Blakeburn Lagoons Park

Birding, August 30, 2025: Merry Cootmas!

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 21-24°C

Maplewood Flats

View looking east over Burrard Inlet.

It was birding all over the place today. The only thing missing was the birbs. We heard a few and eventually saw a few, but it was mostly waterfowl and the like as songbirds seemed to prefer hiding away on what was a very humid day.

We began at Maplewood Flats and saw and heard a few chickadees, spotted some cormorants offshore, and a few gulls, but a promised sandpiper remained elusive. The scenery is always nice here, though.

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the two lagoons. They were replete with ducks, some herons (none green) and a single goose.

We went to Blakeburn Lagoons to search for the elusive green heron. It remained elusive. We did see several great blue herons as compensation.

Otherwise, it was ducks and plenty of them, along with a solitary Canada goose, the only one we saw today (I think).

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, looking rather full on this day.

There were ducks in the main pond at Tlahutum and a couple of bald eagles flapping high overhead, but very few other birds were making themselves visible, so we made do with shooting flowers and the many pollinators tending to them.

Piper Spit

Oddly, I forgot to take any scenery shots at Piper Spot, so enjoy this wood duck stretching instead.

The land mass at Piper Spit is not only back, but fairly massive. A few small shorebirds were darting about on it, but most birds preferred the water. In the water, we saw the usual mix of mallards and wood ducks, along with a pair of hooded mergansers, but no geese. And lo, there was the first coot of the season, swimming about by itself and looking glorious and weird. It’s as much a sign of fall coming as the proliferation of pumpkin spice in everything from muffins to school supplies (probably).

Several people were stupidly feeding the birds again. Having recently seen bears up close and personal here, I feel comfortable in calling their actions stupid.

But we also saw a song sparrow. Just one, but it stopped hopping just long enough to let us get some decent shots. A few wood duck males were also back to near-full, resplendent mullets.

In all, a fine day of birding, even with the scarcity of birbs.

The Shots

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

A few shots:

A bee loving its job.
The first coot of the season. Coming soon: more coots and coot drama.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Bewick’s wren (heard, not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Purple martin
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee (heard, not seen)
  • White-crowned sparrow (heard, not seen)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (one!)
  • Canada goose
  • Common merganser
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Great blue heron
  • Hooded merganser
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Pied-billed grebe
  • Western sandpiper
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Various gulls

Raptors:

  • Red-tailed hawk

Non-birds:

  • Copious pollinators
  • Raccoons (actually after birding, and in my neighbourhood. I think they were having a meeting over lunch)

Birding, August 9, 2025: Bear-y trees and catchers of the fly

Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Traboulay PoCo Trail/DeBoville Slough (Port Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 25°C

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River.

For a change of pace, we started at Tlahutum and Nic managed to get a shot of what might be a Calliope hummingbird. Merlin was not sure and neither are we.

Despite being morning, it was already fairly warm, but also kind of muggy. This would be the unofficial theme of the day. Also the official theme of the day.

The other official theme of the day was yet to come–more on that below.

We actually did not see a lot of birds at Tlahutum, but we shot many pollinators, giant, scary sunflowers and the scenery.

The highlights were a pair of raptors, an osprey that generously flew right overhead, and a turkey vulture, which is a bird I rarely see. It did not fly directly overhead, but if you zoom in, you can clearly see its turkey-like head.

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the Blakeburn Lagoons, possibly with a green heron hiding somewhere in it.

We went to Blakeburn because a green heron has been seen there, and we wanted to get award-winning photos of it. We did see it, briefly, flying across a lagoon, never to be seen again. The animal signs at each viewpoint tease a number of species we’ve never seen, though to be fair, most of them are not birds. We consoled ourselves with scenery, some ducks and then headed out again.

Traboulay PoCo Trail/DeBoville Slough

Mountains and fields to the north and west of the Pitt River.

Today we ventured all the way up the trail and hooked a right to the viewing platform at the end overlooking the Pitt River, before heading back.

It was here that we encountered the other official theme of the day: flycatchers, and plenty of them! They were in abundant numbers and often surprisingly close, so we had no issue getting good shots. There were also multiple kingbirds showing themselves, too.

At one point, a goldfinch appeared and briefly landed on tall grass right in front of us–so close that I didn’t have time to focus on it before it thought better of where it was and took off. Alas.

At one point we saw several people, including someone with a VLL1very long lens, all looking off to the side of the trail toward some trees. We approached, wondering what exotic birds had captured their attention. But surprise twist, it was actually a young black bear, well up a tree and looking somewhat unsure of itself, or maybe very sure of itself. I can’t read bear faces well. It was gone by the time we returned, so I assume it was just exploring and having some fun. We also saw a significantly larger back bear, but it was trundling along in a field and was not interested or really close enough to eat tasty humans. Note to future bears: I am not tasty.

We saw more ospreys here, along with a good number of purple martins, so it proved to be a fruitful, if long and sweaty trek. Plus, the scenery is always nice, especially when the jet skis get out of hearing range.

The Shots

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

A sand wasp, to prove I took more than just scenery shots!

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Black-headed grosbeak
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Calliope hummingbird (?)
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Eastern kingbird
  • House finch
  • Purple martin
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Willow flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot (not yet!)
  • Great blue heron
  • Green heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • European starling

Raptors:

  • Osprey
  • Turkey vulture

Non-birds:

  • A small black bear and a very large black bear
  • A fuzzy caterpillar
  • Woodland skippers and cabbage butterflies
  • Copious other pollinators
  • Humans on noisy jet skis

Birding, June 7, 2025: Shoot the bear, shoot the poop

Where: Rocky Point Park (Port Moody), Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Traboulay PoCo Trail (Port Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 20-27°C

Rocky Point

An unusual request at one of the viewing platforms.

Today was expected to get quite warm–and it did. We were very smart and most of our birding today took place on trails with no canopy, because we love the sun.

We started at Rocky Point, where the heron babies are growing up oh-so-fast. They seemed a bit more visible this time, due to being larger and more willing to hang out on the edges of the nests, yearning to escape from the yoke of their parents’ tyranny.

We ventured a bit down the trail, but didn’t see much else, other than a lot of people, because the place was packed. Who knew a warm, sunny Saturday in June would draw people out?

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the two lagoons, with mallards and gadwalls paddling about.

We next moved onto Blakeburn Lagoons Park, which is a fairly compact pair of lagoons reclaimed from an old wastewater site. We got some good views, a bit of goose drama, and Nic felt compelled to shoot some bird poop. One must not question the muse. The muse poops for thee, not me. Or something.

The highlight, strangely, was a butterfly that stopped long enough to allow us to get some very nice shots of it. After a quick trip around the lagoons, we needed more sun, so off we went!

Traboulay PoCo Trail/DeBoville Slough

The DeBoville Slough, wending its way through the wilds of Port Coquitlam.

We’ve been in this area before, but along the southern trail. This time we took the northern, which parallels the slough and eventually leads to the Pitt river, which is where we saw a nesting osprey (neat) and then turned around and headed back. We saw a few birds along the way, too–a robin, a waxwing and a Northern flicker–but most of the views were of the slough, the verdant fields and mountains. And one shirtless jogger.

Although by this point it was getting quite warm, the breeze kept it from getting sticky and awful.

And we also saw a bear, trundling casually through the crops on a field. There was a slough between us and the bear and even though bears can swim, it was not close and seemed pretty mellow. I got a few iffy shots, but it’s definitely bear.

After that, we wrapped up early, as Nic has to help out a theatre full of gay men. As one does.

Although the birds were not out in copious numbers today, the change of scenery was pleasant, as was the weather.

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
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Common yellowthroat (heard)
  • Northern flicker
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Violet-green swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls

Raptors:

  • American osprey
  • Bald eagle
  • A hawk?

Non-birds:

  • Butterflies
  • Dragonflies
  • Other flies
  • A black bear