Burnaby Lake

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

Four photos from my walk to Burnaby Lake but without any lake shots (07/23/2026)

See below, in kitschy pseudo Polaroid glory. The weather was milder today, but a bit more humid. I enjoyed the walk.

A few more shots of Still Creek from yesterday’s run

My watch said I overdid it, all but calling me dumb.

So today I am mostly taking it easy, but here are a few more shots of Still Creek I took yesterday after overdoing it. Conveniently, my run ends right about where Still Creek is at its most photogenic.

All shot on my not-decrepit Samsung Galaxy S26.

Still Creek, from the footbridge.
Creek under a cloudy sky.
Pacific coastal mountains looming in the background.
Not Still Creek! This is the lake and the rowing pavilion, where something fancy was happening.

Birding, July 4, 2026: Greedy Grebelings gobbling goodies

Where: Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Mostly sunny, 17–20°C

In which I wore sunblock and did not get roasted.

Blakeburn Lagoons Park

One of the lagoons, framed by wildflowers.

We returned to Blakeburn to take in the baby Grebes again and this time we arrived in the morning, which was apparently nap time, because all the waterfowl, Mallards, and Grebes alike, were mostly dozing. But after a short time they started stirring and soon enough the Grebelings began chasing a parent, desperate for food. We observed one getting a big ol’ fishy from the parent and watched as it horked it down in about three gulps.

We also saw a heron–but not a green one, just the great blue kind. It flew right past in front of us. I got a blurry action shot.

Elsewhere around the lagoon, we spied a Northern Flicker, a robin hanging out by a sewer grate and lots of pollinators. It was unofficial Pollinator Day.

At the second lagoon, we heard invisible frogs and once more saw a single American Coot, probably the same one we saw last week. It did a weird kind of coot bobbing thing a few times but mostly ate copious amounts of greenery, which at times looked more like something it was throwing up rather than nomming on.

In all, a nice beginning and I think I got better shots of the grebes this time, so woo for that.

Blackie Spit

A boat plies through the narrow band of water off Blackie Spit.

We then spent 10 hours travelling south to Blackie Spit, thanks to Google Maps directing us to busy highway intersections without traffic lights and asking us to then turn left. Once there, we heard but didn’t see (or did we?) Savannah Sparrows, but we did get shots of a House Finch impersonating one. There were also a lot of sand wasps here, furiously digging burrows as they do.

We hoped for a repeat of seeing a California Scrub Jay after a guy on a scooter advised us of some in the area, but alas, we didn’t see any. We saw lots of pollinators again, though.

The tide was extremely low, which in itself made for some interesting scenery shots.

When we left, I marvelled at how my skin had not turned crimson.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

A goose-rich view of Piper Spit.

We rounded out the day at Piper Spit, where the level of the lake was almost as high as the piles of seeds from all the criminal bird feeders. When not telling girls destined to be sociopaths not to kick at pigeons, we saw pigeons, blackbirds, and a Song Sparrow that kind of looked like it had exploded, but didn’t seem to mind. The ducks were mostly avoiding the pier and hanging out in Eagle Creek.

There were a lot of Canada Geese around and some of the babbies have become sullen teens with mostly adult colours and bad attitudes.

When we left, after silently cursing the people with seed, I was just grateful karma didn’t put us behind a 150-car train before we could head out.

But the weather was nice!

In all, a fine day with maybe a bit too much travelling (but no U-turns), but redeemed by all those grebes.

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 Robin
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • House Finch
  • Northern Flicker
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Savannah Sparrow (heard)
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot (probably the same one)
  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Another Glaucous-winged Gull

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other bugs
  • A few dragonflies
  • An errant squirrel
  • Frogs (heard frequently, seen never)

Birding, June 20, 2026: Crows call for a harried Harrier

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17-23°C

In which a crow demonstrates why the Raptor Trail may need to be renamed Corvid Trail.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

A green London Slough, filled with Canada Geese and a couple of turtles.

Our first stop was Reifel, which I haven’t been to since the surgery. Much like myself, the sanctuary has mostly healed from its own issues, namely all trails are now open, though at least three are rather lumpy, with signs warning you to walk like you’re an ATV.

Despite sunny skies, comfy (not hot) temperatures the front gate was open and, indeed, there weren’t too many people around. Something non-birding people may not realize is that summer is actually about the worst time for birding, because:

  • Maximum tree canopy makes birds in trees harder to spot. Birds like trees.
  • It’s an in-between season, meaning a lot of spring migrants have already left and the winter migrants are yet to arrive, so it’s mostly local birds, which may disappoint some looking for something more exotic.

Also, the higher-then-normal temperatures this spring mean the various ponds and waterways are already getting a lot of algae and slime, so the views are sometimes a little green in a way that is less aesthetically pleasing.

Still, we saw C21 (a goose with one of those dorky big collars) and for some reason I couldn’t remember the name of the explosive compound so mused incorrectly about watching out for C1, then C2, then Nic reminded me it’s actually C4 and I was like, that’s totes what I meant. Watch out for the C4 goose, it hisses and then BOOM.

The Sandhill Cranes were out and about, which is always nice to see. Like Mallards and a few other species, they are generally indifferent to people, so you are sometimes presented with the challenge of them getting too close for a good shot.

We saw one Wood Duck, I think. The rest were Mallards, the males looking pretty scruffy now.

Barn Swallows were present near the entrance with a few tending nests, but I did not see any babbies.

Speaking of babbies, a family of goslings was trundling about, now in their gawky teen “all legs” phase. Not quite cuddly anymore, but cute in a goofy sort of way.

There were also plumes of sand wasps along the Outer Dyke trail. We took some photos, then I suggested we move on because I was concerned about smooshing some accidentally and doing that when surrounded by them seemed like it might lead to an unpleasant turn of events. They are still wasps, after all.

I also got my first dragonfly shots of the season, which turned out OK. I was generally not thrilled with today’s shots, but I admit, I am not a Hardcore Birder/Photographer. Maybe I should be and start a blog called hardcorebirderphotographer.com.

Anyway, we shot a lot of bugs, because most song birds were hiding. I suggested we hit Centennial Beach next, so we did.

Centennial Beach

Boundary Bay, unbounded by water. The people provide perspective!

We started near the pond and worked our way to the pump station, then back, walking along the Raptor Trail as one does along the way.

Near the pond we saw some Brewer’s Blackbirds, which I haven’t seen in approximately a hundred years. Their eyes are a striking yellow and they have a kind of cute derpy quality to them that I like. It’s why I did one for my bird art.

We saw more sand wasps, panting crows, baby ducks and a few Killdeer (which were weirdly hard to shoot, in part because they kept moving and I don’t mean bobbing their heads, though they did a lot of that, too) walking around the very low tide area. On the aforementioned Raptor Trail we spotted a Northern Harrier flying high overhead. Then another bird emerged–a crow! The crow did not like the harrier being there and assumed attack formation. The harrier quickly vacated the airspace and the crow went back to the invisible line marking the periphery of its territory. No one messes with crows.

A few more scenery shots (nice views across the expanse of the bay, though the horizon was hazy) and we set off to our last stop, Illegal Bird Feeding Place.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Typical late afternoon wind rippling the lake surface, towers in the distance.

Which is to say Piper Spit. The illegal bird feeding didn’t happen until we were just leaving, though, so our rage was more contained. I’m pretty sure they could erect a 10-metre sign here saying IF YOU BRING SEED WE WILL KILL YOU DEAD and people would casually walk by, clutching their bags of seed. It’s just the world we live in now. What we need, clearly, are Guard Geese.

The island is still submerged, though the water is shallow enough for the geese to stand in and geese were once again the dominant waterfowl here, with Mallards and Wood Ducks comprising most of the rest. A couple of Sandhill Cranes were on hand, too, though they were stalking about separately.

Blackbirds flitted about, smearing seed over their bills as they do, and a few pigeons were once again playing sexy and generating no interest whatsoever from the other pigeons. As they do.

In all, a perfectly cromulent day of birding and a nice break from the torrid heat of the previous outing. Next stop: Summer 2026!

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

Some of the shots in the gallery are not exactly sharp, but I chose each for a reason, usually stated in the captions.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Bewick’s Wren
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brewer’s Blackbird
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow
  • Willow Flycatcher (heard)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • (Feisty) American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • A few gulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Bugs, bugs, bugs
  • Some Western Painted Turtles

Birding, June 6, 2026: The Return

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Cloudy with some sun, 15-16°C

This was my first birding since the surgery and it went fine. The only thing I noticed is getting a tiny bit tired holding the camera up for an extended period of time. But that can also happen without surgery.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Looking west, with a Wood Duck photobombing the shot.

We were a bit boxed in by weather (showers in the morning) and fabulousness (Nic had to help with a VMC show in the early evening) so we dropped our initial plan to check the heron rookery in Port Moody and went with the Piper Spit/Tlahutum split.

We didn’t see anyone feeding birds at Piper Spit–in fact, there were few people there, likely because of the earlier showers–but the ground and pier were absolutely festooned with seed. Perhaps the Bird Police had been occupied eating artisanal organic donuts.

The recent showers meant the water level was quite a bit higher, with the island completely submerged and no chance of shorebirds. Initially, it was mostly just Goosetown, with geese arrayed across where the island would normally be. The geese were disturbingly well-behaved, perhaps because their dominance was unchallenged.

Some other waterfowl did show up, and the wood ducks and mallards are both starting to look quite scruffy, now that spring fever/mating/babby-making is largely over. I did not observe any migrant waterfowl, it’s just the locals for now.

One blackbird was acting weird, fanning its wings in a show of…something. Most of the other birbs were indulging in the plentiful seed.

We did not stay too long, because there really wasn’t much activity.

Tlahutum Regional Park

For a change of pace, the creek adjacent to the Coquitlam River.

We started at the community garden, wary of the showers creating mini-lakes here, but it was fine and we saw collections of cowbirds, swallows posing, robins acting rascally and what appears to be a Willow Flycatcher, which I’ll have to check if it’s a lifer or not (I can never keep my flycatchers straight). As usual, I kept my eye out for kitschy decorations in the plots.

The trails netted us a pair of Eastern Kingbirds and a guy claimed to see a seal in the river, though maybe it was an otter, which would make more sense. A lot of pigeons were flying overhead–in both directions. No idea what was going on there.

Bonus shot: The mostly empty big pond, with patchy blue sky overhead.

The big pond had a few ducks and a number of swallows darting overhead, but it seemed quieter than usual, a recurring theme through the afternoon. Still, by this time the weather was pretty decent, it was pleasantly mild, and it was one of the first “normal” activities I’ve engaged in since the surgery, so overall, a perfectly cromulent bit of birding.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch (probably)
  • Northern Flicker
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow
  • Willow Flycatcher (lifer–I think?)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators, mainly bumblebees
  • Fuzzy caterpillars
  • A snail shell

Birding, May 16, 2026: FEED ME, written and performed by Young Song Sparrow

Where: Brydon Lagoon, Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy with some sun, 11-16°C

Unlike recent outings, the weather was unseasonably cool today. I still wore shorts.

Brydon Lagoon

Brydon Lagoon, under a brooding sky.

The last time we were at Brydon, we saw a bounty of birds or BOB. Today, the bounty mostly came in the form of every kind of swallow, gulls and Mallards. Except for a few Ring-necked Ducks still noodling around, the winter migrants are gone. We are cootless again.

The wind was quite brisk and it started out only around 11C. This may not sound cold, but we’ve had summer-like weather just long enough to get used to it.

That same wind provided a benefit in trying to shoot swallows, though, as they slowed noticeably when pushing against the wind. Nic took about a billion shots, adjusted his camera’s settings and regularly cleaned stuff from the sensor, which is apparently cursed by black magic to always mysteriously attract stuff to it. But this all paid off, as he got several very spiffy shots.

I only tried a few times, my camera mostly refused to lock on, but I did grab a few where you could look at the photos and say, “That’s a swallow.”

The highlight here, though, was the normally unassuming Song sparrow, as a young and fuzzy one was sitting in a bush, demanding to be fed, and a parent was obliging, stuffing seed and whatnot down its gullet. We both got very nice shots of the feedings. Once sated, it flew off.

As did we. Well, we didn’t fly, we had to drive.

Blackie Spit

Another Xtreme low tide at Blackie Spit.

Here I added a light hoodie to my other light hoodie, as Blackie Spit is on the ocean and even though there was another extreme low tide, the wind was still kicking up high enough to threaten sweeping the cap off my head.

We saw an Anna’s Hummingbird sitting atop a small tree, looking even more like it was ready to kill than usual, but it was likely just leaning forward into the wind to avoid being blown off the tree.

Blackbirds were out and about, some festooned with crumbs and seed all over their bills, as is their way. And we saw our first ducklings, though they were in the south creek, which is mostly obscured by bushes. Nic got one so-so shot, I did not get any, sadly. The ducks seem to be lagging behind the geese in making babbies. This does not bode well in saving us from goose domination.

Although I didn’t get shots, Nic managed to capture some Hudsonian Whimbrels, which are shorebirds with long bills that hook down. Maybe we’ll see them again when the tide is not a kilometre away.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Sun and clouds, with a grooming Sandhill Crane.

This was our first visit with the Nature House open for the season. We did not go in, but I took a photo of the sign. We observed no Bird Police on the pier, but also didn’t see anyone feeding the birds. There was a pile of seed on the ground, though. To be fair, it looked like healthy seed, not like half a loaf of stale Wonder Bread.

It was still windy as all heck, but had finally warmed up to 16C. With winter migrants gone, I focused mainly on cowbirds, wood ducks and the Sandhill Crane, which was back and very into grooming itself.

There was word of a Red-necked Phalarope at Piper Spit and lo, there she was! We got plenty of photos, but the phalarope stayed conspicuously away from the pier, so they were not great. The phalarope did not drive a monster truck or shout “Yeehaw.”

The one goose nest near the pier now looks empty and we did see a group of rapidly growing goslings by Eagle Creek, with a protective parent going ape on every other bird in the vicinity. The other birds seemed nonplussed.

Nic also took another billion shots of swallows. I took a few. I’ll be more motivated when it’s warmer (and harder to shoot them).

In all, a decent outing, with the weather actually being a tad better than expected.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

NOTE: Normally I present the photos in the same order as they were taken, but for this gallery I opted to end with the young Song Sparrow sequence because it’s adorable.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Cliff Swallow
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • House Sparrow
  • Northern Flicker
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  • Purple Martin
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Tree Swallow
  • Violet-green Swallow
  • White-crowned Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Hudsonian Whimbrel
  • Mallard
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling
  • Plenty of gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators, mainly bumblebees
  • A bunny

Birding, May 3, 2026: I got the yawn

Where: Piper Spit/Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 28°C

The weather today was more like what you would expect in about two months, when it’s, you know, summer. Crazy climate change. But this time II wore sunblock and even reapplied it!

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Clear skies, no birds. Well, a few birds.

It was a shorter and simpler day of birding, which was just as well, because it seemed the unusually warm temperatures were keeping a lot of birds tucked out of view, no doubt in cooler places.

But it started with adorable goslings, still fuzzy and not yet ready to hiss or honk. I even caught one in an adorable, fuzzy little yawn.

After the geese and a robin, we did not see many other birbs on the way to Piper Spit, but we did come across one fuzzy caterpillar.

At the pier, it was strangely quiet, with few people around. We speculated that all the naughty bird feeders were in church confessing their sins. And also, we didn’t even see anyone feeding them today, though there were a few piles of seed scattered around (and few takers).

Despite low water levels, no shorebirds were around, boo. Well, unless you count seagulls, in which case there were two.

With the relative lack of birds, we focused on some of the regulars, like the ever-fabulous wood ducks and teals. Some geese were nesting, while others were watching over their broods. No baby ducks yet, but soon™.

Before we left, a very orange Sandhill Crane flew in to pose and preen. They are quite good at both.

The butterfly garden yielded no butterflies, but it did contain one garden, just as the signs promised.

We took advantage of the water fountain to hydrate, then headed back to the car for the next and final stop of the day.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Classic shot of Coquitlam River, looking a bit low today.

Tlahutum proved to be teal-rich. On the way in, we saw a Cinnamon Teal in one of the creeks, but the shrubbery proved our nemesis, and we were unable to get shots before it went…elsewhere.

The main pond had a pair of Blue-winged Teals, with their fancy diagonal white racing stripes, but they were both fairly distant and were so busy dunking their heads most of my shots make them appear headless.

Tree swallows were abundant in the community garden, and we heard yet again the taunting calls of Yellowthroats, who proved even more elusive than Marsh Wrens or Virginia Rails. Well, maybe not more than Virginal Rails. But close!

Among more visible avians were some Brown-headed Cowbirds, more robins, and a few Anna’s Hummingbirds, one of which was sitting on a branch that was bouncing so much from the wind that the hummingbird has motion blue, even though it was sitting still.

The sky yielded both a Red-Tailed Hawk and an Osprey. I got a few decent shots of the Osprey, but the hawk mostly eluded me. I had better luck with an Air Canada jet, and managed to sneak in a Tree Swallow in the same shot by accident.

In all, it was a rather quiet day, but also kind of nice. A breeze at Tlahutum kept the heat from being horrible, which is not a thing I’d expect to say a few days into May, but here we are!

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery shots taken on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

A small gallery of shots:

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard repeatedly, tauntingly)
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Tree Swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Blue-winged Teal
  • Canada Goose
  • Cinnamon Teal
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Some gulls

Raptors:

  • Osprey
  • Red-tailed Hawk

Non-birds:

  • An agitated squirrel
  • Some butterflies
  • A caterpillar

Birding, April 24, 2026: Raptors, ex-birds and former crabs

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Surrey), Piper Spit/Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 15-18°C

The weather was once again fabulous. I once again got sunburn. I even had my sunblock, I just didn’t put it on. I’ll learn by the next outing, I swear.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

This is the main pond, reflecting the general absence of birds.

This was my second trip back to Reifel after the Barge and Bridge Incident™, with all trails save the North Dyke Trail now re-opened, though a few are still in pretty rough shape.

Three things stood out this day:

  1. There was a lot of bird drama (here and elsewhere) and it wasn’t just mad geese, though they figured prominently, as always.
  2. Most of the birds were absent, either nesting, hiding or visiting their pocket dimensions due to the unseasonably warm weather, perhaps.
  3. Poop.

Let me start with the poop. We had just entered and had barely made it past the entrance when some birds flew overhead, one depositing a load on both my left and right wrists. I was wearing a long-sleeved light hoodie, so it could have been worse. It could also have been a heron pooping, which would have been much worse. Still, it was an annoying way to start the day and despite being reassured by Nic and Jeff that getting pooped on by a bird is good luck, I was not convinced. I didn’t win the lottery later that evening, so there.

After cleaning up in the washroom, we got to touring the open trails and as mentioned, many of the ponds were strangely bereft of birds Even the sparrows seem to be reduced in numbers. It was odd and a wee bit disappointing.

We saw three Sandhill Cranes, one by itself, the other two (a couple) strolling around together. At one point it seemed one of the pair may have landed on a small island possibly already occupied with a goose nest. And goose. Drama ensued and the other half of the crane couple called out in its weird, loud trilling croak for quite a while after.

The Killdeer family was nowhere to be seen, alas.

The geese were strategically placed all over the sanctuary, asserting their dominance, one even perching itself magnificently on the railing of the platform with the sign that assures you if you are very quiet, you might see a Virginia Rail. Sure, that could happen, if you didn’t have a Canada Goose literally standing there, lording over the area, ready to start blatting out its war cry on a moment’s notice.

At the viewing platform, we saw two wasps doing something. I’ve looked at my photos and I’m still not sure. Were they making out? Was one eating the other? They eventually separated and one flew off, so I guess it was mutual something or other. Still not as strange as dragonflies copulating.

A number of swallows were in a nest-building mood, and were gathering bits of straw, down and other nest-building material. Soon, the babbies, with their giant mouths and endless cries of, “FEED ME! FEEEEEED ME!”

By early afternoon, we completed our circuit and freshly sunburnt, headed off to our next stop: Centennial Beach.

Centennial Beach

Very low tide, with Mt. Baker in the background.

We started at the entrance near to the pump station and saw some herons stalking about, spied some gulls way out with the extremely low tide and got shots of Mt. Baker, which was standing against a bright blue sky.

And there were shorebirds! Specifically, Least and Western Sandpipers. We watched them scamper along the shoreline, take off in brief bursts of flight and repeat until they decided to fly off.

We saw our only shovelers here, what was likely a mated pair, in the small pond near the other entrance to the beach.

And the Raptor Trail delivered, with what turned out to be a fight or exchange between a male and female Northern Harrier. The male had caught a bird and made it an ex-bird. The female showed up, the male dropped it and the female apparently made off with it. I have no idea if this was planned or just one harrier shaking down another.

Back out on the bay, a young Bald Eagle was standing on a distant sandbar and would occasionally fly off to another. At one, he appeared to be noshing on something that turned out to be a large crab. He got the crab to go, and flew off. The eagle, not the crab. Well, the crab flew off too, but was in the talons of the eagle and was an ex-crab at that point.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Look at all the birds that might be here, but aren’t!

Still sunburnt, we went to our last stop: The Piper Spit Bird Hangout and Illegal Seed Sharing Site. Here we saw a lot of Wood Duck drama, for some reason, with males flapping, chasing and flaring out their mullets. Cowbirds and pigeons were both looking unsuccessfully for love and there were shorebirds here, too.

Most of the winter migrants have departed–we saw no Scaups, Buffleheads or Ring-necked Ducks (a single pair of the latter were at Reifel), but we still have coots.

The butterfly garden proved to have no butterflies or fancy spiders this time, but at least we didn’t have to wait for a train to pass before leaving.

In all, a decent day of birding, though I was a bit disappointed by the lack of birds and also the overall quality of my shots. I got some good ones, but there were a lot of misses, too. And I wasn’t even trying to shoot flying swallows.

But at least the weather was again faboo.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery shots taken on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

A few shots, gallery pending:

A Sandhill Crane, sitting on the grass near the Reifel entrance.
Watching and waiting…
I don’t know what this Wood Duck was reacting to. They were all a bit weird.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • House Sparrow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Rufous Hummingbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Least Sandpiper
  • Marsh Wren
  • Mallard
  • Northern Shoveler
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Western Sandpiper
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Some gulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Turtles of assorted sizes
  • A few squirrels dashing about
  • Pollinators that were butterfly and bee-shaped

Birding, April 11, 2026: Two-thirds birding, one-third sleeping

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 13°C

I was feeling weird and tired in the morning, so I missed the entire Reifel section of birding today.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Nic saw a bunch of Snow Geese, some White-fronted Geese hanging with them, and the Killdeer still protecting their parking lot nest. The babbies are expected to hatch soon.

I have no photos from Reifel, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, cropped to 16:9.

We both went to Tlahutum and spoiler: no Mountain Bluebirds, but we did see a somewhat elusive Cinnamon Teal for the first time this season at the big pond, where all the cool birds were hanging out, ranging from Buffleheads to Gadwalls and shovelers.

We opted to skip the community garden, though we could see the flooded bits are starting to dry out. Soon™.

The bulk of the trails proved fairly quiet, with only a few Golden-crowned Sparrows and some crows, but not a lot else. Maybe birds like the sun, because it remained overcast the entire afternoon (though it did not shower, as the forecast had threatened).

The other highlight came when we took a path different from the usual on the way back to the car and came across, of all things, a Bewick’s Wren having a grand old time taking a dirt bath right in the middle of the trail. We took photos until it was done and flew off. It was very into the dirt bath.

In all, though, a quiet outing here today.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park

Burnaby Lake was windswpt and cool today.

By the time we got to Piper Spit, the wind had picked up and it felt a bit cool, a big shift from the last few days of summer-like weather.

While the lake level was lower, meaning more of the land mass is now above water, it was still too deep around the spit for shorebirds. Most of the usual gang were otherwise represented, including a single Glaucous-winged Gull, perhaps selected to check the status of the golf balls the gulls have collected there.

The coots seemed to be split into two groups: the clean-billed and the dirty-billed. The dirty-billed had black…stuff…along their “lips”. I have no idea what it signifies. Maybe we have two rival coot gangs and the coot war is coming.

A lot of the birds we saw today were looking scruffy, due to moulting, and among them were some Green-winged Teals who looked a bit like unfinished paintings, with their heads flecked with green instead of lovingly smothered in it.

The drama here was kept to a minimum, though the geese were still being geese. You can’t fight your nature.

I have still not gotten a decent photo of a cowbird yet.

And we saw a pigeon couple kissing and kissing and kissing some more. Another male, meanwhile, was trying and failing to impress the ladies again.

We ended with a stop at the butterfly garden, which is still absent of butterflies, but did have a Goldenrod Crab Spider tucked inside a tulip, its front legs spread out, ready to give a deadly hug to any early pollinators. The one we saw was an almost translucent white, though they can change colour to match their surroundings. How sneaky!

The weather was better than forecast, but it was still very gray. I guess it makes the motre colourful birds pop, so there is that. In all, a nice bit of afternoon birding.

The Shots

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

A few shots, gallery pending:

When you got an itch, you gotta scratch.
The first Cinnamon Teal we’ve seen this year.
A Golden-crowned Sparrow looking contemplative.
This Bewick’s Wren was enjoying a nice dirth bath.
A Goldenrod Crab Spider waiting to give a pollinator a fatal hug.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Common Yellowthroat
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • House Sparrow
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow
  • Violet-green Swallow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Bewick’s Wren
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada Goose
  • Cinnamon Teal
  • Gadwall
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Killdeer
  • Marsh wren
  • Lesser Scaup
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Northern Shoveler
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Snow Goose
  • White-fronted Goose
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Glaucous-winged Gull

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Goldenrod Crab Spider

Birding, April 4, 2026: Bluebirds, gone geese and serious stares

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 17°C
NOTE: I am missing the previous entry, from March 28. It will be posted soon™.

My first (light) sunburn of the year, woo.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Some green returning to the marshaland at Reifel.

After months of being closed due to storms and bad bridges, Reifel Bird Sanctuary finally re-opened this week, so this was our first destination.

The only downside were two trail closures, the East Dyke (mostly) and the North Dyke, which shortened our outing a bit, bot not much. A few of the open trails are still in pretty rough shape, as the volunteers could not bring in needed equipment to repair while the bridge was closed.

But it was all good, because the very first thing we saw made the trip worth it. As we entered the parking lot, I noticed the section immediately on the right was cordoned off. I assumed it was another repair, but no, it was due to babby-making!

Specifically, a pair of killdeer chose to make a nest in the northeast corner of the gravel parking lot. While this was fine when the sanctuary was closed, it is more problematic now. We saw both parents and one of them was dashing about and then plunked down on what appeared to be three or four eggs, with the occasional head bob, as killdeer do. It’s adorable, though you can’t help but worry about how the future Killdeer will fare. On the other hand, Killdeer favour nests in the open, and they’re still around, so they may yet survive us.

In other birb news, we both got our first (blurry) shot of a Marsh Wren. They should become a bit more visible as they start looking for love in earnest.

The mallards especially seemed to miss us, because it felt like some were following us around the entire area, no doubt hoping for seed we did not have. Sorry, mallards! I compensated slightly by taking copious beauty shots of them.

We saw one or possibly two Sandhill Cranes (in separate locations) and witnessed a few duck battles (the inevitable goose drama was yet to come). Hormones make everyone crazy, it seems. Well, except geese are just naturally like that. And there was a mass of Western Painted Turtles on the logs at the London Slough. I’ve never seen so many. Some were so big you’d think they’d fallen into radioactive sewer water and mutated. If you’ve ever seen one of those “Western painted turtle sighting” signs, just know the answer is: Reifel.

In all, and despite the inevitable crowds (first weekend open, long weekend and sunny, mild weather) it was very nice to finally be back at Reifel.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, especially low today.

The Mountain Bluebird quest continued at Tlahutum, where multiple birds have been sighted. And success! We saw a couple with Big Lenses on one of the main trails and lo, off in the bushes were at least two Mountain Bluebirds. Sadly, they were a bit far away so even my 400mm lens struggled. I had to switch to manual focus to get anything even a bit decent. How old-timey! They are a very lovely shade of blue. Hopefully we’ll see more, and maybe a bit closer up.

We also saw Buffleheads, Gadwalls and a scruffy-looking immature Great Blue Heron, who was busy practicing his death stare (speaking of, and in reference to the title of this post, today was apparently my day for getting shots of birds staring directly into the camera).

Nic got some good shots of Tree Swallows, who were out in abundance at the big pond and we finally dared to venture around the still kind of flooded community garden, mostly skirting the edges, but it’s still a bit early. Many of the plots are still under construction. We shall return.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake Regional Park

Burnaby Lake, looking full and still lily pad-free.

We ended at Piper Spit and sought to silence our inner Bird Police, knowing someone would be feeding the birds. And there were people feeding them.

Speaking of feeding, on the way out, we saw a squirrel noshing away and it looked surprisingly similar to the chunky boi they have on the No Feeding signs.

At the spit, the water level was too high for shorebirds (boo) and apparently for seagulls, too, as they were absent. Left behind were the many golf balls they had collected. Seagulls are weird.

It was here that the geese reverted to form and generally went berserk, doing the cobra chicken thing over and over. I’m sure the internet could tell me why they do this–a show of dominance, some weird style of affection or something, but I like to think they’re just kind of loco.

And as a final bonus, a train passing through actually cleared the track before we got there, so we weren’t delayed on our departure.

In all, a fine outing.

The Shots

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

A few shots, gallery pending:

A Dark-eyed Junco looking for grub in the Reifel parking lot.
A cormorant sunning itself on a log, with American Wigeons drifting by in the background.
One of a nesting pair of Killdeer at Reifel.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird (allegedly heard but not seen)
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox Sparrow
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Mountain Bluebird
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Tree Swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American Coot
  • American Wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada Goose
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Gadwalls
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Killdeer
  • Marsh wren
  • Lesser Scaup
  • Mallard
  • Northern Pintail
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • A seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Airplanes
  • Golf balls
  • Western Painted Turtle en masse