This is at the pool at Hume Park. The pool was filled a few days ago, and it being filled is one of the imminent signs of summer (the pool usually opens near the end of June).
The additional commentary is, well, let’s see. As best as I can tell, the first line is:
HUME PARK SHIRTS OFF JACZ
The second, clearly in reference to the “no trespassing” part, is more easily identified as:
IF They catch You, Especially
Both suggest interesting tales, the latter one of people being chased out of the pool during off hours, the former being less clear. I mean, one would assume shirts would be off in a swimming pool, so maybe “JACZ” is advising people on how to dress appropriately. Maybe JACZ is a perv who likes ogling naked chests. I don’t know. All I know is it’s summer tomorrow, and I better feel better than I do now.
Also, while on the same walk, I saw this historically accurate depiction of a dinosaur battle:
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Shirley's Walk, South Arm Marshes Wildlife Management Area (Delta) Weather: Sunny, 18-23°C
The Outing
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
View looking toward the western dyke.
It was all Delta all the time with today’s abbreviated birding trek.
This was the first time this year that Reifel actually felt warm. Almost of the marshland is now green, thanks to a generous amount of rain through May. It was also apparent mono/tripod day, as it seemed like every other person was carrying a camera with a ludicrously large telephoto lens attached.
Several people told us about an oriole in the area, which would have been hard to miss, as it’s bright yellow, but alas, we did not see it. What we did see were a lot of scruffy wood ducks and mallards.
There was also a Sandhill crane up close and personal right near the entrance, then a Rufous hummingbird at the nearby feeders, so a good start.
Goose drama was nearly absent, save for one brief incident that took place in eerie silence. The lack of honking was pleasant, yet disturbing.
A pair of cranes later made their presence known to everyone in the sanctuary with a very loud call/answer routine. It turned out they were parents-to-be on a small island in the middle of one of the inner ponds. We later encountered the presumed dad on the trail and he seemed skittish, which is not the way cranes usually roll. We also witnessed an idiot literally running after him with her phone out, causing it to move briskly away. Nothing like coming to a bird sanctuary and chasing the birds around. Hopefully, some geese pooped on her car, which would probably cause irreparable damage.
We saw some cedar waxwings this time, but they were far off and up in a tree (imagine!), so our shots were not great. Maybe they will be more forthcoming next time.
One not-exactly-a-highlight was in the canal running alongside the East Dyke, where a bunch of unidentified fish, or possibly small sea monsters, were thrashing about all over. Several ducks hanging out were suitably disturbed and moved away from them. I have never seen this sort of display before, and the fish were doing this in probably a half dozen separate spots, if not more. Maybe there was something in the water.
Overall, it was rather quiet, save for the crazy fish and cranes, but we did get treated to yet more marsh wrens showing themselves and singing. The swallows were also all over the place, being shiny and zippy. I tried a few action shots, then decided it was better to just imagine the great shots that existed in my vivid imagination instead. Nic got some very nice swallow shots, though.
Shirley’s Walk
View of the marshland along Shirley’s Walk.
This is a trail in Delta that skirts the marshland and is about 1 km long. It had some nice view, nice benches, two sturdy footbridges, but no birds to be seen.
South Arm Marshes Wildlife Management Area
One of many carved wood figures alongside the trails.
This is a series of trails that go through woods, with a viewing tower at the end of one, and a view looking over the Fraser River toward Deas Island at the end of another. It was pleasant, and the shade was nice, though the abundant tree roots invoked mild PTSD. Has it really been eight years since I caught my foot on a tree root while jogging and came to a stop by having my body skid across the gravel? Yes, it has. A series of odd wood carvings featuring bearded men, owls and…things…also dotted the trails, giving it a unique vibe. Yes, unique, that’s it.
We did not climb the tower, as it was occupied by two other people, one of whom seemed to be delivering an extended monologue to the silent other.
We did see a few birds here, like a song sparrow, some bushtits, and a robin, which I got my usual fuzzy shots of.
And that was it!
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Como Lake (Coquitlam), Rocky Point Park (Port Moody), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, 12-20°C
The Outing
With a rare day of sun, we headed off for a day of Friday birding.
Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Everywhere you go, it’s gonna be lily pads.
We started at Burnaby Lake–but with a twist! We would start at the Avalon parking lot, walk to Piper Spit, then continue around the entire 10.3 km loop back to the parking lot.
We had barely begun our trek when, sitting on a railing on the footbridge over Silver Creek, we saw a Swainson’s thrush–a lifer. This is the same spot we also saw a brown creeper, so apparently it’s a favourite hangout for Birds You Almost Never See. After grabbing a few shots before it flew off, we continued on to Fungus Face™, where several Douglas squirrels were dashing about, stopping occasionally to sit on their haunches, nibble on food and look adorable. After a few moments, it became apparent that there were more than just a couple squirrels. Several were taking to higher branches and chittering in a vaguely disturbing way, perhaps as a territorial display. As the vibe shifted from “aw, cute!” to “be prepared to run” we opted to move on.
