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!
All shot on my iPhone 12.
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.
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.
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).
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!
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Iona Beach Regional Park, Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 7-8°C
The forecast was better than expected, with it being sunny right from the start. Nice! The start was a bit late due to two things: waiting to suss out the weather in the early morning, and when I got downtown, we found someone had parked in front of the parking garage of Nic’s apartment building, preventing us from leaving. Nic was just about to conclude the call with the people who would come tow the car when a guy came frantically running toward us, waving an arm and apologizing. He got in the car and left immediately.
We proceeded to Iona Beach, which we haven’t been to since June of last year!
The last stretch of road leading to the beach has been repaved, with new bike and pedestrian lanes added, completing the work started with the re-alignment last year of Ferguson Road. There is now full dedicated pedestrian and bike access stretching back to the airport, a huge improvement over what existed before.
We made our way through our usual loop and along the river saw a nice variety of waterfowl, including wigeons, common mergansers, a sunning cormorant and a couple of male buffleheads trying to impress a female. There was also a large congregation of gulls off in the distance. If we squinted our eyes, we could pretend they were snow geese, which we have yet to see this winter.
The main beach had a lot of ex-crabs, even more than usual. Maybe it was Crab Day.
In all, it was nice to be back at Iona Beach. I have no idea why we went over eight months between visits (as a birding duo–Nic has been more recently), but we’ll probably not wait another eight before returning.
Nic has a new phone, a Pixel 10, and Google Maps was being rather odd, constantly telling us to make left turns. But then when it made sense to make a left turn (off Westminster Highway, to the nature house) it instead wanted us to go past it and make an illegal U-turn to get there. WTF, as the kids say.
After arriving, I joked that it would be funny if the bird feeders were empty.
The bird feeders were empty.
The trip wasn’t a complete bust, though, as Nic spotted an immature Red-tailed Hawk sitting up in a nearby tree. That, and an Anna’s Hummingbird that was very high up before mockingly flying away, were the only birds we saw.
Piper Spit was our last stop, with the light starting to turn golden. There were multiple people feeding the birds. I’m usually pretty chill about this, because people gonna people, but I somehow got triggered by a little girl repeatedly running (and screaming) at the ducks while the nearby adults with her just stood there, talking among themselves. I expressed my thoughts using words that could be heard in a generous perimeter, if you know what I mean (no colourful metaphors, though, except maybe a few shared with Nic as we left).
As for the (well-fed) birds, there were most of the usual gang, along with more Buffleheads, who obligingly came up close, allowing for some great shots of their fuzzy, iridescent heads. Perhaps distracted by food, I observed little drama, though one crow had what appeared to be a generous chunk of pastry in its beak that was being coveted by others.
There were a few dowitchers, but they were mostly in shadow by this time of the day. I mostly shot the Buffleheads.
Overall, a pretty good day, with the weather being much nicer than expected. We’ll get back to Reifel eventually.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach (Surrey) and Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 8-10°C
Also known as All the Spits.
We got off to a late start, trying to work around the showers forecast for early and later in the day, so we began with lunch, then headed to Blackie Spit while it continued to shower.
Fortunately, by the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and the sun even cutely tried to come out for a few minutes before giving up. It was a bit breezy, but temperatures continue to be well above normal.
We saw cormorants, loons and buffleheads here, but they were all farther out, which is totally on brand for Blackie Spit. Some herons were a little closer, getting ruffled by the wind and looking displeased at the conditions (or everything, as they do). Several people promised us a kingfisher near the pump house, but all we got was the pump house.
The highlight was probably a pair of red-headed Eurasian wigeons, possibly off-course, but content to hang out with their American brethren.
There were a lot of giant puddles on the trails.
With not a lot of light left on what was already a very dim gray dead, we opted to wrap things up at Piper Spit. Nic girded himself for the inevitable naughty people feeding the birds–and they were there. Bad people, no!
The pier itself was fairly sparse with people, though. Apparently the imminent threat of rain and the wind kept most people off it.
The land mass is still there, which surprised me after the recent deluge, so I assume most of the excess water is being fed through the gates at Cariboo Dam. The land itself was unoccupied, though, and the usual gang of seagulls was absent. The geese were also elsewhere, likely over on the sports fields to the west. Much of the shallows was filled with branches and other debris swept in by recent storms.
We did see dowitchers, but they were in full snorebird mode.
The current from Eagle Creek was unusually strong and a number of ducks were taking advantage, letting it sweep them down and past the pier. A few had to pedal furiously when they chose to return upstream, though.
There seemed to be more coots than before. Everywhere I looked there was a coot. No coot drama, though, which in itself is kind of unnerving.
The highlight here were some buffleheads, in particular a female that was diving and surfacing quite close to the pier, allowing for some good shots, notwithstanding the aforementioned dim, gray conditions.
We wrapped up about 15 minutes before sunset (if there had been sun) and escaped before the rains resumed. In all, not a bad outing, considering the forecast and the possibility of getting a wee bit drenched if the weather had shifted just a little.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Gallery soon™.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Fog and sun, 5-8°C
For the first time in five weeks, the schedule and weather cooperated and we went birding, woo.
Reifel has been closed for a few weeks due to some fairly significant flooding, so we opted to start at Centennial Beach, where things were not quite as expected.
Namely, there was very dense fog, so dense that we could barely see Boundary Bay at all.
Despite the fog, the area turned out to be chock-full of birds today, starting with a juvenile bald eagle chowing down on a snack in a tree right next to the parking lot. There were other eagles perched on various branches and nearby trees, as well. The kid eagle was regularly dropping bits of whatever ex-animal it was eating, which would be kind of a gross thing to land on you if you happened to be walking by underneath.
Golden-crowned Sparrows were in abundance, as were the somewhat more scarce but sexy Fox Sparrows.
The fog rolled back enough for us to see a short ways across the bay and we noticed a large gathering of waterfowl that did not look familiar. Checking later, we confirmed it was a gaggle of Brant Geese–the first time either of us have seen them locally. Neat! Too bad they were so far away.
Closer up were shorebirds, teals and plenty of gulls mixing, mingling and occasionally bathing.
The fog provided a nice spooky backdrop to the scenery and shots of broody herons and the like.
In all, we saw a lot more than II was expecting.
Nic wanted to check out the Richmond Nature House, because you don’t have to find the birds, you just go to the feeders and the challenge is deciding which of the billion juncos to shoot. In addition to the juncos, there were squirrels fattening themselves on seed, along with towhees, finches and a Downy Woodpecker.
One of the hummingbird feeders, clothed in a knit sock to keep the nectar from freezing, saw business from a female Anna’s hummingbird. The hummingbird did not have socks.
Since you don’t need to go anywhere to get shots at the nature house, we got our supply in and headed out for Piper Spit, hoping it would not be foggy there as the light shifted into the golden hour.
And it was not foggy! What it was, was busy. And there were bad people feeding the birds, because apparently nothing short of running around and poking them with a cattle prod will stop some people. And maybe not even that, who knows?
Likely due to the shifting depth of the lake, the dowitchers were much closer to the pier than usual, and seemed unperturbed by us pesky humans. A few were so close I had to pull back on the zoom, which happens approximately never.
The cormorants were not here this time, though, replaced by a lot of crows and gulls. The usual waterfowl were present, and the light presented both opportunities with shadow and reflection, as well as challenges with overexposure. But hey, it was actually sunny!
In all, a much better day of birding than I had expected. I’m probably good for fog for the rest of the year, though.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Gallery soon™.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sun, cloud, late showers, 9°C
The original forecast was The Rains and plenty of them, but a shift toward better weather in the morning prompted us to head out earlyish to a couple spots before the showers arrived.
It was also unseasonably mild, at least until the wind started picking up near the end.
It was sunny at Piper Spit and new signs were out, giving myriad reasons on why feeding wildlife is now permanently banned. It’s not just about keeping the bears away. Check out the chonky squirrel on the sign. I’ve seen that squirrel!
A good luck heron (I have arbitrarily decided that seeing a heron is good luck) was standing in the water, just down from the dam, but we both managed to get grainy, blurry photos, despite it not moving. Not an auspicious start.
Mist on the water provided some nice scenery shots along the trail, though, and a presumed mated pair of geese allowed me to take photos without any hissing.
