Burnaby Lake

Birding, October 8, 2026: Big wind, hidden birds

Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) 
Weather: Cloudy with late clearing, 13°C

There was a lot of cloud, even more wind and fewer birds on this abbreviated day of birding.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Seagulls gathered at Piper Spit.

We started at Piper Spit, where we saw surprisingly few birds. Blackbirds were absent and most ducks that were not mallards were in low supply. This was offset somewhat by getting some (distant and partly obscured) shots of some Wilson’s Snipes hiding along the tall grass off to the north and west of the pier. We found them thanks to another birder with a VVBL1Very Very Big Lens.

We watched a seagull work over an ex-salmon in the shallows.

The Dowitchers had moved elsewhere, probably due to the water level being a bit higher, or maybe because of the wind, as it was very windy.

There was a single duck, but a healthy population of coots milling about the other groups of waterfowl, as they do.

In all, it was a wee bit underwhelming, but the conditions were not ideal for birds to be out in the open, and the appearance of the snipes was a nice bonus.

After this we went to the western edge of the lake to get scenery shots of Still Creek. We did not see any birds here, other than maybe a few crows flying overhead.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The big pond at Tlahutum.

Our second and final stop was Tlahutum, where the clear highlight were several Pied-billed Grebes plying the waterways and not just the Big Pond™. And while they are divers, the ones we observed didn’t dive, they just…sank. Nic and I both got shots of this in action, where the midsections has submerged and the tail and head haven’t and it looks like a magician’s trick. Grebes are weird.

We also saw some Northern Shovellers in the creeks, which is a bit unusual (they usually stick to the Big Pond) and a few Common Mergansers plying the ruddy-looking river. The light changed over the time we were here, so we were able to take before/after shots from various viewpoints.

The community garden is starting to develop its pond-like puddles, which attracted a murder or two of crows to either drink, bathe or both. There were a lot of crows around, gathering before their nightly trek to Burnaby, where all the cool crows go.

There were also multiple Northern Flickers, but other sparrow or sparrow-adjacent birds were only seen fleetingly. As mentioned previously, it was windy and maybe when you weigh next to nothing you avoid going out in the open where strong winds can bat you around like a shuttlecock.

Overall, not a bad outing, given how bad the weather could have been. We’ll see what the Super El Nino has for us in the weeks ahead.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.

Gallery soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • House Finch
  • Northern Flicker
  • Song Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Canada Goose
  • Common Merganser
  • Gadwall
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wilson’s Snipe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • A few Ring-billed Seagulls

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • A few fuzzy caterpillars

Birding, October 31, 2026: Chick(adee) or treat

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 11–14°C

A spooky Halloween day of birding! Except it wasn’t spooky, it was sunny and pleasant.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Ducks in a pond.

We started at Reifel, where the entrance pond had some Mallards and two small groups of Northern Shovellers doing that weird spiral thing they do, following each other in a tight circle to stir up the muck and enjoy the mucky spoils.

The various ponds were a bounty of colours, ranging from green to very green, brown, kind of yellow and in a few cases, blue! None of the waterfowl seemed to mind, even the very green water.

In the very green water of the London Slough, we noticed a duck with odd black and white colouring. A volunteer suggested it might be a hybrid consisting of part Swedish Blue, a domestic duck, and part Mallard, because Mallards will mate with anything. How it arrived at Reifel is unknown, perhaps a secret portal.

After getting shots of the interloper, we headed up the first trail and a family ahead of us had bird seed, which brought out approximately five million chickadees, plus two Red-breasted Nuthatches. The chickadees were darting past so close we could feel them whipping by. I had met my chickadee quota in the first ten minutes.

In one of the inner ponds, we saw our first Ring-necked Ducks of the season, woo. We still have yet to see any Scaups or Buffleheads, though.

I had a Canada Goose hiss hello at me. I assume they hiss to say hello. It didn’t do anything else. Speaking of geese, we saw flocks of Canada geese flying in formation multiple times–some of them migrating through rather than staying put year-round as most here do. We also saw flocks of Cackling geese and finally, a cacophony of honking informed us that the Snow geese had arrived, landing in their usual spot west of the sanctuary. So many geese, so much pooping potential. We never saw any up close, but that is normal for Reifel.

Along the same Outer Dyke Trail where we saw the Snow geese we also saw a number of herons, both in the marshland and flying overhead. One flew fairly low just over us and let out one of its loud croaks as it passed over. Legit, the only time a bird at Reifel has actually startled me. And especially Nic.

We also saw a solitary Greater Yellowlegs in one of the ponds not far from the viewing platform and lo, it caught a fish! But not just any fish, a stickleback. They are small, but have spiny fins, which make them a bit of a project to consume whole. The Yellowlegs worked on one for a fair bit, but finally got its prickly meal down. This is why I prefer ordering out.

I was a little disappointed with my shots, but I got some good ones here, too.

Tlahutum Regional Park

A serene Coquitlam River.

The community garden did not yield many birds overall, so we made do with a whole lotta crows.

The clear sky yielded some nice scenery shots and we saw a decent variety of birds in the Big Pond™, including a heron doing an excellent statue impression. Also, some kid on a bike with fat wheels rode past us like a million times.

There really wasn’t much else to see here this time, not even a rogue vole. But perhaps next time!

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Looking east from the pier, with clouds refusing to cross a line.

Yes, people were feeding the birds. The blackbirds were appreciative, as always.

The water level of the lake was up, which meant the landmass was smaller and the shorebirds moved over to the west side of the pier, against the light and farther away, not making for the best shots. Boo.

Instead, we got seagulls grabbing golf balls on the other side, along with a variety of coots pulling up green slimy stuff they love scarfing down, and a lot of Mallards. As previously noted, Mallards will mate with anything, but especially like mating with other Mallards. There were also geese, Wood Ducks and a few others around, but not in great numbers. And still no new migrants here, either.

I wonder if the (reduced) feeding will change their habits over time and ultimately cause many to abandon Piper Spit for other areas of the lake. I guess we’ll see.

In all, the weather was faboo, and I did get a few nice shots, even if my miss (and in many cases, literally a shot with no bird in it) ratio was a lot higher than normal.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.

Gallery soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Northern Flicker
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Cackling Goose
  • Canada Goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Snow Goose
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • A few Ring-billed Seagulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • A black beetle
  • A black squirrel

Birding, October 17, 2026: A scurry of scampering squirrels

Where: Terra Nova Rural Park, Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 15–17°C

We’re in the second half of October and still wearing shorts! Also: So many squirrels, a group of which can be known as a scurry. :themoreyouknow:

Terra Nova

View looking toward the North Shore mountains.

We started at Terra Nova and I quickly made my airplane shot quota, then took a few more. Some distant clouds, mountains, and good light actually made a few of the shots pretty decent.

But onto birbs: We saw birbs. There were towhees, but they were coy enough that the best I could manage was one blurry shot that can’t even pass off as artsy, it’s just out of focus. We also saw some fleeting bushtits, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Golden Crowns, but the area was dominated by Song Sparrows, who were all over the place, singing, posing, and hiding behind berries.

We watched as a woman with bird seed gathered together a crow army that followed her as she passed by.

There was a heron in the pond (which sounds like the name of a 19th century romance novel), but the lighting here was a bit weird, so despite being close, the shots were not great. Likewise for a pair of grebes, who love to hang out in the exact middle of the pond. I don’t blame them, I like to stay away from people, too.

Even though I wore my hoodie, it was warm enough, even on the dyke trail, that a t-shirt alone would have been fine. A bit wacky for October 17th.

Richmond Nature House

The new feeder setup, with attendant squirrels.

This was my first chance to see the new design of the bird feeders, which are once again stocked and thus, attracting birds. It took a few minutes before any arrived, but eventually we got chickadees, juncos, a House Finch and the highlight, a Downy Woodpecker going all-in on the suet.

The new design puts five “squirrel-proof” feeders over a large rectangular area box filled with dirt. Birds get a bit messy at feeders, which results in a lot of seed falling into this area. This suited the juncos, who prefer to peck along the ground, but also worked out well for the Douglas Squirrels that showed up–and they were legion. At one point I counted six eating/gorging on seed, and there were probably more lurking just out of view in the trees. It was impossible not to get good “cute squirrel eating” shots.

