Birding, May 11, 2025: Nature in the face

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Partly sunny, 15-16°C

This was the second outing with my Canon EOS R7 and this time I turned on subject detection and cleverly set it to Animal (rather than People or Vehicle). It actually worked quite well, and didn’t prove a hindrance when taking the occasional non-animal shots, too.

Maplewood Flats

It is very green in the forest.

It had been a while since I’d been to Maplewood Flats, but alas, there were not many birbs about and the few that were proved elusive.

However, we did see our first official ducklings of the season! We also saw a gull trying to handle a crab it had acquired along the shoreline, another gull proudly flying off with a rather large bivalve of some sort clenched in its bill, plus a few herons in the distance and a cormorant, also way off, drying off. It didn’t help that the tide was very low, so the effective shore was way out there.

I also took photos of a dog on the beach, for lack of other subjects. It was a nice dog.

The scenery was very lush and pretty, though, which is why this post is titled as it is.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Nic risking his life to shoot goslings, just west of Cariboo Dam.

The land mass is slowly expanding again, but the list of birds is not. All winter migrants have left and other than a few darting swallows, the only spring arrivals present were the cowbirds. The female cowbirds are quite pretty, though, even if they are nest interlopers.

The geese had goslings all over, still looking adorable, but no sign of duckings here–yet. Perhaps because of the mini-geese, the adult geese were strangely well-behaved.

The sandhill crane was here yet again, still standing in its preferred spot. This is the most persistent I’ve seen one here. Maybe it has a mate nesting somewhere out of sight. And for some reason the large fish in the lake were much more conspicuous this time. They have whiskers, so I’m assuming they are some kind of catfish, but I am not a fishtician (fake edit: I checked and they are brown bullheads, which are indeed catfish, so I am now an amateur fishtician).

Tlahutum Regional Park

The pond where we saw a belted kingfisher. It sat on one of the far pilings so we could test our telephoto lenses.

We ventured left for a change of pace, hoping that going the opposite of our usual path would bring us more green herons or a bird of paradise or something.

What we got was mostly crows. But also some hummingbirds, and a goldfinch, which we both managed to catch shots of before it vanished.

The large, restored pond where we turned around and headed back, also gave us a kingfisher, but she opted to sit up very high and rather far away, instead of perching on the fence right in front of us. There was also a single mallard, who may have been lost. Or a recluse.

This is also where I took a photo of a red ant trundling along the side of the trail, which is not remarkable, but when looking at the photo later, I realized I could see a tiny reflection of myself in its shiny abdomen. Weird!

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
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Goldfinch
  • Pacific wren (heard)
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted kingfisher
  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Various bugs and bees
  • Black squirrels

Run 922: Mid-morning motoring

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: cool and calm.

I changed things up today:

  • Started in the morning
  • Wore new socks!
  • Wore new running shorts!
  • Uh, that’s about it.

Admittedly, the new socks aren’t particularly noticeable. The new shorts are the latest iteration of the Nike Stride Dri-Fit running shorts I wear. They have changed again since I last bought a pair:

  • They now offer a compression short liner, which I did not opt for. I do not want to wear tight-fitting shorts under my loose-fitting shorts.
  • The zippered pocket is now in the back (it used to be in the back before, so this is actually a regression to how it used to be placed).
  • It has little reflective lines on the back, near the bottom, for improved visibility.
  • The drawstring now hangs out the front instead of being tucked inside. I do not like this and have already yanked the drawstring back inside the shorts.

Other than these changes, they’re pretty much running shorts. The zipper feels much smoother and the fabric has that nice new fabric feel to it. Maybe they made me faster, because I shaved five seconds off my previous pace.

The big change, of course, was going out in the morning. It was cooler and I started out (and finished) much stronger than the previous run, with no stops along the way and no individual km over the six-minute mark.

A tendon on my right knee feel a little hinky to start, but it settled quickly and is not an issue now. I otherwise experienced no problems. For a brief time, I even felt kind of good!

My BPM was up to 155, but it maxed out at 160, so I’m not concerned. I definitely felt I was putting in more effort.

Mini poopmonsters are all over the place now, though they were not actually on the trail itself today, which is handy for avoiding getting chased/hissed at by an adult.

Also, the bears are apparently back:

Anyway, a nice way to round out the week.

Still Creek, looking east. Very still, much creek.

Stats:

Run 922
Average pace: 5:51/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:26 a.m.
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 29:24
Weather: Sun and high cloud
Temp: 14-15°C
Humidity: 56-54%
Wind: light
BPM: 155 (max. 160)
Weight: 172.4
Total distance to date: 6,445 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (40/62/102)

Music: Electric Light Orchestra, Time

Diablo 3’s Adventure mode is creepy in a weird way

How, you may ask?

