Water at Burnaby Lake

It seems kind of obvious, but in this case it’s actually kind of weird!

For the last year, there’s been a large chunk of exposed land to the east of Piper Spit that was previously underwater. Today, I went there to take some photos because it was sunny and warm(ish), and lo, the water has somehow surged enough to almost completely submerge the land once more:

This used to be a walking-only area (for the waterfowl).

It was also windy as heck, hence the ripply waves. I’ll have more photos soon™.

Centennial Beach, March 4, 2023

A few shots from Centennial Beach taken today. It was super windy and started to rain not long after we arrived, so we bailed early. But I shot a few birds before we bailed.

Golden-crowned sparrow thinking about seeds.
Common goldeneye. Not to be confused with the Bond movie.
Mallard mulling.
A pair of goldeneyes. Or two pairs of golden eyes.

Rusty the pipe, in black and white

Suddenly I have the urge to turn every landscape photo into a stark black and white image. It must mean something.

This is a large rusted pipe that sits just off the Western Dyke Trail at Reifel Bird Sanctuary. I’d love to know how it got there, as it’s nowhere close to the shore. The photo was taken on February 11, 2023.

Maplewood Flats, February 18, 2023

Some photos from Maplewood Flats.

Song sparrow
Chickadee in a thorny situation
One of the first decent shots I’ve gotten of a golden-crowned kinglet.
Common Goldeneye x2
A rare in-focus shot of a dark-eyed junco.
Wild berries.
One of four deer grazing in the area.

A tiny lighthouse

There’s a pseudo-diorama outside a yard a few blocks away from my place. There are two lighthouses next to each other (double the safety?) and this is what I feel is the more handsome of the two, which I shot today:

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.