We took the side trails and it appeared to be feeding time, as a collection of finches, robins, juncos, towhees and more were darting about the trees, snacking on berries. While it proved challenging at times to get shots through all the branches and twigs, I got probably my best directly-from-below shot of a robin ever. Possibly also my only one. We even saw a Stellar’s Jay, though it proved elusive for picture-taking.
At the spit, a few song sparrows were hopping about and the waterfowl were adapting to their new seed-free life (although we later saw someone had left a trail of seeds along a low railing–bad!) The water level seemed higher, which meant the shorebirds were farther away, so no good photo opportunities there. A few cormorants were in the cormorant hangout spot. Mostly, though, it was gulls and pigeons. The gulls were in two large groups, one on the land mass east of the spit and the rest in the shallows adjacent. Many of them were bathing as other birds dozed.
When we got there, the pigeons were lining the railing on either side leading to the end of the pier. The position of the sun meant we needed to walk past them to get the best shots. Would they freak out and fly off? Worse, a pair of guys were on the end of the pier and about to head back. But the pigeons were too cool for school (as the kids say) and remained in place, allowing copious shots of them puffed out, preening and posing.
In the water, the scaups were still here, along with the usual assortment of mallards, wood ducks, teals and others. A few shovellers are sticking around, too, it seems, though they werre snoozing, much like most of the others.
In all, it was a surprisingly good outcome to what had been originally forecast as a very wet morning.
By the time we got to Tlahutum, the clouds had started gathering and the wind started picking up. A change in the weather was clearly on the way. Would we get some shots before getting soaked? Yes!
We saw Gadwalls and Common Mergansers in their usual spots (one of the creeks and the bend in the Coquitlam River before it approaches the bridge, respectively) and then I spotted something brown and furry in the water. Probably not a bird. It was a muskrat! It eventually climbed up on shore and began nibbling on vegetation that it held in its adorable little hands (though the claws looked very serious).
Meanwhile, the main pond saw an unusually large variety of waterfowl:
I’ve never seen so many different kinds of ducks here. It was clearly the hot place to be. And instead of just one grebe disappearing into a portal to the Grebe Universe before we could even take a photo, today there were multiple grebes, and we got photos as proof!
We opted to skip the community gardens, which is basically a series of mini-lakes right now, and will probably remain as such until spring. It did eventually start to shower, but only after we had packed away our gear and started heading out.
In all, an unusually bountiful outing, especially considering the original forecast.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Gallery soon™.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 7°C
It was a day where it felt colder than the temperature alleged, even without wind. I wore three layers, which turned out to be the smart thing to do.
Reifel’s gates were open, likely due to the very grey skies and cooler temperatures. We were rewarded early with an Anna’s Hummingbird (several, actually, fighting among themselves, as is their way). On the way in, we passed a multitude of ducks, then came across the first very busy feeder, where assorted sparrows, juncos, and others were grabbing seed and spraying it all over. This was the only active feeder that did not have a squirrel either sitting inside it or lusting after its contents from nearby.
We saw multiple squirrels, and these guys are definitely getting quite chonky as winter approaches.
A Golden-crowned Kinglet proved typically elusive, but we ended up getting some decent shots as it hopped madly about above us. Just as elusive, but much more sedate, a rare sighting of an American Bittern on the outer dyke. There was a large group of people gathered, facing toward the marshland. We surmised that they were not shooting a tree as there are no trees in the marshland. What they were shooting was a somewhat shy American Bittern that was standing surprisingly close to the trail. It very slowly moved out and we got some nice shots because, like their relative the Great Blue Heron, they do not exactly speed walk. It was surprisingly oblivious to the large number of people pointing their giant lenses at it. They look lumpy, weird and delightful.
Nic inquired and found out that the local Sandhill Cranes are now hanging out with a larger group that have at least temporarily settled into the far end of one of the fields adjacent to the sanctuary. There’s over a dozen total. It will be interesting to see what the local ones will do when (presumably) the others finally decide to take off.
We again so no geese here.
The drama was left to a couple of female wigeons, who make weird “rrr rrr” sounds that sounded like engines revving, quite unlike their usually pleasant pees. They chased each other, making a big ruckus, then both flapped afterwards, each convinced it was the victor, perhaps.
The coots were well-behaved, in comparison.
And we saw a whole gang of Buffleheads, moving in a group and often diving as a group, making shots a matter of timing.
We saw multiple Northern Harriers and I successfully tracked them, but they were far off, the light was so-so and most of my shots were a bit fuzzy and grainy. Fuzzny. Alas.
Still, it was all worth it for the Bittern.
It showered a bit on the way to Centennial Beach, but was dry by the time we got there. It remained very cold, however, so we did a more abbreviated tour. We saw a House Finch and a few other sparrows, and shorebirds, but the tide was in, so most waterfowl were father out. We did get some good shots of a typically grump-looking eagle in a tree–and yes, it was actually perched along Raptor Trail.
There was also a bunny, but I was looking in a different direction and missed it before it hopped back into the brush. Oddly, they seem to hang out a lot on the Raptor Trail, which seems sub-optimal for rabbits.
Piper Spit had only a handful of people out and no one was feeding anything. The only feeding taking place1technically there was other feeding going on was a seagull picking away at the carcass of an ex-salmon. As Nic says, the skin is the best part.
The Dowitchers were quite close to the pier, which made for some good shots, and there were geese here, occasionally honking, as is their way. The pigeons mostly stayed in one tree, all poofed up from the cold.
The cormorants were back, or still here, hanging out in what now appears to be their usual spot, east of the pier. I wish they would hang out a little closer, but it’s still nice to at least see them.
And here we saw our first scaups of the season. I couldn’t tell if they were lesser or greater, but they didn’t seem gigantic, so I’m calling them lesser for now.
The coots here were also well-behaved.
In all, a fine, if brisk day for birding.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Gallery soon™.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Cloudy, 11-12°C
It was a relatively brief afternoon of birding, thanks to ever-changing weather conditions. As it turned out, the weather was better than expected, with only a wee bit of drizzle at the start and then the sun even appeared several times.
We started at Piper Lake, which was unusually busy. Maybe people are feeling claustrophobic staying inside all the time by mid-November, so any non-rainy weather is good enough to get out. Or maybe everything on Netflix sucks right now. Whatever the case, there were plenty of gulls and plenty of people. But none of the people were feeding the birds, so hooray for that.
Speaking of feeding, it’s spawning season, which meant two things:
I took photos.
No new exotic species were on hand, and even the wood ducks seemed relatively scare. The only geese were flying overhead. But we seem to have two semi-new regular groups now:
The seagull population has also grown, likely due to the salmon. Maybe seagulls and geese don’t get along, which is why the geese are elsewhere.
In even shorter supply were sparrows and similar birbs. We did see a fair number of song sparrows–or maybe just the same one following us around. But others were much more scarce. Admittedly, we arrived via the Nature House entrance, which meant we had a fairly small area for seeing birbs.
Teals, mallards and coots were well-represented, with two coots swapping out their usual drama for some gentle affection. Probably followed later by drama.
We got a window of golden hour shots here, when the sky cleared enough for the sun to poke out for several minutes. This gave us some fairly snazzy landscape shots. By the time we were leaving, it was back to gray, dim, and getting dimmer.
In the air, we saw little, other than crows and a juvenile bald eagle way up yonder. In the water, we fared better, with a group of common mergansers in the river (where we’ve seen them before), and the main pond had an assortment of shovellers, gadwalls and a trans-dimensional grebe.
I say this because the grebe was fairly close to us–a rarity to begin with–but before either of us could line up a shot, it dove. I observed its direction and speed, and made a rough calculation on where it would surface. It did not appear in that spot. Nor did it appear in any other spot. It just vanished, apparently, gone through the portal back to the grebeverse, denying us a single shot. Perhaps to compensate, a coot came up close to provide a few glamour shots, coot-style.
In all, a fine afternoon out, especially given the original forecast.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Soon™.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta) Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sun and high cloud, 8-13°C
Finally, the weather cooperated long enough to get in a day of birding, during the few hours of daylight we currently are afforded under SST (Stupid Standard Time). There was even sun, at times.
The main themes at Reifel mid-fall seem to be:
The feeders are now full of seed and suet, so most of them are seeing action, which can make for easy-ish shots. I say easy-ish because it is never exactly easy to capture a chickadee. We did not see any squirrels trying to dive onto the feeders, though that may come as the weather gets colder.
We saw the first Buffleheads of the season, which was neat, though they were not very close, which was less neat.
In all, it was a fine fall return to Reifel.
There was a family feeding birds at Piper Spit and Nic gave them the what-for! The father pretended that they hadn’t seen the multiple large signs saying NO FEEDING, including one that was literally feet away. But I guess you gotta say something when someone calls you out.
The lake level was quite low, with the west side of the pier now a large muddy patch, and the lily pads retreating enough to give the lake a more lake-like appearance. I shot artsy shots of the clouds and water.
There were also gulls on hand, probably attracted by the desiccated remains of salmon that had spawned, or tried to spawn, but ended up in the same place: dead.
Thinking back, I’m not sure that we saw any Canada geese here, either. Making up for them were plenty of Mallards, some Green-winged Teals and Wood Ducks. And, of course, coots.
With light starting to fade (see above, re: SST), we bade goodbye to the lake, but it was nice to finally get in some birding again.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Gallery of shots:
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 9-14°C
We got our first chance to visit Reifel in a while, on a rare Monday opening (due to the Thanksgiving holiday). It was a HBD (Hardcore Birder Day), with a plethora of dangerously large telephoto lenses being carried about. I saw monopods!
The weather was cool and there was some wind, but the sky was perfectly clear, affording is good light.
In addition to seeing a gaggleplex of Snow Geese flying overhead1Yes, I have finally relented and am full capitalization for all birbs and birbs., we saw several newly-arrived migrants, like ring-necked ducks and coots (which had already appeared at Piper Spit). We even saw a rare(ish) Ruddy Duck, which is a lifer for me. The Sandhill Cranes didn’t show themselves, however. I wonder where they were?
Dowitchers and Greater Yellowlegs were also in abundance, in the main slough and pond, among other places. One group were inadvertently harassed by some hero drama as a Great Blue Heron chased another directly over the shorebirds. The shorebirds would fly–a little–then return to as they were, so the harassment was pretty low-key. One of the herons landed in the pond and the other flew off, thus preserving the unspoken “one heron per pond, no matter how huge the pond” rule.
We saw hummingbirds at the feeders, keeping alert for a very interested wasp (or hornet?), as they are quite large when you’re a hummingbird. Imagine getting stung by a flying dog. Or something.
I suggested Centennial Beach next, and we parked near the pump house, basically working in reverse to our usual path. This afforded us early shorebirds and waterfowl and plenty of them. After spotting a Belted Kingfisher shortly after arriving, we saw something on the bay, where the tide was in. What we saw were wigeons. Wigeons everywhere. Wigeons flying, wigeons floating, wigeons that numbered in the hundreds or maybe even more. I am not good at counting massive numbers of birds. But there were oodles of them, along with some gulls, Canada Geese and other duck variants.
The beach was also buffeted by gusts of wind up to 25 km/hour. At one point, I had my cap pulled down so tight to keep it from blowing off that I could barely get the camera up to my eyes. I didn’t observe any birds trying to work against the wind–not even the seagulls, which are usually kind of into that.
This is where we saw a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, an unexpected treat. They were eating from one of the wind-whipped bushes in the sand.
Both here and at Reifel we saw Northern Harriers and while I was pretty successful in tracking them, I was not able to get any great shots. A boy2I’m a boy at heart, or something can dream, though!
By the time we left, I was glad I’d opted for my heavier hoodie. I also noted the light was already taking on a more golden hue. Come November 2 we switch back to Pacific Standard Time (grr) and we’ll have about 23 minutes of quality birding during the day.
We ended at Piper Spit, which was initially chock-full of people, due to the holiday. The dowitchers were fairly close in, allowing for some good shots, but we didn’t spot any new migrants here, such as scaups or Buffleheads. Maybe next time. Or at least soon™.
We made due with bathing blackbirds, battling coots and Wood Ducks just being stunning.
In all, a fruitful day as we head into the second season of Fall.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots:
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Clouds and sun, 17°C
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.
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.
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots:
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds: