Birding, October 4, 2025: Coots canoodling

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Clouds and sun, 17°C

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Blue sky and streaky clouds at Piper Spit.

We had an abbreviated day of birding because Nic was occupied with escaping a gay haunted house earlier. I like to think the ghost of Paul Lynde was constantly sassing the people trying to get out.

The later start, combined with fall, meant golden light and plenty of it!

We had barely (bearly?) left the Avalon parking lot before a woman advised us of a mother bear and two cubs near the equestrian area, which is…right next to the parking lot. Fortunately, we were heading the other way and our visit remained bear-free.

At the dam, we observed a heron that was acting a bit odd, exchanging its usual statue-like state for twisting its head and looking up, as if beseeching the sky to rain little fishies on it, or something.

Along the trail, we saw some towhees and song sparrows, and as a special bonus, some ruby-crowned kinglets. I got several terrible shots, but if you’re a bird expert, you might be able to ID them as ruby-crowned kinglets.

Alas, we did not see any new migrants at Piper spit, but the coot population has grown. We saw coot conflict, coot love and coots just being coots. A lone Northern shoveller and hooded merganser were in attendance, and the dowitchers actually came closer, which was nice of them. We saw a kingfisher as it was flying (way) off, and Nic has several blurry photos to prove it! The mallards have now mostly caught up to the wood ducks, looking shiny and iridescent again.

Despite a lot of shadow and only intermittent sun, it was a pleasant return to the lake.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Golden hour arriving at the Coquitlam River.

Golden hour was seriously kicking in by the time we left Tlahutum, only about 15 minutes before sunset. We saw some gadwalls, mallard, crows and a very golden golden-crowned sparrow sitting by itself in a lone tree. I spotted a rare sight–a Northern harrier in plain view, sitting on a post by a canal. Just as I started to focus on what would have been a very spiffy shot, it took off, but I did get a few decent shots of it in low flight.

The main pond is showing distinct signs of fall, with the lily pads in full retreat. The ducks there still tend to gather at the far side, though.

As we left, we wrapped up with our first sunset-adjacent shots of the year, which will be increasingly easier to do over the next few months. Hooray for short days1Note: I do not actually like short days.

Our next birding may be back at Reifel, where we will hopefully see some of these so-far shy migrants. If not, I’ll write a stern letter to The Birb Migratory Committee to complain.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

A few shots:

I am coot.
My best shot of the Northern harrier.
Golden hour arrives at Tlahutum.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned kinglet
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Golden-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • A few pollinators
  • A whole bunch of caterpillars

Early October clouds

Ominous!

The weather has been pretty typical of early October so far, though. Summer was also surprisingly normal, not too hot or humid. I do wonder if we’re being set up for an extended period of The Rains or lots of snow (boo, hiss). For now, though…it’s fine!

Image tweaked in Luminar to make it a little more dramatic. No clouds were harmed in the process.

Run 972: Skip the sides

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: The return of blue skies.

Hooray, no rain!

This past summer has been rather bear-y at the lake, and I have directly encountered bears twice, with the most recent being just a week ago. With these bear encounters in mind, I decided to make a change with today’s run.

I opted to run counter-clockwise, but instead of continuing around the lake to head back home, as I normally would, I turned and headed back the way I ran. This was partly because the bears I’ve seen were on the south shore (while they can be anywhere, playing the odds seems like a good starting point), but mainly because the north side offers a lot more clear lines of sight, is closer to the rail lines and generally less bear-friendly, as such things go.

As part of this, I also opted to skip all three of the usual side trails. The main effect here is that I had to run a little closer to the actual 5K marker to finish the run. Sometimes change is good!

As for the run itself, the cooler conditions and slightly reduced humidity kept sweating to a minimum and the sun meant a few more people were out, but it was still pretty light, traffic-wise. I saw a decent number of fellow joggers, though. I think we are past the topless jogger season now, though you never know. Some guy is bound to think his abs are just too sexy to hide, regardless of the temperature.

Weirdly, I turned in my best pace in quite some time–5:37/km (the final lap was 5:21), with a BPM of 149. Very nice, and with no issues at all to report. I am pleased. I have no idea if skipping the side trails had any effect.

Also, I earned a new Garmin badge. I guess it’s time for new shoes!

Set to be replaced after 500 km, which I passed today.

Still Creek, post-run. Still mostly green, for now.

Stats:

Run 972
Average pace: 5:37/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:08 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:17
Weather: Mostly sunny
Temp: 13-14°C
Humidity: 83-82%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 164.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,690 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (285/630/915)

Music: R.E.M. (shuffle mode)

Run 971: Rain as karma

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: The Rains, again.

The title is in reference to it staying dry until I got to the lake and started my run, at which point it began to pour, then it stopped after my run ended. To be fair, the last part of the run it had eased up to drizzle.

Overall, apart from location, this run featured a similar pace and conditions to Monday’s, except I had no issues at all, yay, other than yet another run in the rain, boo.

I was originally going to run the river trail again, but it wasn’t raining, so I kept going to the lake. While it did rain steady for the majority of the run, it wasn’t as heavy as Monday and I only wore a t-shirt for the top layer, which was fine at 14C (felt like 11C per the phone). There weren’t many people out on the trail, as expected, and a few were definitely caught by the rain when it started.

I wasn’t really expecting to be so close to Monday’s pace, so that was a nice surprise. I don’t mind being a bit slower if it means not running in the rain, though. That’s a hint, Mother Nature.

View looking west, post-run: A pause in the showers.

Stats:

Run 971
Average pace: 5:42/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 10:49 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:39
Weather: Rain, some drizzle late
Temp: 14°C
Humidity: 87-85%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 162.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,685 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (280/618/898)

Music: Shuffle mode

Am I in the wrong universe?

Disclaimer: I don’t really believe what I’m about to say below, but it feels like such a plausible explanation that I want to believe it.

The idea of alternate or parallel dimensions is one that has been mined extensively in fiction and has just enough scientific validity to give such stories a patina of believability, even if most don’t really think there’s some version of the world where Nazis won WWII or hyper-intelligent cats displaced humans.

What makes me entertain the notion–even as a mere thought experiment–that I should actually be two parallel dimensions over and not this one?

Logic.

I know humans are emotional and we are often very bad at keeping a handle on our emotions (look at what men with control over weapons do), but we are still very much capable of engaging in logical, rational thought. And yet, it feels to me as if more people now are abandoning logic for emotion or just…nothing. And they either don’t see this, or they don’t care. It drives me batty.

I could list examples I’ve encountered, both trivial and otherwise, but they all point to the same thing: Why is this happening? Why does it often feel like I’m the only “sane” person in any given group? And the idea that I somehow slipped from my reality into another one that is close, but not quite the same, just feels so right.

Maybe I’m too fussy, maybe I expect too much. Maybe I’ve seen too many TV shows or movies where giant-brained aliens are so much smarter and clever than us.

Intellectually, I know the idea that I’m in the wrong universe is far-fetched and a way to derive comfort from a world I seem ill-suited for at the moment. I’ll do my best to hold onto logical and rational thought and hope others will do the same.

But if I wake up tomorrow and have a goatee, pay for things in moonbucks and others around me behave logically, I won’t complain1.

  1. None of this is to say emotion is bad, but when making decisions, you have to understand when it makes sense to let emotion guide you and when logic/rational thought should be used, and it feels like a lot of people I encounter now don’t understand this or consciously work against using logic for whatever reason. ↩︎

Weight loss report, September 2025: Down 2.1 pounds

Except for muscle mass, which has dipped slightly, all the stats are improved this month, yay, with my weight dropping a nice 2.1 pounds. I was down to as low as 162.9 at one point, but alas, ran out of days before I could get back there.

September was easily one of my most active months of the year, with only a few runs missed, and plenty of walking. I think the exercise helped, if not in terms of actually losing weight, then perhaps in terms of keeping from gaining. I did snack a bit (including cursed Pop Tarts) but never strayed far off the track when it came to the occasional indulgence.

I feel like I am in a good position to finally get below 160 pounds in October, and officially be less than 10 pounds from my intended goal of 150. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, no donuts!

(I did have one donut this year.)

Stats:

January 1, 2025: 166.8 pounds

Current: 163.4 pounds
Year to date: Down 3.4 pounds

September 1: 165.5 pounds
September 30: 163.4 pounds (down 2.1 pounds)

Body fat: 
September 1: 24.9%
September 30: 24.6% (down 0.3%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
September 1: 29.5 kg
September 30: 29.3 kg (down 0.2 kg)

BMI:
September 1: 23.7
September 30: 23.4 (down 0.3)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds