I swear I’ll have the post and photos soon. It’s kind of weird how busy I can get doing things I don’t particularly enjoy.
In the meantime, here’s as preview, with two of the photos I took.
Photo 1, the pond at Iona Beach, looking all windswept at 16:9 ratio:
Framing!
And because we went to Iona Beach and Terra Nova, I took about 10,000 shots of planes landing and taking off. Here’s one of them, a Westjet jet taking off against a cloudy backdrop:
Flying still terrifies me.
In the birding post (soon™) I will include photos of actual birds.
Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Mostly cloudy, 21°C
I guess my Forerunner 265 wasn’t lying when it said take a rest day, because I was so pooped in the morning that I skipped Reifel and Boundary Bay. Nic swung by after, and we spent some quality time in the community garden at Tlahutum.
Tlahutum Regional Park
Coquitlam River in a green mood.
For the first part of the outing, we hit the trails, and it was mostly Song Sparrows and the occasional crow, but we did see a young, scowly Great Blue Heron sitting atop one of the bird boxes near the big pond. The big pond itself was looking a bit green, and seemed to be bird-free. On the way back, we spotted a small group of what were probably young Rough-winged Swallows hanging out in a few trees south of the trail, their extra-big mouths still not quite assuming adult form. One adult, and likely a parent, was sitting among them.
Weirdly, we saw a couple of Barn Swallows just standing on the trail. Maybe they do it sometimes just to see what it feels like.
After tantalizing glimpses of a Common Yellowthroat in the tall grass (Nic saw it and got some OK photos, I did not see it at all), we moved onto the community garden and zigzagged through it. The plots here are in full bloom, with flowers and veggies in abundance, meaning pollinators were also around.
But not just pollinators. There were quite a few birds buzzing about, many of them young and scruffy-looking. House Finches were racing about in small groups pretty much the entire time we were there. I managed a few decent photos when they deigned to sit still for more than a moment.
Overall, the gardens proved to be relaxing, with the clouds providing relief from the sun, but still high enough to provide decent light most of the time. My watch would have approved.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Some of these are more interesting than “great” shots. Also, dragonfly sex. You’ve been warned.
Baby duck flapping its winglets.
Song Sparrow in the grass, looking for bugs and such.
A Song sparrow perched in a tree.
When a mommy dragonfly and a daddy dragonfly love each other very much…
American crow on a steel railing.
A barn swallow takes off as a guy in jeans approaches. It's kind of arsty?
Broody young Great Blue Heron.
Heron pondering, perhaps.
Fixed wing bird, species Lufthansa 747.
Northern Flicker in the garden.
Flicker looking back.
Coquitlam River.
Hello kitty!
An Anna's Hummingbird engaged in a staring contest with the camera.
The biggest, tallest sunflower I could find.
A Spotted Towhee, moments before it pooped, as one does.
House Finch in the garden.
House Finch perched, with a young robin in the background.
An immature American Robin hanging out.
Some kind of fly thingie.
A young Rough-winged Swallow looking out.
Two Rough-winged Swallows reacting to the arrival of a third.
My watch said I overdid it, all but calling me dumb.
So today I am mostly taking it easy, but here are a few more shots of Still Creek I took yesterday after overdoing it. Conveniently, my run ends right about where Still Creek is at its most photogenic.
All shot on my not-decrepit Samsung Galaxy S26.
Still Creek, from the footbridge.Creek under a cloudy sky.Pacific coastal mountains looming in the background.Not Still Creek! This is the lake and the rowing pavilion, where something fancy was happening.
Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Mostly sunny, 17–20°C
In which I wore sunblock and did not get roasted.
Blakeburn Lagoons Park
One of the lagoons, framed by wildflowers.
We returned to Blakeburn to take in the baby Grebes again and this time we arrived in the morning, which was apparently nap time, because all the waterfowl, Mallards, and Grebes alike, were mostly dozing. But after a short time they started stirring and soon enough the Grebelings began chasing a parent, desperate for food. We observed one getting a big ol’ fishy from the parent and watched as it horked it down in about three gulps.
We also saw a heron–but not a green one, just the great blue kind. It flew right past in front of us. I got a blurry action shot.
Elsewhere around the lagoon, we spied a Northern Flicker, a robin hanging out by a sewer grate and lots of pollinators. It was unofficial Pollinator Day.
At the second lagoon, we heard invisible frogs and once more saw a single American Coot, probably the same one we saw last week. It did a weird kind of coot bobbing thing a few times but mostly ate copious amounts of greenery, which at times looked more like something it was throwing up rather than nomming on.
In all, a nice beginning and I think I got better shots of the grebes this time, so woo for that.
Blackie Spit
A boat plies through the narrow band of water off Blackie Spit.
We then spent 10 hours travelling south to Blackie Spit, thanks to Google Maps directing us to busy highway intersections without traffic lights and asking us to then turn left. Once there, we heard but didn’t see (or did we?) Savannah Sparrows, but we did get shots of a House Finch impersonating one. There were also a lot of sand wasps here, furiously digging burrows as they do.
