Photography

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

Birding, September 30, 2024: Flappin’ ‘n a-fightin’

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 14-17°C

The Outing

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

View looking east from the pier, some of the landmass visible on the left.

We started near the dam and when we got to The Stump and Fungus Face (as I will now call the spot), we spotted a red squirrel enjoying seed (this is normal), but several birds were impatiently waiting in the wings (ho ho) for the squirrel to move on, so they could get in on the seed action. The squirrel seemed determined to fatten itself up for winter in one sitting, but eventually the birds made their moves:

  • A blasck-capped chickadee. Adorable, but pretty common around the lake.
  • A Steller’s jay. The very pretty blue boi returns!
  • A rare (especially for me) sighting of a red-breasted nuthatch

The light was not quite faboo, but we made due, got our photos and moved on.

At Piper Spit itself we noticed ther water level of the lake had been lowered quite a bit, with the landmass east of the pier back and occupied by various mallards and geese, mostly.

We didn’t see any new winter arrivals, but there were a few pintails, a scruff-looking green-winged teal, even more coots, plus some Northern shovelers sitting inconspicuously on a log off in the water. There were shorebirds, too, but they were situated a little too far away, boo.

What we saw mostly was drama: coot drama, goose drama, mallard drama, interspecies drama. It seemed everyone wanted to chase everyone else, so there was a lot of fussin’ and a-feudin’ going on, punctuated by the strange cackles of coots.

On the way out, another (or maybe the same) Steller’s jay taunted us by flitting all over the place. I guess it was filling in for the goldfinches.

I was experiencing a lot of issues with my camera again, and with the original battery, so the battery theory is out the window. I did not clean the camera beforehand, but it was thoroughly cleaned a week ago, so unless it is exceptionally good at accumulating crud on the contacts (possible) I don’t think its cleanliness is an issue. As we left Burnaby Lake, I had a plan.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River: shallow, yet full. Like me, after a meal.

Anticipating that we might not see a lot of birds at Tlahutum, I switched to the kit lens and focused on only taking scenery shots, to see if the issues I encountered with the telephoto lens and adapter would persist.

They did not! Which makes the telephoto lens or the adapter the likeliest suspect. I must ponder this.

In the meantime I took many shots of the scenery, the river, ponds, and anything else that caught my eye. The big pond had all of two wood ducks in it. Apparently this place is not the cool spot right now.

We ended at the community garden, where I added shots of flowers, hoses and birdhouses to my repertoire. There were actual birbs here, too–golden and white-crowned sparrows, along with a spotted towhee and a song sparrow or two. I was somewhat tempted to switch lenses, but I stuck to my plan.

I was surprised when I was prompted to switch batteries a second time (I took 411 shots total, which is not very many for 2.x batteries) but the batteries are getting aged and clearly losing capacity. I’ll look into getting new ones once I get well into the third battery, which hasn’t happened yet.

Speaking of batteries, Nic was also prompted to change batteries. His Sony camera reports when they are “exhausted”, which sounds like they just get too tired to take more photos. His first replacement battery was also dead–bad luck! But so was his second replacement battery. That concluded Nic’s photography for the day. Luckily, we were pretty much done. I’m not going to make fun of him not charging either of his spare batteries, but I will mention that he also forgot to charge his phone, so it died shortly into the outing, too.

In all, a perfectly cromulent outing, with some nice surprises and no real chance of getting sun burnt. Now I just need to figure out what to do about my camera.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare, rarely-seen or recently returned birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Lincoln’s sparrow (heard, not seen)
  • Red-breasted nuthatch
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s jay
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Several red squirrels
  • A few errant pollinators
  • A millipede kind of bug, plus some sort of beetle

Birding, September 21, 2024: Summer ends, but the honking endures

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 14-19°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Outer pond at Reifel.

We made good time heading out, though ominously a few light showers began as we travelled the highway. They didn’t last long and it ended up being mostly sunny for the rest of the day, which was also the last day of summer. Goodbye, summer, I’ll miss you!

It was a fair bit cooler at Reifel than last time, but still warm enough by the end to doff our jackets and hoodies.

Unlike our last visit, we got to see the Sandhill cranes, both on the ground and in the air. Also right up front was a healthy mix of shorebirds, including Greater Yellowlegs, some dowitchers and maybe a few others tucked in. Nic got some great shots of the yellowlegs flying (they were often flying in little spurts across the pond) and may post some of the photos in his store. BUY THEM ALL AND MAKE HIM RICH.

Chickadees were present, but elusive, while the first juncos, fox sparrows and golden crowns of the season made appearances. Yellow-rumped warblers were in numbers plentiful enough that even I got a few respectable shots.

Blackbirds did not seem as numerous as usual, so they may have gone off to wherever it is they go off to (it doesn’t seem to be far, because they always come back). In their place were a lot of house sparrows.

The geese were honking, but drama was on low. I got approached by several geese with mouths agape, but I think they were hoping I’d toss seed into their maws. I feel kind of bad when they do this, because I never have seed. I’m hoping they don’t have good memories.

After Reifel, we went to Blackie Spit in surrey, only to find a rowing event in progress and no parking. I suggested Boundary Bay, so we headed off there, and lo, there was parking.

Boundary Bay Dyke Trail

Have a seat and take in the bay.

The downside for me with Boundary Bay is the birds we see are usually never close. The upside is I can shoot prop planes up close basically forever. And I did.

We also saw some robins, which have been pretty rare in the places we’ve visited over the summer, plus a few remaining Savannah sparrows. We also saw a cute li’l bunny just as we started out, which I was not expecting, although if I think about it, I’m never really expecting bunnies.

Nic got weird and took a photo of people golfing. People! Like, humans, not birds. He rejected all of my suggestions for captions:

  • People with tiny balls
  • Swingers
  • The Last Putter
  • Foreplay

I mean, one of them wasn’t even dirty.

I also opted to put on sunblock here, which I think was both the right call, as well as my own final salute to summer. Tomorrow, I put on my parka.

In all, a good day for birbs, with multiple migrants returning, pleasant weather, and some good shotss all around.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare, rarely-seen or recently returned birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren (heard, not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Dark-eyed junco (returned!)
  • Fox sparrow (returned!)
  • Golden-crowned sparrow (returned!)
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Yellow warbler
  • Yellow-rumped warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Hooded merganser (returned, though they allegedly don’t migrate)
  • Short-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Raven
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Copious grasshoppers
  • One bunny
  • One squirrel
  • Western painted turtle

The cat came back

Or rather, I came back and the cat was there. The last few times I saw this cat, it demanded extensive scratches and belly rubs before letting me pass. Apparently tonight it was on patrol, so it demanded affection, but was willing to let me go my way, since it had important duties to tend to.

Scracth behind my ears, human, then I must return to guarding this street.

Birding, September 6, 2024: Thank you for not hissing

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 23-31°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

View of bird condo from the northwest bird blind.

Due to various circumstances, we made an unusual afternoon trip to Reifel, and on a Friday. Unsurprisingly, the gate was open when we arrived, due to a low number of bookings, so we drove over the speed bumps from hell and headed in.

To our delight, the Sandhill crane family was in the grassy area right near the gift shop at the entrance, preening and such, offering us plenty of opportunity to get good shots. The two babbies are now nearly as big as the adults, with their upper bodies and heads looking a lot more adult-like than even the last visit a few weeks ago.

We also saw our first Northern shovellers of the season, though of course, they don’t migrate, they just hide nearby, apparently, then come out of hiding at the same time every year, by coincidence!

Though there were shorebirds, most of them were farther out in the ponds, affording poorer opportunities for getting shots. Most were also snoozing, which made sense given the time of day and the relative warmth. Nic kept insisting it was hotter than the reported 23C, but it felt fine to me. Maybe my sunblock repels heat or something. It makes me smell pretty, so anything is possible.

Songbirds were in scarce supply, but the heat was probably a major factor there, too. We saw one spotted towhee and one chickadee. We each got a single shot of the chickadee before it took off, as if it had appeared specifically to tease us.

What was not in short supply were the Canada geese. They were legion and they were everywhere, their constant quiet honking (and sometimes less-than-quiet) created an atmosphere ripe with the tension of potential goose drama. The actual drama was minimal, with it mostly relegated to groups of geese suddenly flying from one end of a pond, then back to where they started, perhaps in an attempt to beat the heat. Or maybe they’re just weird.

