I will have today’s birding adventure up tomorrow (Sunday), but in the meantime, enjoy this photo of a bald eagle I took today, with slightly enhanced sky. (Eagle photo with unenhanced sky coming tomorrow.)
Space eagle
Photography
Photos I’ve taken of scenery, interesting objects and other things.
Birding, April 11, 2026: Two-thirds birding, one-third sleeping
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 13°C
I was feeling weird and tired in the morning, so I missed the entire Reifel section of birding today.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Nic saw a bunch of Snow Geese, some White-fronted Geese hanging with them, and the Killdeer still protecting their parking lot nest. The babbies are expected to hatch soon.
I have no photos from Reifel, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Tlahutum Regional Park
We both went to Tlahutum and spoiler: no Mountain Bluebirds, but we did see a somewhat elusive Cinnamon Teal for the first time this season at the big pond, where all the cool birds were hanging out, ranging from Buffleheads to Gadwalls and shovelers.
We opted to skip the community garden, though we could see the flooded bits are starting to dry out. Soon™.
The bulk of the trails proved fairly quiet, with only a few Golden-crowned Sparrows and some crows, but not a lot else. Maybe birds like the sun, because it remained overcast the entire afternoon (though it did not shower, as the forecast had threatened).
The other highlight came when we took a path different from the usual on the way back to the car and came across, of all things, a Bewick’s Wren having a grand old time taking a dirt bath right in the middle of the trail. We took photos until it was done and flew off. It was very into the dirt bath.
In all, though, a quiet outing here today.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park
By the time we got to Piper Spit, the wind had picked up and it felt a bit cool, a big shift from the last few days of summer-like weather.
While the lake level was lower, meaning more of the land mass is now above water, it was still too deep around the spit for shorebirds. Most of the usual gang were otherwise represented, including a single Glaucous-winged Gull, perhaps selected to check the status of the golf balls the gulls have collected there.
The coots seemed to be split into two groups: the clean-billed and the dirty-billed. The dirty-billed had black…stuff…along their “lips”. I have no idea what it signifies. Maybe we have two rival coot gangs and the coot war is coming.
A lot of the birds we saw today were looking scruffy, due to moulting, and among them were some Green-winged Teals who looked a bit like unfinished paintings, with their heads flecked with green instead of lovingly smothered in it.
The drama here was kept to a minimum, though the geese were still being geese. You can’t fight your nature.
I have still not gotten a decent photo of a cowbird yet.
And we saw a pigeon couple kissing and kissing and kissing some more. Another male, meanwhile, was trying and failing to impress the ladies again.
We ended with a stop at the butterfly garden, which is still absent of butterflies, but did have a Goldenrod Crab Spider tucked inside a tulip, its front legs spread out, ready to give a deadly hug to any early pollinators. The one we saw was an almost translucent white, though they can change colour to match their surroundings. How sneaky!
The weather was better than forecast, but it was still very gray. I guess it makes the motre colourful birds pop, so there is that. In all, a nice bit of afternoon birding.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots, gallery pending:
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Robin
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Barn Swallow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Common Yellowthroat
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- House Sparrow
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-green Swallow
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bewick’s Wren
- Bufflehead
- Canada Goose
- Cinnamon Teal
- Gadwall
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Killdeer
- Marsh wren
- Lesser Scaup
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Northern Shoveler
- Ring-necked Duck
- Snow Goose
- White-fronted Goose
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- Glaucous-winged Gull
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
Non-birds:
- Goldenrod Crab Spider
A few more springy photos (April 8, 2026)
Shadows and buttercups:
Brunette River, going green (well, the vegetation, not the river itself. At least not yet).
A nice shot of the Brunette River (April 7, 2026)
I haven’t posted one of these in a while. Spring continues to spring.
Birding, April 4, 2026: Bluebirds, gone geese and serious stares
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17°C
NOTE: I am missing the previous entry, from March 28. It will be posted soon™.
My first (light) sunburn of the year, woo.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
After months of being closed due to storms and bad bridges, Reifel Bird Sanctuary finally re-opened this week, so this was our first destination.
The only downside were two trail closures, the East Dyke (mostly) and the North Dyke, which shortened our outing a bit, bot not much. A few of the open trails are still in pretty rough shape, as the volunteers could not bring in needed equipment to repair while the bridge was closed.
But it was all good, because the very first thing we saw made the trip worth it. As we entered the parking lot, I noticed the section immediately on the right was cordoned off. I assumed it was another repair, but no, it was due to babby-making!
Specifically, a pair of killdeer chose to make a nest in the northeast corner of the gravel parking lot. While this was fine when the sanctuary was closed, it is more problematic now. We saw both parents and one of them was dashing about and then plunked down on what appeared to be three or four eggs, with the occasional head bob, as killdeer do. It’s adorable, though you can’t help but worry about how the future Killdeer will fare. On the other hand, Killdeer favour nests in the open, and they’re still around, so they may yet survive us.
In other birb news, we both got our first (blurry) shot of a Marsh Wren. They should become a bit more visible as they start looking for love in earnest.
The mallards especially seemed to miss us, because it felt like some were following us around the entire area, no doubt hoping for seed we did not have. Sorry, mallards! I compensated slightly by taking copious beauty shots of them.
We saw one or possibly two Sandhill Cranes (in separate locations) and witnessed a few duck battles (the inevitable goose drama was yet to come). Hormones make everyone crazy, it seems. Well, except geese are just naturally like that. And there was a mass of Western Painted Turtles on the logs at the London Slough. I’ve never seen so many. Some were so big you’d think they’d fallen into radioactive sewer water and mutated. If you’ve ever seen one of those “Western painted turtle sighting” signs, just know the answer is: Reifel.
In all, and despite the inevitable crowds (first weekend open, long weekend and sunny, mild weather) it was very nice to finally be back at Reifel.
Tlahutum Regional Park
The Mountain Bluebird quest continued at Tlahutum, where multiple birds have been sighted. And success! We saw a couple with Big Lenses on one of the main trails and lo, off in the bushes were at least two Mountain Bluebirds. Sadly, they were a bit far away so even my 400mm lens struggled. I had to switch to manual focus to get anything even a bit decent. How old-timey! They are a very lovely shade of blue. Hopefully we’ll see more, and maybe a bit closer up.
We also saw Buffleheads, Gadwalls and a scruffy-looking immature Great Blue Heron, who was busy practicing his death stare (speaking of, and in reference to the title of this post, today was apparently my day for getting shots of birds staring directly into the camera).
Nic got some good shots of Tree Swallows, who were out in abundance at the big pond and we finally dared to venture around the still kind of flooded community garden, mostly skirting the edges, but it’s still a bit early. Many of the plots are still under construction. We shall return.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park
We ended at Piper Spit and sought to silence our inner Bird Police, knowing someone would be feeding the birds. And there were people feeding them.
Speaking of feeding, on the way out, we saw a squirrel noshing away and it looked surprisingly similar to the chunky boi they have on the No Feeding signs.
At the spit, the water level was too high for shorebirds (boo) and apparently for seagulls, too, as they were absent. Left behind were the many golf balls they had collected. Seagulls are weird.
It was here that the geese reverted to form and generally went berserk, doing the cobra chicken thing over and over. I’m sure the internet could tell me why they do this–a show of dominance, some weird style of affection or something, but I like to think they’re just kind of loco.
And as a final bonus, a train passing through actually cleared the track before we got there, so we weren’t delayed on our departure.
In all, a fine outing.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots, gallery pending:
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Robin
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Brown-headed Cowbird (allegedly heard but not seen)
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Fox Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Mountain Bluebird
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Tree Swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Canada Goose
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Gadwalls
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Killdeer
- Marsh wren
- Lesser Scaup
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Ring-necked Duck
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- A seagull
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
Non-birds:
- Airplanes
- Golf balls
- Western Painted Turtle en masse
Birding, March 21, 2026: Hail Satan and less evil returns
Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Como Lake (Coquitlam)
Weather: Partly sunny, 7-8°C
NOTE: I am posting this a week late, but I had the write-up ready to go, I just hadn't gotten any photos ready. I've included a few but will have a proper gallery soon--for reals!
Also, the first birding of Spring!
Burnaby Lake
Nic suggested we do the full loop around Burnaby Lake, which is around 10.3 km or “You will achieve your 10,000-step goal no problem.”
We started at the Avalon parking lot, then went counter-clockwise, stopping at Cariboo Dam, Piper Spit, the Butterfly Garden by the Nature House, Philips Point, the rowing pavilion, the bridge on Deer Lake Brook, and anywhere we saw or heard birds.
Piper Spit was replete with people feeding the birds. We also saw multiple cyclists and dogs walking about off-leash. It was basically “Rules for thee, not for me” day. Note: the dogs and cyclists were not at Piper Spit, so there are still some limits in place.
The pier gave us our first look at newly-arrived migrants–the Brown-headed Cowbird. I did not get any decent shots, but we’ll have more chances over the spring and summer. Tree and Violet-Green Swallows were also diving around all over the lake here. Nic and I both documented this with a collection of artisanal blurry photos. There was also a red-eyed pigeon here, looking like it had just finished a sermon at the Pigeon Church of Satan.
And the only remnant of the land mas near the pier was once again occupied by gulls, whose golf ball collection is now up to three.
After this, we checked out the scenery from the viewing platform just west of the pier, then headed to Philips Point, where we saw more scenery and a Song Sparrow.
The long stretch of Cottonwood Trail yielded more Song Sparrows, then the bridge over Still Creek let us glimpse a Pied-billed Grebe. It dove a few times and the last time it never came back into view, possibly returning to the pocket dimension grebes hail from. A flock of Cackling Geese circled the sportsball field a few times, then came in for a landing, allowing us to get some shots of them grazing. A few crows in the background were taking delight in some kind of baked good one had acquired.
Around the south shore of the lake we apparently entered woodpecker country, seeing both a Pileated Woodpecker and a pair of Red-breasted Sapsuckers, the only downside being that they were in the “crane your neck” part of the trees.
We also heard, but never saw, several frogs.
We did see some water strider bugs in a stand of water adjacent to the trial, including a pair that were busy trying to make more striders, if you know what I mean. It’s that time of year for everyone.
Como Lake
After Burnaby Lake, we elected to tackle a smaller body of water with Como Lake, whose loop is about 10% that of Burnaby Lake. The scenery was nice enough, and we saw a lot of geese pairing off. There was also a pair of male Mallards that also seemed paired off, or maybe they were just good friends.
We ended by observing a robin on the grass yoinking large, juicy worms out of the grounsd and eating them with relish. Not actual relish, just zeal.
At this point we both had nearly 20,000 steps and opted to call it a day instead of walking even further. Between yesterday’s run at the lake and the birding, I’d covered around 55,000 steps in the two days. That’s good enough for me!
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Robin
- Bewick’s Wren
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Fox Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Red-breasted Sapsucker
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-Green Swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Cackling Goose
- Canada Goose
- Common Merganser (probably)
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Scaup
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- Satanic Rock Pigeon
- Seagulls aplenty
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
Non-birds:
- Airplanes
- Golf balls
Some shots around Burnaby Lake, March 20, 2026
I took these shots after today’s run, mostly around the sports fields at Burnaby Lake. There was water everywhere. And geese.
As is my wont, I have used the totally retro Polaroid theme from FooGallery. Enjoy!
Still Creek
Flooded trees
Flooded field. No sportsball for you!
Still Creek
A mix of Canada Geese and Cackling Geese
View from the bridge on Deer Lake Brook
All shot on my iPhone 12.
Birding, March 14, 2026: Pre-spring arrivals and golf balls
Where: Terra Nova, Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 4-7°C
It was windy and kind of chilly, but also sunny. Hooray for the sun.
Terra Nova
We started at Terra Nova, where it initially reported 4C but “feels like 0”, which seemed accurate. Some wigeons were there to greet us just offshore, noshing among the marshy outcroppings. Farther off (too far, boo) were a bunch of herons brooding in the tall grass. We also spotted a few less social ones brooding off on their own.
When we moved away from the water, we came across a bunch of sparrows doing the sparrow thing. We looped off into the Terra Nova Natural Area (unclear on where the Artificial Area is–maybe the parking lots?) and when we came back, someone had scattered some seed, which drew the attention of all the birds, many of which were banded or banded and sporting a radio transmitter. This is probably how the “birds aren’t real” conspiracies get started.
I, of course, shot planes.
We did not see any grebes at the main pond, but we didn’t not not see them, either, if you know what I mean. There were some scaups, though.
In all, Terra Nova proved to be a perhaps unexpected bounty, just as Brydon Lagoon had been a few weeks earlier.
Richmond Nature House
We went to the Richmond Nature House next, unsure what to expect. Would there be seed in the feeders, and also possibly birds? The answer was yes to both. However, only a few feeders were filled (including the nectar feeders), so while there were birds, they weren’t ravaging the area like we usually see. Instead, we saw a small but nice collection of juncos, chickadees, hummingbirds, and towhees. And we saw our first Rufous Hummingbirds of the season, who may look even more “I’ll stab you” than Anna’s Hummingbirds (which we also saw).
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
We wrapped at Piper Spit and there were so many people feeding the birds (especially the blackbirds, which shamelessly pander for food) it was as if the signs said PLEASE FEED THE WILDLIFE. Alas.
The recent rains have reduced the adjacent island into a tiny little piece of land big enough for a few gulls and their golf balls, which is what we saw there.
One gull took a golf ball out and played the seagull equivalent of golf with it, which involves flying up over the water, hovering, dropping the ball, then retrieving it and doing it again. I mean, at least it wasn’t trying to eat it.
Most of the usual ducks were present, including a single adorable Bufflehead who got close enough for a few good shots before disappearing back into the Bufflehead dimension. We also saw the first sparrows of the year. I’m guessing Tree Swallows, but they were too far away to positively identify. The water level was too high for shorebirds, so the Dowitcher count was, sadly, zero.
Making up for that (?) were plenty of Canada Geese, and they were engaged in all kinds of goose shenanigans, some of which we captured in loving/terrifying detail.
The coots were downright ordinary in comparison.
With the sun out and a lot of close-range targets, I got much better shots than last week, so I am pleased.
Maybe next time we’ll finally return to Reifel. It could happen!
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Coastal mountains seen from Terra Nova
An American Wigeon swims through marshy outcroppings off Terra Nova
Fresh snow on the mountains
A banded Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Another Great Blue Heron having a bad hair day
A Spotted Towhee
An American Robin getting stretchy
A Fox Sparrow hanging out
Crow up close
A chickadee intent on a hummingbird feeder
Rufous Hummingbirds have returned
A Dark-eyed Junco singing in the sun
Burnaby Lake, wind rippling the surface
A seagull with his golf ball collection
A shiny male Mallard
Female Wood Duck up close at Piper Spit
An alert-looking Green-winged Teal
Male Scaup with The Stare
A Northern Pintail showing off his colours
Bufflehead looking cute as all get-out
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Robin
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Fox Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Northern Flicker
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Tree Swallow (probably)
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Canada Goose
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Scaup
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock pigeon
- Seagulls aplenty
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Red-tailed Hawk (probably)
Non-birds:
- Airplanes
- Golf balls
Birding, March 7, 2026: Capering coots
Where: Burnaby Lake, Deer Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, some light rain, 11°C
In which we learn a battery charged is better in the hand than in the charger.
Burnaby Lake
The original forecast was looking quite damp, so we opted for a later start of 11 am and headed to Piper Spit. Even though there was a light drizzle, the parking lot there was strangely full, so perhaps some event was taking place. The pier itself was mostly left to just us for the majority of time we were there and the weather ranged from cloudy to a steady light rain with drizzle in-between. Not ideal, but workable. You can see the raindrops in some of our shots, which is a nice effect.
I didn’t notice any dowitchers, but the water around Piper Spit might be a bit too high from recent rains. Most of the others were present, with random coots basically everywhere. There was Gull Town and Pigeon Place, but Crowville was underrepresented (we later found them on the sports fields). The weather may make for challenging shooting, but we didn’t get any snow this winter, so I’m willing to tolerate some drizzle.
I once again tried to shoot some gulls in flight, with mostly mediocre results. I can usually nail at least one butt shot, though.
And it’s that that time of year, because one pigeon was macking on another big time. The other pigeon was, as usual, utterly unimpressed.
In all, a better than expected start.
Deer Lake
After lunch, the weather improved to merely cloudy, so we remained dry going forward and the light got a bit better.
Deer Lake was better than expected, with copious coots cavorting and cackling up close on the main beach. Several small children were present and I thought they might chase the coots, as little kids are wont to do, but the coots chased them like the aquatic terror chickens they are. One had some weird feather business going on with a wing but didn’t seem particularly fussed by it.
There were also a few geese present and remember me saying it’s that time of year? Perhaps this is why the geese were going berserk and doing the cobra thing with their necks and showing off their hideous giant, barbed tongues. It’s just love. There was a lot of love on display.
And we saw a rare Ruddy Duck. I checked and I’ve logged it twice before in Merlin, but it’s been long enough that I don’t recall the last time I saw one. They have a mottled brown texture with slightly big honkers. It was just close enough to get decent shots.
There were also buffleheads, mergansers and others on the lake, but most were generally too far out to get good shots. We also saw one canoe being paddled about (by people, not birds).
The wind would pick up on occasion (though it was very mild) and this afforded some great bad hair day shots of a Great Blue Heron.
And of course, the lake itself provided some scenery, though maybe due to its compact size, it doesn’t shoot as well as Burnaby Lake (IMO).
And speaking of, we ended by returning to the western end of Burnaby Lake, and travelled from the bridge at Still Creek to the rowing pavilion and back. While we technically saw a lot of birds, this was mainly due to one of them being a very large group of Cackling Geese that flew in and landed on the sports fields to nom on the grass. Even though I took a lot of shots, I wasn’t really happy with any of them. It was also apparently “Bring Your Bike” day at Burnaby Lake (bikes are not allowed) because I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many bikes in such a short span. Curse them all (but gently, some were little kids).
We also saw some Common Mergansers at the rowing pavilion, but they were a little too far out, especially for Nic’s Pixel phone.
Yes, at this point Nic was using his phone because after the battery in his camera died, he went to swap it out with a fresh one, but the fresh one turned out to be sitting safely nuzzled in its charger back at his apartment. I think the lesson here is for Nic to just hide away secret caches of charged batteries everywhere he goes to shoot birds.
Overall, a better outing than expected, given the potential for The Rains. Next week: Reifel! Haha, just kidding. I give it a 50/50 chance it will be open by the end of the month, and that’s assuming they don’t accidentally sink the bridge during the repairs. We shall see.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A gallery to come, perhaps, but here’s a sampler for now.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Robin
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee (heard)
- Song Sparrow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Cackling Goose
- Canada Goose
- Common Merganser
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Hooded Merganser
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Ruddy Duck
- Scaup
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock pigeon
- Seagulls aplenty
Raptors:
- None!
Non-birds:
- Maybe a squirrel? Probably a squirrel.
Lafarge Lake, March 5, 2026
I meant to post these shots earlier, but then disabled my PC by accident. But here they are now, once again using FooGallery’s kitschy Polaroid theme, because it just feels right for these.
All shot on my iPhone 12, which may not work well as a phone anymore, but still takes perfectly cromulent photos.
View looking west
View looking east
Rainbow on the fountain.
Creek feeding into the lake.
For those unaware, Lafarge Lake was once a gravel pit.
Pre-spring flowers
Crocuses, to be precise, basking in the sun yesterday. I was so dazzled by the sun I forgot to post then.
Birding, February 28, 2026: Big, beautiful and watery
Where: Surrey Bend Regional Park (Surrey), Brydon Lagoon (Langley), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 9-10°C
With Reifel still weeks/months/eons away from re-opening, we decided to revisit a few places we hadn’t been to in some time, with some very mixed results.
The weather was consistently sunny and mild all day, which was a nice way to wrap up February.
Surrey Bend Regional Park
I remembered this place having nice views of the river, but not a lot of birds, at least not the kind willing to show themselves.
Both memories were accurate. We heard and fleetingly saw a few birds, but I did not catch any photos of them. The river scenery was indeed nice, but I think this particular park is best left to the dog walkers and families enjoying barbecues in the picnic area, as the birding is rather…minimalist.
The sign at the entrance includes the phrase that also doubles as the title of this post. There is no denying the Fraser River is watery. There was quite a bit of it.
Brydon Lagoon
This was an unexpected jackpot, with not only virtually every waterfowl we normally see in the Lower Mainland represented, but also a decent supply of songbirds and a couple of raptors thrown in for good measure.
The waterfowl ranged from Buffleheads to Common Mergansers and Goldeneyes, to a plethora of Mallards and a pair of Canada Geese that were not afraid to let you know when you invaded their personal space via a sudden loud honk, followed by death stare.
A large gathering of gulls in the central area of the lagoon (which is not really a lagoon, it’s a small lake or perhaps a pond with grand ambitions) were occasionally spooked by the appearance of a juvenile bald eagle. But then the eagle would fly off and land in a tree nearby–only to then be harassed by the same seagulls. Such is the circle of life.
A single coot was on hand, but without others, there was no coot drama to be had.
Songbirds included a few we rarely see, like a Yellow-rumped Warbler (I did not get a shot), as well as roving gangs of American Bushtits. I managed a few decent shots, which always feels like a major triumph with these spazzy little things.
We walked up a trail away from the lagoon and pondered exploring on through Hi-Knoll Park, which we did on our last visit, but elected to head elsewhere after not seeing much else away from the lagoon. Overall, though, this seems like a good sport to return to.
Tlahutum Regional Park
We rounded off the afternoon at Tlahutum, but after seeing copious birds on the last visit, they seemed fewer this time, and most were farther back in the main pond, boo.
Nic suggested we go down the other trail we usually don’t take and this yielded some nice views of the mountains, the moon and while we did see some mergansers and wigeons in the waterways, it was tricky to get good shots due to angle/foliage and such.
But we got in a lot of steps, which will help boost our stamina for future birding. Yeah, that’s it.
In all, the birding was bad-great-meh, which is actually a perfectly cromulent average.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A big boat and a baby boat
A piling out by itself on the Fraser River
American Coot cooting along
Female Bufflehead at Brydon Lagoon
Grabbing souls through its eye
A Common Merganser up close for a change
American Bushtit sitting still for 0.0001 seconds
A shiny Male Mallard
So very shiny
A Common Goldeneye cruising the lagoon
Jet-propelled Female Mallard
Seagull invoking strange gull ritual
Juvenile Bald Eagle sizing up the smaller birds at Brydon Lagoon
Mmm, suet
Mountains over Tlahutum
A male Ring-necked Duck
A male Scaup charging at the camera
A female Scaup gently gliding along the water
Back to a male Scaup in profile
Coquitlam River as golden hour approaches
A male Northern Shoveller
A possibly mated or soon-to-be-mated pair of Northern Shovellers shovelling together
A Song Sparrow doing what they do
A western painted turtle, basking on the same log with some Common Mergansers (out of frame to the right)
A Spotted Towhee, looking both serious and cray-cray
Male Wood Duck. "I'm ready for my extreme close-up."
A Black-capped Chickadee nabs a sunflower seed, which would be like me running around clutching a watermelon in my teeth.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Bushtit
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Chestnut-backed chickadee
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Canada Goose
- Common Goldeneye
- Common Merganser
- Great Blue Heron
- Green-winged Teal
- Hooded Merganser
- Mallard
- Ring-necked Duck
- Scaup
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- Seagulls aplenty
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Mystery Hawk
Non-birds:
- A black squirrel
- Western Painted Turtle