire time, but we were determined to get in some birding, dang it.

Off a mallard’s back
Coot contemplating
Lesser Scaup. This may be the only light where the light feathers don’t get blown out in my photos.
Soggy puffball spotted towhee
Extreme Northern pintail grooming

My hopefully last batch of snow shots for 2022

Snow is not in the forecast, and it’s mostly washed away (again) due to heavy rain, but here’s a last few photos to look over before the year comes to an end. Taken on December 26th.

Fun fact: I regularly mistype “Burnaby” as “Burnbaby.”

A moody-looking Burnaby Lake.
An ex-tree collapsed onto a bridge on the river trail.
Mini-waterfall. Train track is visible above the storm pipe.
Brunette River, ever-rising as the rain continues.
Santa has fallen and he can’t get up.

An eagle that won’t sue you

A bald eagle, that is, not Don “Grouchy Grandpa with 60 lawyers watching YouTube like the Eye of Sauron” Henley. Taken at Alaksen National Wildlife Area (next to Reifel Bird Sanctuary):

And a few more…

A robin, shot in terrible light, saved in post!

Herons brooding together in the marshland.

Snowscapes on the river, December 2022 edition

My original plan was to walk the 6 km to Piper spit and take pictures of the birds. About halfway there, the snow started coming down hard enough that I turned back (my camera equipment is not really snow-compatible). But I did get some shots of snowy scenery with my phone. Enjoy these over a nice mug of hot chocolate!

View of the Brunette River from the bridge on North Road.
The number of trees that have collapsed across the river has tripled in the last year. To three! You can see two of them here.
Close-up of the second fallen tree, with reflection.
The cold way forward. The ruts made by service vehicles weren’t as slippery as I expected.