We hoped for a repeat of seeing a California Scrub Jay after a guy on a scooter advised us of some in the area, but alas, we didn’t see any. We saw lots of pollinators again, though.
The tide was extremely low, which in itself made for some interesting scenery shots.
When we left, I marvelled at how my skin had not turned crimson.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
A goose-rich view of Piper Spit.
We rounded out the day at Piper Spit, where the level of the lake was almost as high as the piles of seeds from all the criminal bird feeders. When not telling girls destined to be sociopaths not to kick at pigeons, we saw pigeons, blackbirds, and a Song Sparrow that kind of looked like it had exploded, but didn’t seem to mind. The ducks were mostly avoiding the pier and hanging out in Eagle Creek.
There were a lot of Canada Geese around and some of the babbies have become sullen teens with mostly adult colours and bad attitudes.
When we left, after silently cursing the people with seed, I was just grateful karma didn’t put us behind a 150-car train before we could head out.
But the weather was nice!
In all, a fine day with maybe a bit too much travelling (but no U-turns), but redeemed by all those grebes.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Despite appearance, this American Coot is eating, not barfing.
This is the coot just being a coot.
Bumblebee doing some upside down pollinating.
Mallard appearing to rest her head on a lily pad.
Northern Flicker on the path.
Parent and a slightly clingy youngster who maybe wants food RIGHT NOW.
Parent and child on the move.
Pied-billed Grebe family portrait.
A young Pied-billed Grebe gulping down a fish brought by the parent on the left.
A young grebe yawning or, likelier, demanding food.
Grebe, some day to fly.
Nothing yummier than slimy greens, straight from the pond.
A Hover Fly on a flower, pretending to be a bee.
A ladybug on a leaf.
A grasshopper of some sort, between hops.
House Finch in a tree.
Decrepit pier over absent water.
A boat traverses a narrow strip of water during low tide.
Red-winged Blackbird voicing opinions.
A Cackling Goose. Like a Canada Goose but smaller and less horrible.
Female Brown-headed Cowbird looking off quizzically.
A cowbird after having a bath.
A Song Sparrow with tufted feathers that looks like they exploded or something. The sparrow seemed unperturbed.
A gull and a goose walk into a bar...
Sand wasp on a tansy.
Terrifying close up of a sand wasp.
A Rock Pigeon on full alert.
Snoozing Mallard with some of his shiny green still intact.
Male Wood duck in shadow, still handsome.
Eastern Kingfisher, chilling out between diving attacks on possible prey.
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.
Pitt River.
Female blackbird on a lily pad.
Pitt River.
Scenery along the DeBoville Slough.
Blue damselfly.
Scenery.
A farm along the Alouette River.
American Robin in a tree.
A Tiger Swallowtail and its long, freaky proboscis.
A Willow Flycatcher with a nearby fly.
Willow Flycatcher looking right.
A young Pied-billed Grebe showing off its winglets.
Lily pads at Blakeburn Lagoons, with dragonfly.
Parent Grebe bringing home a meal for the youngster.
Eager Grebeling about to get fed.
A Glaucous-winged Gull perched atop a McDonald's. He's lovin' it.
A horse on a farm, being very horse.
Sand Wasp on a flower.
Song Sparrow stare.
Spotted Towhee calling out.
A yellow valve near a boat launch on the Alouette River.
A Cybertruck, with extensive photo enhancement to bring out the natural beauty.
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.
Barn Swallow tending nest.
Barn Swallow hanging out.
Barn Swallow hanging in the shade.
Two male Brown-headed Cowbirds expressing themselves.
Male Brown-headed Cowbird up close, with seed.
Not a great shot, but this Great Blue Heron cooling itself looks totally metal.
A crow panting in the heat.
Marshland scenery at Reifel.
Not a great shot, but great drama. A crow informs a Northern Harrier it has invaded the crow's space.
Killdeer on the shoreline at Centennial Beach.
A baby duck being very cute.
A female Brown-headed Cowbird.
A somewhat pondering Sandhill Crane.
Sandhill Crane strutting across the shallows.
Bald Eagle coming in for a landing at Reifel.
"Look into my freaky eyes," said the fly.
A red dragonfly.
Sand wasps wasping together.
Sand wasp up close and thinking of digging a burrow.
Canada Goose not quite snoozing.
A gosling chilling out on the grass.
Don't zoom in. I was lucky to grab this shot of a heron flying overhead.
A male Mallard unfussed about his scruffy looks.
Boundary Bay, with less bay thanks to low tide.
Shady pigeon.
A pigeon trying to convince a female Mallard that it is very sexy.
A sitting duck.
Song Sparrow in shadow.
Song Sparrow mid-song.
A male Wood Duck contemplating life (well, a few months) without a resplendent mullet.
A Bewick's Wren having a dirt bath, as ones does.
The bill is not in focus due to extreme FOV but I love the derpy look of a Sandhill Crane from the front.
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.
This is one of probably three somewhat political posts I’ll make this year. Enjoy! ↩︎