Eventually, bird dinner hour passed and we were left with just squirrels trying to become chonky boys, so we moved on.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Part of the growing landmass next to the pier, plus Dowitchers and plenty of them!

Our final stop was Piper Spit and surprise: No one was feeding the birds!

The landmass continues to expand, though, curiously, as it gets bigger, it seems to get fewer birds on it, so it was largely empty.

This meant that we once again had plenty of Dowitchers hanging out near to the pier (on both sides, even). Several people with VBLs1Very Big Lenses were appreciative.

Once again we did not see any other new arrivals (Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks, etc.) but the coots and mallard were both weird and shiny, helping to compensate. A quartet of Canada geese stood near the edge of the landmass, then flew off, ceding the territory to the likes of a couple of seagulls.

It was here that the wind started to pick up and began to feel a bit cool, but overall, this could have passed for a late summer day, which is both nice and somewhat unsettling.

But it made for a fine day of birding.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Bushtit
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • House Finch
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Canada Goose
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Pied-billed Grebe

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling
  • A few seagulls

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A living dragonfly
  • A black beetle
  • A scurry of hungry, twitchy Douglas Squirrels

Birding, October 3, 2026: Coots without drama

Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park, DeBoville Slough (Port Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17–22°C

intro text

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

The view from the “main” viewing platform.

I suggested Blakeburn Lagoons to see if we could spot the Green Heron again.

We did not see any the Green Heron. Or any herons that were green.

Some patience at what I think of as the main viewing platform paid off, as a Pied-billed Grebe eventually emerged. It caught a large fish and gobble it down. The babbies have grown, so it was able to do so without being harassed by hungry kids.

There were also some Gadwalls, plenty of Mallards and even more Mallards. Blakeburn Lagoons is relatively small, so we moved on after not too long.

DeBoville Slough

Boathouses along the slough.

We moved on to the DeBoville Slough and this time took the south trail. This allowed us to observe a number of multi-storey private homes, some of which seemed…odd, with lots of dodgy-looking artificial turf and side houses of unknown purpose. We also saw a flock of seagulls on the river (not the band), but not much else in the way of birds. The river scenery was quite nice, though, better than the north trail, I’d say.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, looking full and ripply against a clear blue sky.

We started to see more birds here, along with a very dead grasshopper on the trail being noshed on by a wasp. So if you were wondering what wasps nosh on, there you go.

There was another grebe in the big pond, along with yet more Mallards. Several things were splashing in the Coquitlam River, but we never saw what they were, only the conspicuous splashes. Rather odd. Someone reported a seal sighting, which would also be odd in a river that doesn’t even directly connect to the ocean, but we lie in strange times.

The community gardens yielded a few sparrows and fleeting glimpses of Goldfinches, Yellow-rumped Warblers and chickadees. I surprised myself by getting a fairly decent shot of a warbler. Nic could also hear American Bushtits but they did not show themselves.

The garden is still looking fairly lush in the first week of October. We’ll see how it looks next time as we head into a fall that will be dominated by a Super El Nino™.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park

Just some of the many Long-billed Dowitchers at the spit.

Some people were allegedly feeding blackbirds right at the end of our visit to Piper Spit, but I didn’t see it, so for me, it was a crime-free outing.

The landmass adjacent to the pier is currently quite huge, bringing the shallows in close. This meant that the Long-billed Dowitchers present were pretty close. Nice. And there were a billion of them, more than I’ve ever seen here. Most were snoozing when we arrived, but a few woke up and stalked about, looking for yum yums.

There were only two geese present and both were snoozing, so no goose drama. Multiple coots are here, though, so potential for coot drama was high. In fact, we saw one coot standing on a sunken log and another swam up to it, surely spoiling for a fight. Instead, they briefly nuzzled, then swapped places. Coots, as always, are weird.

Most of the Mallards and Wood Ducks are now back to their shiny breeding colours, and blackbirds were flitting all over, including one that briefly landed on my head, despite my head being completely seed-free (to my knowledge).