We’ve had quite a bit of rain recently, and this was evident at Piper Spit, where the land mass to the east of the pier–which had been getting larger–was now completely submerged. The lone coot was absent, but in its place was a single green-winged teal. The male mallards and wood ducks are rapidly shedding their mating colours, and letting themselves go, as men do in the summer. The pier was dominated by geese and their rapidly-growing goslings, some of whom are entering that awkward teen phase where they have tiny heads but giant legs. It was apparently morning nap time, so there wasn’t a lot of activity, though the geese were being weird, as usual.
We moved to the viewing platform next door and appreciated the scenery and sun before heading back down. This is where we encountered Sarcasto. He had a BTL1Big Telephoto Lens, identifying him as a likely birder. He was on the trail leading to the viewing platform and aiming at some kind of bird. Apparently as we approached the bird took off. Someone else nearby wondered what it was, to which Nic responded likely a house finch. Sarcasto turned around to us and said, in a clearly sarcastic tone, “Thank you.” Like we had done a terrible thing by possibly and unintentionally scaring off a finch.
Sarcasto would follow us for much of the rest of the way, probably thinking of new sarcastic things to say the whole time.
We continued on encountered two more lifers (for me, at least, Nic can confirm if both were lifers for him as well): a dusky flycatcher and a willow flycatcher. It was a liferpalooza.
Other highlights from around the lake:
An osprey circling above Piper Spit
A heron flying close overhead, then perching in a nearby tree and looking all stabby-faced for us
the water fountains (yes, these count as highlights)
Several pretty views of the lake, which is already in its lily pad-covered glory
Swallows buzzing low over the water at the rowing club and then hanging out on the marshy shore nearby
A surprise killdeer hanging out with them that we didn’t see until Nic spotted it in one of his photos afterwards
A coyote wandering the trail right near the 10 km mark. It moved off onto one of the horse trails before we could get photos, alas
With over 20,000 steps already logged on my watch, we moved on.
Como Lake (Coquitlam)
Como Lake was the smallest and calmest body of water we visited. Plus baby ducks!
I suggested Como Lake, because it is small and easy to walk around and we might see ducks or something. And we did! We also saw ducklings, which were cute and fuzzy and seemed to enjoy snarfing up the copious amounts of cottonwood dander floating on the lake surface (cottonwood dander was everywhere). This was the place that had famously netted off access points to the water to get rid of the geese and on last visit it had been a 100% success–no geese to be found.
This time they were legion, complete with goslings. But it was worth it for the baby ducks. Maybe they’ll put the netting back once everyone is all grown up.
There are also ping pong tables here now, and playing ping pong on a bright summer day strikes me as both weird and appealing.
Rocky Point Park (Port Moody)
The supports indicating the height of the previous bordwalk can be seen on the right.
The last time we went to Rocky Point Park, we never actually got there, because there was no place to park, and we left without ever stopping.
Being that it was a weekday this time, we actually did manage to park.
On the downside, there were few birds to be seen, mostly just crows. But the scenery was nice–what we could see of it. We hit the Shoreline Trail and discovered that since our last visit they have been replacing the boardwalk at the end of the inlet (the new boardwalk is being raised significantly higher “to accommodate rising sea levels due to climate change”, which is both a good thing to plan for, but also yikes, because the new boardwalk is going to be a lot higher). This meant we had to go around on the street to get to the other side, where a man showed Nic photos of a local bear (the furry kind that lives in the forest and hibernates, not the furry kind that hits on cubs in bars). I shot a few of the crows, then as we headed back, we encountered two people from Environment Canada (?) that identified us as birders thanks to our BTLs. They let us know about a heron rookery that will still have its hideously cute fledglings for about another month before they leave the nest, so we may venture back to catch some shots before then. We didn’t immediately go because at this point we’d walked about 5 million steps.
While the views were nice, Rocky Point ended up being a bit of a disappointment. I mean, even a couple of seagulls dropping clams from the sky would have been something. Alas.
Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
An orange-belted bumblee in the communmity garden.
The people above also mentioned a kind of bunting at Tlahutum, which was our next and last destination. Unfortunately, neither of us could remember their general directions on where to go, but it seemed to be two spots: one in a grove of trees near the first and smaller parking lot (which we never park at), and the other past a pond by the forensic psychiatric hospital. We tried the area near the smaller parking lot first, but did not see any buntings–or any other birds. Merlin stayed mum.
We moved to the main parking lot and noodled around near the entrance to the hospital, discovering a grassy labyrinth (complete with signpost identifying it as such), leading to a debate over labyrinth vs. maze. We saw no sign of any pond. Nic wondered if it might be near the gazebo, but it appeared occupied, and it just felt creepy to wander the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, so we agreed to do more research and try again at a later date.