When you go into the inn in New Tristram, there’s no one there, yet it looks like it’s supposed to be occupied. Leah, who has been defeated as Nu-Diablo (spoiler) has her room still intact, as if she’ll pop in any minute.

I don’t know why, but this “take out the NPCs and leave everything else as if they were there” is something I find unsettling, like you’re visiting a memory of the place instead of the actual place.

And I say this while playing a necromancer with an army of skeletons.

Run 921: Mid-afternoon malaise

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Not seen: A breeze which was not particularly refreshing.

This was a hard run. Why? Probably because it was warmer, windier and I have felt weird and lazy all day.

After sleeping in, which is uncharacteristic of me, I saw it was showering a little and thought to maybe wait a bit before running. Then I debated running at all. Finally, I changed, started my warm-up stretches and my right ankle began to hurt like I’d been abusing it (I have not, to my knowledge). I sat back down and pondered. Eventually, I tried again, completed the stretches, and headed out, with vague plans. By this time it was mid-afternoon, a time I generally try to avoid running.

I initially thought I’d do a brisk 7-8 km walk, then changed that to walking to the end of the river trail and doing a 5K run from there, before eventually settling on going to the lake and running a short loop.

For reasons, I started exactly at the 10K marker:

I believe the goose image is a warning.

My first km, which includes a prominent uphill section near the start, was a bit sluggish, but I pressed on and found myself pausing briefly, like I was running too fast or too hard. After 10–15 seconds, I resumed. I ended up doing this four times, though once was at the Nature House, in order to get a drink from the fountain, as the breeze was resulting in a bit of Dry Mouth Syndrome.

To my surprise, my second km came in under six minutes, as did each of the rest. That said, I was a second slower than the last run (rounding error) and despite BPM being a bit lower at 151, it felt like a lot more effort. I experienced some mild cramping, though I don’t think it affected my pace, just my will to actually keep running. But I did finish the 5K, so I’ll take it!

The start of the run also saw me carefully navigating through a large group of geese and goslings who were making a section of the trail their own. Nothing happened, though a few goslings scooted a bit and one adult goose bobbed its head in that threatening way at me.

In all, I’d like to say lesson learned, but I guess we’ll have to wait till Friday to find out!

The area near the dam was full of mini-poopmonsters.

Stats:

Run 921
Average pace: 5:56/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 2:33 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:53
Weather: Sun and cloud mix
Temp: 18°C
Humidity: 63%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 151
Weight: 171.9
Total distance to date: 6,440 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (35/49/84)

Music: R.E.M., Lifes Rich Pageant

May 3, 2025 birding shots added

Yes, getting a new camera finally prompted me to go through my photos and actually post some of them, specifically some of the better shots I got while out birding on May 3, 20251I know it looks weird to write “2025” when it’s only three days later, but it’s handy when looking back at posts months or years later.

I need to figure out focus on my Canon EPS R7, as a lot of shots were a bit blurry. I fixed a few of the ones in this gallery, but most are presented as-is, with minor work done on lighting.

Run 920: Awkward water

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Calm and semi-clear.

No, I did not pee in any unauthorized manner during the run.

Rather, the title refers to my li’l SPI-Belt water bottle, which has a clip and clips to the belt. Although I’m not using an official SPI-Belt now, it works the same on my current belt. I filled the bottle up, after experiencing Dry Mouth Syndrome (DMS) on my last run and seeing humidity would be about the same on today’s run.

It turned out I never needed the water, because the real reason my mouth got so dry last time was not the humidity, but rather the wind. It was much calmer this morning (I also started about half an hour earlier), which solved the problem entirely.

After about two km, though, the bottle was consistently tugging down on the belt, which annoyed me enough to pause the run, remove the clip, put the clip in a pocket and just carry the bottle in a hand, switching periodically from one hand to the other for the rest of the run. It was a bit awkward, but much less so than the bottle dragging on the belt.

I will have to re-think my hydration needs for future runs.

Meanwhile, the run itself was fine. I achieved my main goal of coming in under six minutes, with a pace of 5:55/km. I did dip to 6:01/km for laps 3 and 4, but picked up the pace to finish and also had a good start at 5:46/km. No issues otherwise.

The trail was not quite as busy as the previous few runs, maybe due to the slightly earlier start. I did encounter a tractor that was mowing. The driver stopped and signalled for me to pass, which was a bit awkward, as the vehicle covered the entire width of the trail, forcing me into the ditch. Fortunately, this part of the ditch was grassy, not swampy. I also had to doge a guy weed whacking near one of the footbridges. That was easier, as he was the one off the trail.

Other than that, the weather was a nice mix of sun and cloud, never getting too hot or cool. I didn’t wear sunblock, but I sense I will need to start slapping it on soon to avoid burning.

Still Creek, post-run, looking semi-still.

Stats:

Run 920
Average pace: 5:55/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:34 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:40
Weather: Sun and some high cloud
Temp: 14-15°C
Humidity: 54-55%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 172.1
Total distance to date: 6,435 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (30/41/71)

Music: Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah

A field of daisies, May 4, 2025

I still don’t know what the box on the pole is. It was put up sometime last year. Maybe it’s for very thin birds.

This is in Lower Hume Park and the daisies will likely be gone the next time they mow the field, but it looks pretty right now.

Flame mail: A drawing

This started as another quick “spooky dark figure” sketch, but I ended up being dissatisfied with nearly every aspect of it, so this is not a quick sketch, it’s about ten different quick sketches all layered on top of each other until I figured I was ready to move on, which I probably should have done about eight layers earlier.

Enjoy!

This was done on my iPad Pro with Procreate. The ground appears much darker on my computer monitors than it does on the iPad. I’m inclined to think the iPad version is closer to correct, so I’m not going to tinker with it again.

Probably.

Birding, May 3, 2025: New camera, intense goose drama and no baby dinosaurs

Where: Rocky Point Park, Old Orchard Park, Inlet Park, Old Mill Site Park (Port Moody), Como Lake (Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Partly sunny, 14-15°C

Rocky Point Park, etc.

Just slightly to the left of this shot were some killdeer, bobbing and pooping.

Our first stop was the heron rookery near Rocky Point Park, where we were hoping to see baby dinosaurs, otherwise known as nesting young herons. Alas, it seems that, unlike last year when we arrived too late (June 21), this time we may have arrived too early, as all we saw were just adults and usually just their backs or butts. We will try to find the sweet spot in the middle.

We did get to see some more herons close-up, and some killdeer, plus we hadn’t been since last summer, so it was still a pleasant trip.

Como Lake

Como Lake, mostly bird-free.

We next made a brief stop at Como Lake, where we saw our first baby geese. There were two groups, one small, one slightly larger. The parents were being very vigilant and weird.

This was also the first time I’d been using my new camera, a Canon EOS R7, and I was still getting used to it and also having 400 mm of reach on telephoto instead of 250. What I’m saying is a lot of my shots of the baby geese were fuzzy, but not because baby geese are fuzzy, I just had problems focusing on them. But so did Nic, and his camera isn’t new at all! Perhaps I am cursing him. Or he just forgot to change a setting on his camera. Or baby geese are now impossible to photograph because that’s just the random way nature works.

Having seen the babbies, we moved on to destination #3.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The Big Pond™ at Tlahutum, where the lily pad empire is expanding.

Destination #3 was Tlahutum, where, strangely, we saw another pair of cinnamon teals. After never seeing them before, I have now seen them two weeks in a row. Maybe it’s the same pair. Maybe they’re following me. Maybe we’re on the cusp of a cinnamon teal invasion. Or maybe it’s none of these things. We also saw some gadwalls, mallards, blackbirds and in the community gardens, tree swallows and white-crowned sparrows. There were others, like common yellowthroats, but they stayed out of view, all the better to taunt and torment Nic.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Rippled water and dramatic clouds over Burnaby Lake.

Our final stop, as it often is, was Piper Spit. It was a little crowded and we ended up having to wait for two long trains on our way out (one by foot, one by car), but we saw some bonkers goose drama involving three geese and a nest with eggs. The sandhill crane was there yet again, having apparently taken up semi-permanent residence. The relatively high water level meant no shorebirds, though, so boo on that.

This was also the first time all the winter migrants were gone. No coots, pintails or scaups. The coots, at least, may be back as soon as August.

I did get a smattering of fine shots, but problems with focus suggest I need to spend more time experimenting and getting used to the camera, which is fine and normal. Already, I can say the fit and feel is much nicer than the M50, and the reach of the new telephoto lens (which works without an adapter, yay) is almost too good, as I had to fairly regularly pull back on my shots (the lens can also be locked to certain focal lengths if I want to go that route, too).

The Shots

Taken on 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 (heard)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Common yellowthroat (heard)
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Spotted towhee (heard)
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Cinnamon teal
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Various bugs and bees