In all, a decent outing, with gorgeous, summer-like weather and no sunburn as a bonus.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Bushtit (heard)
  • American Goldfinch
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • Canada Goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • Turkey Vulture

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A dead grasshopper
  • A living grasshopper
  • Some things splashing in the Coquitlam River

Birding, September 12, 2026: The return of (some) migrants, surprise shorebirds, plus a billion butterflies

Where: Serpentine Fen, Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Partly sunny, 19–21°C

20,000 steps and four locations later, we wrapped up the penultimate summer birding outing for 2026 under partly sunny skies.

Serpentine Fen

Rare instance of the Serpentine River not lined with people fishing.

First up was Serpentine Fen, which had a weirdly large number of people fishing along it, like there was a contest or something. And that contest was Insure No Waterfowl Will Hang Out Because of Everyone Fishing. Despite that, we did see some herons, and assorted seagulls over the river.

We also spotted some Yellow-rumped Warblers in a stand of trees, but my camera failed to properly focus on any of the four shots I managed, as the warblers tend to move around a lot. It was confused, I was sad.

This is the best I got, as example:

Note the branch behind in perfect focus. 😛

However, the best stuff would come later, not when we discovered they had finally patched the scarily huge hole in the floor of the second viewing tower, though that was nice to see:

I did not test the sturdiness of the caution-taped plank.

But rather, one of the ponds that had not dried up was host to not just some Northern Shovellers, back from wherever they hide during the summer, but also multiple varieties of shorebirds capering about, both in and out of the water. Neat.

We also observed a plump spider feasting on a grasshopper caught in its web, and another one making a web using its butt spinneret. It was quite an elaborate show.

There were also the aforementioned billions of butterflies, mainly the West Coast Lady, a predominately orange butterfly that is tricksy to shoot.

In all, Serpentine Fen proved better than I expected. The abundance of fishers was still weird, though.

Blackie Spit

Looking north. Blackie Spit already has an early fall look to it.

With everyone fishing at Serpentine Fen, fewer people were at Blackie Spit, which made parking easier. We did not see any Savannah Sparrows, so they may be gone for the season, which will make Nic sad. Seeing some (distant) Caspian Terns helped to mollify, though.

The highlights here were Black-capped Chickadees, more shorebirds in the creek adjacent to the trail to the pump station and about 20 million Mallards, who were in such plentiful numbers there was a constant set of them flying over and landing in the water. We also caught a glimpse of a Belted Kingfisher darting overhead.

We also saw probably the last of the sad wasps, and some of the sparkly beetles previously seen at Iona Beach.

I also got a blurry shot of a Mallard pooping mod-flight, which I will share here:

If you gotta go, you gotta go. Also remember this when a duck is flying over you.

Combined with the usual nice scenery, Blackie Spit was perfectly cromulent.

Piper Spit

View from the pier, looking east. Not shown: Bad people feeding good birds.

But Nic was not sated, so we went to Piper Spit. And yes, there were people feeding the birds. Not just feeding them, but feeding them from a honking huge bag of seed:

The bears means it will attract bears, too, probably.

But once we looked past the people feeding the birds, we noted the presence of Green-winged Teals, Common Mergansers and some Northern Pintails, newly arrived (or back from wherever they hide). There was also a group of Killdeer capering about on and around the island area, along with some Long-billed Dowitchers and yellowlegs. It was a very Shorebirdy day.

A few male Mallards are close to being back to their breeding colours, but multiple Wood Ducks are already sporting their shiny mullets again and looking pretty.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The classic view of the Coquitlam River from the Millennium Bridge.

We wrapped up with a trip to the community garden because the number of sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds we’d seen up to this point was a bit low and Nic wanted MOAR.

However, the garden proved nearly bird-free. We did see a few fleeting Golden-crowned Sparrows, confirming they’re back, as well as a White-crowed Sparrow or two, but that was it.

I got some nice shots of flowers and the river.

In the end, a busy and pretty good day of birding. We didn’t see any coots, but the fall migration has definitely begun, so coot time is coming.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.