With the aforementioned 5 million steps in mind, we stuck to the community gardens, and only certain parts of it, as all the rain had resulted in big ol’ puddles forming again at key junctions. We saw a lot of swallows, including a violet green swallow. We briefly saw some goldfinches and Nic managed a single shot before they flew away, possibly forever, satisfied at their taunting of us.
The day ended with me grabbing a couple of slightly fuzzy shots of a robin. I didn’t use manual focus because it looked fine through the EVF. One day I’ll learn.
Overall, though, a fine day of birding, with multiple rare sightings, pleasant weather, no sunburn and plenty of lush, green scenery. 9/10 black-capped chickadees (which we did not see, sad face).
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American bushtit
American goldfinch
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Barn swallow
Brown-headed cowbird
Dusky flycatcher
House finch
Marsh wren (heard, not seen, at Burnaby Lake)
Northern flicker
Red-winged blackbird
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Swainson’s thrush
Tree swallow
Violet green swallow
Willow flycatcher
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Killdeer
Mallard
Western seagull
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Rock pigeon
Raptors:
Osprey
Non-birds:
Douglas squirrel (a veritable gaggle of them)
Butterflies: Tiger swallowtail, Milbert’s tortoiseshell and a Celestrina echo (yes, Nic looked up the latter two)
Bumblebees of various sorts, including orange-belted
We are in the midst of a rainy stretch here (boo1Yes, boo, not “But at least it means fewer forest fires because the forest fires happen up north, not in the Lower Mainland. People here just grumble when it rains in summer or summer-adjacent months, though admittedly it keeps the grass looking fresh and green.), so when I went for a walk yesterday, everything was rather damp, including this striking flower I shot on nearby Fader Street.
Shot on my increasingly aged but still perfectly capable iPhone 12
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 12-16°C
The Outing
After The Burning™ of last week, I made sure to cover myself all over with sunblock and reapplied it midday. As it turned out, it was also so windy (14-20 km/h with gusts up to 35 km/h) that I ended up wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so most of my body was covered, anyway. My legs did not burn again.
We started out with our old standby of Reifel and this time we saw a few black-capped chickadees come out from hiding. Yay. Weirdly, though it was a Friday, there were many kids around. They were relatively well-behaved, but I’m assuming the schools must have closed early for the Victoria Day weekend, or home-schooling has suddenly gotten very popular. The geese were also relatively well-behaved, and I have no explanation for that. One approached me with its mouth open, but it wasn’t hissing or being aggressive, I think it just wanted whatever yummy seed I had in my pockets (I had none). It seemed sad at the loss.
We started along the usual east dyke trail and when a family went to bird blind B, we opted to go to bird blind A next door. After we were done (the return of purple martins to the bird boxes in the marsh flats confirmed), Nic wanted to skip bird blind B (see above: children), insisting we would see nothing (to be fair, most of the time we just see the slough and no birds, whales or anything else). But just as I pressed to go back, a blackbird suddenly appeared and landed on a branch directly above us. It screeched chirped insistently at us and was very loud, then flew off in the direction of the bird blind. It was A Sign.
We went to the bird blind and lo, there was a heron perched on a branch just on the other side of the blind. Granted, herons are not exactly uncommon (though this was the only one we saw on the ground), but still, it was something! Thanks, screechy chirping blackbird!
Reifel was otherwise pretty light on both song birds and waterfowl, with many ponds empty or sparsely populated. It gives the mallards more room to roam, though. We spied no Northern shovellers again, though maybe they’re just hiding. A few pintails were lurking, and the massive turtles at the entrance slough were still hanging out on their favourite logs.
We got more shots of marsh wrens. I guess this is the time of year when they just let it all hang out. Such is the way of love and seeking the same.
We next took a trip to the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail, which we haven’t been to for a while. Again, it was very windy, but we did see Savannah sparrows a-plenty–on logs, on fence posts, on the golf course. They never got very close, as is their way, and I had to use manual focus for all of my shots to prevent them from appearing as bird-shaped blobs, but we got some respectable shots. I opted not to shoot a distant robin.
I shot a lot of planes as we passed under the flight path of nearby Boundary Bay Airport. They’re like giant birds, but a lot more predictable. If I could shoot swallows the way I shoot planes, I’d be an award-winning photographer. In my mind, at least.
We rounded off the day at Piper Spit, which was pleasantly unpopulated by people. Here we saw a lifer: a semipalmated plover, which looks similar to a killdeer, but is somehow more adorable. We also saw (and Nic shot) a cliff swallow, which is a darker, non-shiny swallow uncommon to the area. Surprisingly, a lone wigeon and The Last Coot, which I’d thought had already left, were present.
Goslings a-plenty were being shepherded around, but off the main trails. It seems the adults have learned to keep their babbies away from people. And kids.
In all, a fine day of mid-spring birbing, once again being boosted by some unexpected visitors.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