We rounded out the trip with one look at the cranes, then headed off into rush hour hell to visit Piper Spit.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

View looking east from the pier.

Piper Spit started with what seemed a rare opportunity–a handsome garter snake right next to where we parked. But sadly, it turned out its tiny snake skull had been crushed, and it was deceased.

We moved on to the pier and happier sights, like the growing population of coots, pintails and teals. There were a lot of geese here, too, possibly coordinating through long-range honking with the ones at Reifel. The ones here were behaving themselves.

The light was on the right side today, affording us better shots than our last visit, and more male wood ducks are sporting full mullets now. Blackbirds were also plentiful, as were pigeons, which repeatedly swooped down from nearby trees, hung around on the pier for a bit, then went back to the trees.

And we saw several young song sparrows, to complement the handful of other songbirds we’d seen.

There were shorebirds here, too, but also farther away, much like the ones at Reifel. Boo.

Also, on a glitchy note, after changing the battery in my camera just after arriving, my camera started acting cray-cray, and I’m wondering if the battery was being goofy or something. Testing will be done. Also, the batteries I have are nearing four years old, so it’s probably time to look into getting some fresh back-ups, anyway. It made shooting quite annoying (constantly turning the camera off and on), but I still managed some decent shots.

In all, a not-unexpected quieter day for birbs, but as always there were still things to see, the weather was gorgeous (if perhaps a tad warm–I believe we broke records today) and everything is still very pretty.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren (heard, not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Yellow-rumped warbler (possibly)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose (roughly one billion)
  • Cormorant (unable to verify which type)
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller (the return!)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Western painted turtle
  • Fewer dragonflies and butterflies
  • Various spiders

Birding, August 31, 2024: Light and heat

Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 22-29°C

The Outing

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Piper Spit in mid-morning. Squint to see a coot on the right-hand side.

Today was a briefer outing, and we started at Piper Spit, which was perhaps a slight tactical error, as the sun was low and to the east, which is the opposite of where you want it, as most of the waterfowl at the spit hang out on the east side.

We made do with the conditions and were rewarded with the return of another migrant, or perhaps “migrant” since it allegedly doesn’t migrate, yet always disappears locally every summer. In this case, a couple of Northern pintails have returned, joining the growing coot population. No other migrants were spotted, but the geese kept honking and carrying on, as if to suggest why can’t we just be happy with them, huh? Huh? HONK HONK HONK.

Goldfinches proved elusive to shoot again, though we spotted a rare warbling vireo, so that was spiffy. We also saw some chickadees, one of which was especially generous and posed for quite a bit.

There were also some dowitchers, but today they were gathered farther away from the pier, boo.

More wood duck dudes are showing full mullet now. Soon the entire lake will radiate with their iridescent beauty. Or something.

We did not stay overly long, but took note that it was already quite warm by mid-morning. It would get hotter still!

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River looking very shallow at Tlahutum.

Next up was Tlahutum. We did our usual circuit to the big pond before stopping at the community garden before leaving. The big pond was a big bust–no birds! We did see what Nic thinks was a swallow of some sort flying very high above, the only one we saw. The rest are probably relaxing in Mexico now, or wherever it is they go. I know, I am typing this on the internet and could just look it up, but I am lazy love a mystery.

We did see a number of cedar waxwings, including one that hung out atop a tree for quite a long while, occasionally preening, panting or poofing itself out. The others were not quite as close, but a few had their kids in tow.

A heron flapped into one of the side creeks, and we got some decent shots of it standing there, looking stabby, but birds were generally few, possibly because by this time it was around 29C and felt even hotter due to the humidity. At this point we’d also had our fill of walking in the open sun, with no shade at all, and headed off. We wore sunscreen this time, so no burning!

In all, not a bad outing, but this definitely feels like the “between” season, where some migrants are about to depart, some are coming in, but everything is in flux.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American goldfinch
  • Barn swallow (probably)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Downy woodpecker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow (maybe?)
  • Spotted towhee
  • Warbling vireo

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (three!)
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail (the return!)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • A fuzzy caterpillar that didn’t know how close it came to being smooshed by a bike
  • Assorted pollinators
  • Fewer dragonflies and butterflies