Gallery soon™.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House Finch
  • Northern Flicker
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Caspian Tern
  • Common Merganser
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Killdeer
  • Lesser Yellowlegs
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveller
  • Pectoral Sandpiper (a lifer, I think?)
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Several ladybugs
  • Spiders spinning webs and noshing on grasshoppers
  • A squirrel with an acorn

Birding, September 5, 2026: Random objects, plus some birds

Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 21-23°C

The first birding of September, which yielded no fall migrants (boo), but some photogenic locals (yay) and no tree frogs.

Looking north across the lake from the rowing pavilion.

Burnaby Lake Regional Park

We checked out the west end of Burnaby Lake again and it started with the flash of promise–a fleeting Savannah Sparrow. Then we saw no birds, but did catch some nice scenery. When we got to a view of the lake (something that may surprise a lot of people: on the 10 km loop around the lake, there aren’t actually many clear views of the lake itself) we saw a Great Blue Heron holding vigil in a tree far above us. It started to ruffle its feathers and I figured this meant one of two things: imminent flight, or pooping. But it tricked us and stayed put, even doing the one-legged thing.

As always we saw Canada Geese, both on the ground and in flight, with and without dander stuck to their bills. No Xtreme molting this time, though.

At the bridge over Deer Lake Brook we watched a Song Sparrow bouncing from lily pad to lily pad, thinking it was drinking, but further examination revealed the lily pads were festooned with bite-sized bugs perfect for noshing on (if you’re a Song Sparrow).

Nic opted to not try to shoot a Barn Swallow at the rowing pavilion. I was a little surprised some are still hanging around. Maybe it felt bad for us, since there were no fall migrants to be seen. Maybe they are waiting until actual fall starts.

We crossed over the new pedestrian bridge again, and with the better light, I got some semi-artsy shots of it.

In all, it was a nice trek, even if birds were scant.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The big pond at Tlahutum, now with water again.

There were a few more birds at Tlahutum, but being mid-afternoon, they proved a bit elusive, often chirping and singing from the trees, but not venturing out into the sun. We did catch sightings of House Finches and American Goldfinches. One goldfinch even cooperatively landed on a railing not far ahead of us, but my camera inexplicably refused to focus on it and it flew off. The goldfinch, not my camera. I was a but peeved, but technology, amirite?

We had better luck with pollinators, including a hover fly, another freaky sweat bee (?!) that was a shiny green, unlike the previous shiny blue one we saw. Or maybe they change colours. I don’t know how they work.

We saw a spider on the trail and got some shots, but looking at them later, we discovered the spider was carrying a whole load of babies on its back. Both delightful and terrifying.

We also saw a White-crowned Sparrow that had something very wrong with its face, though we couldn’t determine what it was–a mess of feathers on its right side that seemed to be obscuring the eye. It seemed to be faring all right, but was annoyed by whatever it was.

With birds keeping to themselves, I shot more kitsch than usual and experimented more with composition and just taking weird shots of things. I amused myself.

In the end, not a lot of bird shots (or shots, period) but it was nice to be out and the weather was a lot better than the original forecast, so hooray for that.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee (heard)
  • House Finch
  • Savannah Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee (heard)
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A ladybug
  • A fuzzy caterpillar
  • A spider and her brood
  • The promise of frogs, but no actual frogs (again)

August 22 2026 birding gallery is up (finally)

A wee bit late with this one. It’s a kooky mix of snoozing ducks, weird shots of random objects and pigeons.

Original post here: Birding, August 22, 2026: When life gives you mallards…

Birding, August 22, 2026: When life gives you mallards…

Where: Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 21°C

…you take a lot of photos of mallards. But there were other birds and things, too.

Burnaby Lake Regional Park

View from the Rowing Pavilion, where lily pads do not reign supreme.

We started out a bit late and under cloudy skies that threatened showers, but it actually stayed dry while we were out and at 21C, it was quite comfy. We got some early shots of Ol’ Stabby Face (a Great Blue Heron) at the Cariboo Dam, but saw very few birds on the 2 km walk up the trail to Piper Spit.

Once at Piper Spit, we noted very few people (unsurprising, given the weather) and most of the people who were there had Very Big Lenses. The fall migrants are still flapping their way here, so we had to make do with the locals, which mostly meant Mallards and plenty of ’em. A few males are starting to show tiny bits of their iridescent green again, as they get ready to pretty up for the fall. There were also plenty of Wood Ducks and geese, as well as a few gulls and some pigeons, including at least one young pigeon sporting a relatively undeveloped bump thing on its beak. You know what I’m talking about. And yes, I could look up the exact name, but where’s the fun in that?1Fine, it’s called a cere and no one really knows what it does.

There were also some Long-billed Dowitchers toodling about, thanks to the return of shallow water. And speaking of shallow water, the landmass is not only back, it’s expanding and getting rather close to the pier. If that happens, chaos will undoubtedly ensue.

After we wrapped up at the spit, we moved onto the area around Still Creek. The nearby athletic fields were filled with people playing sportsball and geese. The geese were not playing sportsball. One goose was going through some Extreme Molting and looked quite funky. We literally observed feathers popping off. The goose was unperturbed.

We went to the bridge at Deer Lake Brook and spent some time testing its structural integrity by jumping up and down on it like five year olds. Admittedly, I did this a lot more than Nic. It’s fun except for the fact that I was probably actively reducing the lifespan of the bridge (which is getting replaced eventually). Since we were close, we also checked out the new pedestrian/cycling bridge that crosses over the No. 1 highway and connects Burnaby Lake to the area near Deer Lake. It’s a nice bridge. It does not bounce when you jump up and down on it.

On our return back to Still Creek, we got actual shots of actual birbs–in this case, some White-crowned Sparrows snacking around a pump station, so that was a nice way to wrap things up.

And next time, who knows? There may be coots.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • House Finch
  • Song Sparrow
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Western Warbling Vireo (heard)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Some seagulls

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A cricket
  • An otter. Or a muskrat. One of those. But not both.
  • The promise of frogs, but no actual frogs

Birding, July 25, 2026: Briny beaches and between bridges

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, some drizzle, 20°C

The alliteration will stop when it gets too terrible even for me.

Maplewood Flats

Low tide at Maplewood Flats.

The weather was looking iffy, but we braved not the weather, but traffic, to get to Maplewood Flats (which actually has a big ol’ hill in the middle of it). It was cloudy, but otherwise fine. We saw some bushtits and they were fantastically difficult to capture, as always, along with some mallards, one brooding heron, some gulls and not much else. The scenery was nice and the inlet smelled especially briny, perfect for people who want to “touch ocean.”

Burnaby Lake

Still Creek doing its thing.

We opted to skip Piper Spit, where no doubt people were hauling giant bags of seed to the pier and shovelling it all into the water. Instead, we did a bridge to bridge walk, starting at Still Creek and going to Deer Lake Brook. Along the way we saw mallards, wood ducks (and youngsters), a rare sighting of a Swainson’s thrush, about a million Canada geese claiming the sports fields, and lots of very pretty scenery. The weather continued to hold, with a very occasional bit of drizzle here and there. The park was busier than I expected, given the weather. Maybe Netflix has finally raised its prices too much.

A person at the rowing club said they’d seen a beaver and indeed, we saw the head of a muskrat or beaver as it swam down Still Creek. I am not expert enough to identify by the back of a head at distance, so I’m going to claim it was a beaver. Maybe THE beaver.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Greenery and signery at the community garden.

We ended the afternoon at Tlahutum, but opted to focus solely on the target-rich environment of the community garden. There, it was almost exclusively young birds, looking all spotted and scruffy and getting out there in the world. Robins dominated, though there were lots of house finches as well. We also saw a fair number of hummingbirds, some white-crowns and towhees. Bumblebees were out in numbers and as always, red soldier beetles were getting it on.

Nic once again demonstrated his ability to scare off birds by either getting too close (I declared I have better BirdSense™ than he does and stand by that) or by pointing at them. I always felt his pointing reminded me of something and I finally figured out what it was:

OK, not with the mouth hanging open, but otherwise yes.

I mean, if I was a young robin, I’d book it, too.

I actually got some very nice shots of the beetles and hummingbirds, so I was pleased. We opted not to take our chances any further as by this time it was starting to sprinkle lightly, but it was still a bounty of birding.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Bushtit
  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Swainson’s Thrush
  • Tree Swallow
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Willow Flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other naughty bugs
  • A lone black squirrel