It’s been a bit since I posted some shots of the river. Here’s two.
Brunette River, April 29, 2025
Photography
Photos I’ve taken of scenery, interesting objects and other things.
Birding, April 26, 2025: Sit, sing, poop
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Boundary Bay (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, windy 12-18°C
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Reifel was mild, breezy and packed full of people. I think I saw more people than birds.
The geese were quiet until they weren’t. Once one starts honking, the GHM1Goose Hive Mind takes over and they all honk.
We saw a few pintails, so they haven’t all left yet, but chances are decent these may be the last we see until they return next migration. Goodbye, pointy-tailed butts!
We saw a few Sandhill cranes, two of them on their little “making babbies” island, until one departed for the shore where it hung out with the aforementioned geese. Among other winter refugees, we also saw a few scaups, though their numbers have dwindled, too.
Making up for it were swallows and plenty of them, including some that may have been barn swallows but might have been something else, but were probably barn swallows.
There were definitely others that were barn swallows.
And even though one of the bird signs at the sanctuary identifies them as a local (or at least regularly visiting) species, we saw cinnamon teals for the first time: a male and female pair in a pond near the viewing tower. The male is a very bright orange, with piercing red eyes. They each have big bills reminiscent of shovellers, but smaller. The male especially was in very serious dabbling mode, constantly dunking his head.
We also saw an adorable pair of Least sandpipers at one of the inner ponds, the first time I think we’ve seen them at Reifel.
We heard and saw marsh wrens again, underscoring that the best time to see a marsh wren is when he’s horny. Come summer, they’ll be nearly-impossible to spot again.
In all, a pretty good outing, though again, the number of people milling about was noticeable. Also, I felt inadequate with all the people carrying lenses half as long as I am.
Boundary Bay
The main quest here was to find a common yellowthroat, with a side of Savannah sparrow. Mission accomplished on both, though most of the time they were far off and the shots were not great.
We did get a pair of nice matching burns on our necks, though, as I brought sunblock, then thought it was a good idea to just leave it in the car. I am very smart.
While we slowly burned, we observed a few other birds, mostly swallows, what seemed like an endless supply of herons flying overhead, bald eagles circling about or sitting on far-off logs, and a robin or two, which would usually move just as I was lining up a shot. I took photos of the golf course, instead, as I was fairly confident it would not suddenly fly off on me.
There was also construction equipment out and aboot as they are expanding the width and possibly the height of the dyke in one section for reasons. As it was the weekend, the equipment was idle. I took pictures. Again, the equipment was close and very still.
Piper Spit
Sufficiently burned, we ended as we do most times at Piper Spit. No pintails or coots here, and the scaup population was quite low. There were plenty of geese, a few gulls and the usual gangs of wood ducks and mallards. We saw one green-winged teal. Maybe there were more?
There were a lot of people here, too, including a very bossy little kid shouting orders to his family like, “Get your camera!” One kid decided to kind of play with his giant hat instead of wear it and dropped it off the pier. His father helped him get it out. He’s lucky there weren’t more gulls around. They’d totally go for a hat.
As it happened, this is where I learned the limits of the battery in Nic’s old Sony camera. After 691 shots, I got the “Battery exhausted” message and had to resort to taking scenery shots with my 107-year-old iPhone. Admittedly, we were close to wrapping up, so I didn’t miss out on much, really.
Overall, a nice day, with maybe bigger crowds than would be ideal, but with unexpected delights along the way, like the cinnamon teals and sandpipers.
The Shots
Theoretically possible
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Barn swallow
- Black-capped chickadee
- Brown-headed cowbird
- Cinnamon teal
- Common yellowthroat
- European starling
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Marsh wren
- Northern flicker
- Red-winged blackbird
- Savannah sparrow
- Song sparrow
- Tree swallow
- ??? swallow
- White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Canada goose
- Gadwall
- Great blue heron
- Green-winged teal
- Hooded merganser
- Lesser sandpiper
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Northern shoveller
- Sandhill crane
- Scaup
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Assorted gulls
- Rock pigeon
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
Non-birds:
- A few black squirrels
- Various bugs and bees
- A persistent helicopter
Birding, April 19, 2025: Herons herons herons!
Where: Crescent Beach (Surrey), Serpentine Fen (Surrey), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Sapperton Landing (New Westminster)
Weather: Mostly sunny, very windy 12-14°C
Crescent Beach/Blackie Spit
We headed off under a dreary gray sky (I actually changed out of my shorts to long pants), but by the time we got to our first destination, Crescent Beach, the sun was out. I didn’t regret changing, though, as it was quite windy (gusts up to 37 km/hour), and it was keenly felt right on the ocean.
However, we were rewarded with a somewhat rare sighting of a black-bellied plover, walking along the shore by itself, in its full mating colours. It was a bit far off, but still nice to see. We also saw various killdeer, but my photos of them were thwarted by a combination of foliage and distance. Or maybe a killdeer kurse.
I had better luck shooting some gulls, getting probably the best in-flight shots I’ve taken. There was also a group of herons that came swooping in over the area near the pump house, and I got my best-ever shots of herons in the air. None of them were pooping, though. You can’t have everything.
We wrapped up and headed to destination #2: Serpentine Fen.
Serpentine Fen
Yet another heron flew in over the river mere moments after we arrived. Having seen very few herons recently, herons were all over the place today.
We also saw an eagle perched on the roof of the first viewing tower, but it took off before we could get closer, alas. Nearby in the river, a goose was sitting on a nest on a little island, looking strangely serene. Close by in the water were another goose and a heron. For a time it seemed like there might be goose/heron drama, but the heron wandered away.
We saw some shovellers in the ponds here, too, so maybe this is their secret “migration” spot.
The second viewing tower had a hole in the floor big enough to slip a foot through:
I did not linger long in the second viewing tower.
The third tower never presents much of a view, but if you climb one tower, you gotta climb them all, them’s the rules.
Nic was taunted by a few marsh wrens as we neared the end, but decent photos of them were not in the cards (or the marsh) today.
With the weather warming up slightly, we moved on to Piper Spit.
Piper Spit
As it’s a holiday weekend, there were a fair number of people at the pier, but it wasn’t too bad. We noted the absence of two recent regulars: Northern pintails and coots. The absence of any potential coot drama just feels wrong. The geese made no attempt to pick up the slack, perhaps due to the copious amount of seed everywhere. Too much, really.
I saw and shot my first brown-headed cowbird of the season, but it was in some bushes, which made getting good shots impossible, short of having a convenient chainsaw, which would probably spook the birds and every other living thing in a 100-meter radius (including myself, I should never operate a chainsaw).
Still, we got shots of geese wearing leaves and seed, ducks wearing petals, and pigeons snoozing in the sun.
Sapperton Landing
After arriving back in New Westminster, I offered up Sapperton Landing as our last stop for the day. It doesn’t always yield a lot of birbs, but has nice scenery as a backup. We did see a song sparrow and an Anna’s hummingbird, along with assorted waterfowl (none very close, as is often the case here). The replacement Pattullo Bridge is coming along and unlike birds, there’s never any risk of motion blur in shooting it. Several of the scenery shots I took here were strangely crooked, even by my usual standards.
Overall, a nice variety of locales, some rarely-seen birds, some darn good shots by both of us, and sunny skies, even if the windchill meant it felt like single digits of much of the day.
The Shots
Theoretically possible
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Barn swallow (first time this season)
- Black-capped chickadee
- Brown-headed cowbird
- European starling
- Golden-crowned kinglet (heard)
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Marsh wren
- Northern flicker
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Tree swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American wigeon
- Black-bellied plover
- Bufflehead
- Canada goose
- Double-crested cormorant
- Gadwall
- Great blue heron
- Greater yellowlegs
- Green-winged teal
- Hooded merganser
- Killdeer
- Mallard
- Northern shoveller
- Sandhill crane
- Scaup
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Assorted gulls
- Rock pigeon
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
Non-birds:
- Fleeting squirrels
- Various bugs and bees
Spring flowers
Like the title says. Photos shot on my iPhone 12 on a pleasantly warm mid-April afternoon.
The last one I had to adjust the vibrance down because the camera on my phone starts shrieking in horror when it sees red, which is apparently a common phenomenon, as reds tend to oversaturate the sensor on the camera. The fix is one of those very obvious things: reduce the red in the photograph (or reduce the vibrancy, which achieves mostly the same thing).
Flowers, April 9, 2025
My iPhone 12 apparently couldn’t handle these flowers, so I had to adjust the vibrancy down to get it closer to what a human eye would see:
And then the phone, with no horizon line for reference, rotated this photo from its landscape orientation to portrait, so I had to set it back, then tamp down the ultrabright white of the petals. At least doing these things makes me feel I’m contributing to the photography process, beyond just aiming the camera lens at something.
Birding, April 5, 2025: Birbs Behind Branches
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, some sun, 11-16°C
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
The weather was downright pleasant today. Nic wore shorts! I did not. Maybe next time the weather is nice.
We got to Reifel early and given the weather, it was pretty busy. Among the many people was local bird photographer Liron Gertsman, who I recognized as he and his groupies/friends walked past up and went to the top of the viewing tower. I spotted him due to his adorable baby beard. He probably won several awards while at the top of the tower for photography, these things just seem to happen to him.
Meanwhile, on the ground, we saw a good mix of birds. The shoveller numbers seem to be thinning, but we encountered many a YARG (Yet Another Random Goose) as they were scattered all over the place.
The tree swallows are back, looking like shiny little penguins and setting up home in assorted bird boxes. Marsh wrens were singing their little hearts out and a few of them appeared long enough for us to get some decent shots. The even harder-to-shoot golden-crowned kinglets were also flitting about and amazingly, several stopped long enough to make up for the hundred or so blurry or not-quite-there shots. It’s always nice to be reviewing your photos and encounter a good shot only a few photos in.
We saw two Sandhill cranes, though they were apart–one adult and one rather vocal juvenile. I wonder why the family is split up.
The drama this time came courtesy of a cantankerous coot, who took umbrage to a duck, stretched up to full height (and looking very chicken-like) and doing a kind of karate kick with one of its impressively freaky feet to a nearby mallard. It ended after that, but yeah, don’t mess with coots, I guess.
The geese were relatively well-behaved, and all of the ducks gave us good pose.
Burnaby Lake
We weren’t at Burnaby Lake for too long for reasons, but the main objective–to find recently-sighted mountain bluebirds–eluded us. Instead, we came across a large murder of geese (that’s what I’m calling them) on the athletic field, except, upon closer inspection with both eyes and ears, these were not Canada geese, but the smaller and honk-free Cackling geese. We’d never seen a large group of them before. They’re kind of adorable with their short necks and stubbier beaks. And they don’t honk, they kind of peep-honk (it doesn’t sound like cackling to me).
There were chickadees here, too, but they were one of the birbs I failed to get any really good shots of today, alas. It was a fine outing otherwise.
The Shots
Theoretically possible
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Black-capped chickadee
- Dark-eyed Junco
- European starling
- Golden-crowned kinglet
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- House sparrow
- Marsh wren
- Red-winged blackbird
- Rufous hummingbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- Tree swallow
- White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American coot
- American wigeon
- Bufflehead
- Cackling goose
- Canada goose
- Gadwall
- Great blue heron
- Green-winged teal
- Hooded merganser
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Northern shoveller
- Ring-necked duck
- Sandhill crane
- Scaup
- White-fronted goose
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Assorted gulls
- A rock pigeon
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
- Northern harrier (maybe?)
Non-birds:
- Turtles on a log
- One chonky black squirrel
A few photos from around here, April 4, 2025
A bunch of buttercups:
Brunette River, early spring look:
Perspective on a hydrant
As seen from slightly above.
Birding, March 22, 2025: Some bunny is better than no bunny
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, some sun, 9°C
Piper spit
Today’s trek was a bit shorter than usual due to a late start and me not feeling entirely skookum in the morning. I walked to Burnaby Lake, and we then walked from Cariboo Dam to Piper spit and to our delight, there were birbs on the way, specifically black-capped chickadees and plenty of ’em. We also saw some towhees, as well as various sparrows, which was a lot more than the last trip here.
We also saw the titular bunny, but it didn’t stay around long, due to a couple of people walking close by it. I got several lousy shots, though! (I did better with the chickadees.)
In another sign of spring, skunk cabbage is starting to pop up in the marshy spots alongside the trails. It isn’t quite to the point where it earns its name, but that will happen soon™.
At the spit, the better-than-forecast weather meant there were a fair number of people, but it was fine. The people were much better behaved than the waterfowl, who were rather nippy with each other. Several geese went full-on berserk. Spring fever, perhaps.
And I almost got a decent shot of a gull in flight. Almost. Maybe I’ll just focus on them for a bit one time and adjust settings to better capture them in the air.
I did get more good shots of some crows. Yeah, they’re just crows, but in the right light (which I got today) you can see a ton of detail in their feathers, rather than it all just being a spooky black blur. And I enjoy taking shots of “ordinary” birds, always hoping to catch them doing something weird.
In all, it was a fine outing, even if it was a bit more compact than usual. The only thing I really missed was getting a shot of a squirrel being adorable. Maybe next time, when I show up completely covered in nuts.
Side note: Efforts to revive my old one have failed, so I am tottes looking for a replacement now. I did discover the camera still shoots and records video, though, so I could still use it to become a world-famous vlogger.
The Shots
Theoretically possible
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Black-capped chickadee
- Bufflehead
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Fox sparrow
- Golden-crowned sparrow
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American coot
- Bufflehead
- Canada goose
- Green-winged teal
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Sandhill crane
- Scaup
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Assorted gulls
- Rock pigeon
Raptors:
- None!
Non-birds:
- A bunny (that didn’t stick around long)!
The first day of spring, 2025 edition
It’s the first day of spring!
The weather is a bit cool, with clouds and a little sun occasionally poking through. It will probably shower at some point. Such is March. (Edit: It started raining before I finished making this post.)
But I went for a walk and touched trees. Here are a few photos.
Beware of Park
Seriously, who would even go through the gate after reading this?
Side note: I have never seen anyone inside this alleged park.
Other side note: This is a weird piece of vacant land right next to the Lougheed SkyTrain station, which you can see in the right edge of the photo.
Birding, March 16, 2025: Ducks don’t care
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Party sunny, some showers, bonus hail, 7°C
Piper spit
With a narrow window of possibly decent weather, we decided to do a quick afternoon of birding at Piper Spit and take our chances. The weather held for the most part, with the sun poking out at times, though we did get the occasional and rather brief cloudburst (literally, ten seconds of rain, then it would stop). As we crossed over the dam upon exiting, it got fun with hail as well.
But despite the lack of song birds (I managed to catch all of one song sparrow), the waterfowl were still out in force, with the lake level higher and the land mass east of the pier temporarily reduced to two small islands, which the crows and gulls seemed to be fighting over. The shorebirds were gone, departed to other shallows.
Even the blackbirds seemed to be mostly hidden, with bunches chattering in the trees, but mostly out of sight.
The usual gang were out in abundance, though a lot were acting a bit snippy, with lots of tail biting and such (hence the title, because ducks don’t care about you if you’re in their section of the lake). Several geese were acting berserk, which is almost comforting in these troubling times.
It was Sunday, so the number of people shouldn’t have been a surprise, but still, it surprised me. Most started clearing out mid-afternoon when it seemed clear (ho ho) that the weather was shifting.
And we got treated to a Douglas squirrel being adorable, so in the end it was fine overall.
Tlahutum Regional Park
We skipped the community garden and a glance later confirmed ponds a-plenty throughout, so it would not have been easy to navigate without getting into the muck. Plus, the flowerbeds are still too fallow to be attracting birbs.
The waterways along the trails did yield a few species we didn’t see at Piper Spit, namely some gadwalls and, somewhat unusually (for us), a pair of grebes.
It was rather brisk, though. Every shot I took looks cold. The bridge over the Coquitlam River had shiny new planks, though. Well, they weren’t shiny, because they’re wood, but they had that fresh wood look to them.
In all, a shortish trip to Tlahutum, but not a bad one. The weather was again a bit erratic, starting out quite decent (the rains in Burnaby missed the area) but turning dark ‘n moody as the afternoon progressed. Still, we mostly dodged the rain again.
Overall, not bad for a truncated outing, but I’m looking forward to it being a bit greener, a bit warmer and a bit drier.
The Shots
Theoretically possible
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Black-capped chickadee
- Dark-eyed Junco (I saw some en route to Burnaby Lake, so I’m counting them)
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee (heard, not seen)
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American coot
- Bufflehead
- Canada goose
- Gadwall
- Green-winged teal
- Kingfisher
- Mallard
- Northern pintail
- Pied-billed grebe
- Scaup
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Assorted gulls
- Rock pigeon
Raptors:
- None!
Non-birds:
- A slightly chonky Douglas squirrel