Burnaby Lake

Birding, May 24, 2025: Dander, dinosaurs and dirt-dwelling demons

Where: Rocky Point Park, Old Orchard Park, Inlet Park, Old Mill Site Park (Port Moody), Admiralty Point Park, Bedwell Bay (Belcarra), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Sunny, 15-24°C

Rocky Point and environs

Very low tide at the east end of Burrard Inlet.

Today the forecast was warm and sunny, so I actually slapped on a copious amount of sunblock for the first time this year. It worked. No burning!

We started out with a return to the heron rookery near Rocky Point, as the baby dinosaurs (young herons) should be showing themselves in the nest around now–and they were! There seemed to be a max of three per nest and they were regularly looking about, sometimes getting up and flapping their proto-wings or walking around the edge of the nest. They presumably know to not try venturing out, because it’s a long way down. They are cutely hideous, with this dishevelled just-got-up look, but the stabby eyes already in place.

We ventured out onto Old Orchard Beach after, at my urging, and Nic stepped onto a dubious section to get closer to a heron to get a better shot. The heron flew off and Nic got stuck in the mud. He managed to extricate himself before I could get a photo, though. I went the long way around and remained unstuck.

We did not see much else, bird-wise in the area, but that’s normal. Nic spotted movement under some dirt and mulch and we watched as…something squirmed underneath, looking like it was about to emerge. And then it stopped. We have no idea if it was a particularly robust bug, a mole, or some eldritch horror.

Since we were over on the north side of the inlet, Nic suggested we visit Belcarra and check out some of the trails, so we did!

Belcarra

Stairs dappled in sun and shade on the Belcarra Bay Trail.

Repeating a theme throughout the day, there were a ton of people at the picnic area on the beach facing Boulder Island (the place one goes to rock out, presumably). This was the first summer-like day of the month, and I guess everyone wanted to savour it after most of May has been cooler and cloudier than normal.

We went down a few forest trails and I took possibly my worst-ever photo of a song sparrow with my kit lens. But I switched back to the telephoto as we came out to Bedwell Bay and there we found along the shore, getting pushed by the tide, a bunch of adorably tiny crabs.

This is an area with beautiful trails through forests, nice vistas, but not many birds, so we are unlikely to return too often, but it was nice to check out a new place.

Tlahutum Regional Park

The lily pads are now jumbo-sized at the main pond.

After the new, a return to the old and after some weeks of seeing few herons, they were all over today. We say one here grab a fair-sized fishy from one of the creeks. We also our first cedar waxwings of the season, woo. The big pond also featured a pair of shovellers who had not yet shovelled off. Or maybe never will, because apparently they just go into hiding. The community garden yielded few birbs, but there were shiny swallows, at least one white-crowned sparrow and pollinators on nearly every flower.

We made copious use of the water fountain here, as Tlahutum offers no over at all, and by now it was mid-afternoon.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Blue sky, blue water, no blue birds.

People were parked in pretty much every available space around the Nature House, but we lucked out and got a spot close to it.

The vibe (much as I hate the word) is different here right now for a few reasons:

  • The water level of the lake is considerably higher than normal. I assume this is a deliberate strategy, maybe to help with the rowing club. The downwisde is no shorebirds.
  • Bird feeding is currently prohibited due to attracting bears. A few people still were, but it was clear most were obeying and as a result, the waterfowl behvior was different, with many content to stay farther away from the pier, since there were no goodies to be had. This meant fewer adorable close-ups.
  • And of course, a lot of migrants have migrated. One day we will have coots again. One day.
  • Also, there were a weirdly large number of people fishing from the pier. Nic jokingly referred to it as International Fishing Day and a few kids nearby were ready to believe it, which, given the things people believe these days, is almost quaint!

We didn’t even catch any squirrels doing the cute squirrel thing. Maybe next time we’ll hit different parts of the trail and be blessed by the return of the mountain bluebirds. It could happen!

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant (and plenty of them)
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None?

Non-birds:

  • Bees, bees, bees
  • Dragonflies
  • Ladybugs
  • Something in the earth

Birding, May 18, 2025: It’s the horniest time of year

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Centennial Beach (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) 
Weather: Partly sunny, 12-16°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Looking east across one of the large ponds.

Today’s birding was X-rated, due to everything from dragonflies to swallows and sandhill cranes were getting it on. It was quite scandalous.

We started out at Reifel, where it seemed like most of the people there were Serious Birders and Their Very Gigantic Lenses. Even my 400 mm lens started feeling puny. On the other hand, I don’t have to stand 500 m away from a bird to get a shot.

We saw some baby ducks, which was fun, along with more goslings. Several male cowbirds were working it hard on the females, but the women were just not impressed.

In news both sad and horny, the Sandhill cranes have already abandoned their island nest, which has since been claimed by a goose as they expand their honking empire across the sanctuary. This likely means that any chicks they had did not survive. Undeterred, we witnessed them engage in a spontaneous (to us) mating ritual, so perhaps they are priming to try once again. Good luck, cranes!

Not to be left out, a pair of tree swallows did the nasty in a tree, which is the logical place for birds to make out. There was no fuss or muss here, just some very quick action, then each went about their business.

Shorebirds were finally spotted again in one of the big ponds–dowitchers, it looked like–but they were far off. Boo. And we only saw a single heron, which matches the number of turtles we saw as well.

In the cute department, apart from all the babbies, was a house sparrow fledgling, eating alongside a possible parent and looking delightfully scruffy.

Centennial Beach

Very low tide at Boundary Bay.

The tide was extremely low, so the odds of seeing shorebirds here were also extremely low, but we did see a single killdeer, more baby ducks and a crow amusing itself by dropping some manmade thingamabob from high up above the rocky beach.

We also saw a house sparrow nab a crunchy winged insect of some sort atop a concrete block near to us.

I actually can’t recall seeing much else. It was one of the least bird-filled visits to Centennial in recent memory.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

By the time we got to Piper Spit, the sky had grown dark and ominous.

We ended at Piper spit and by this time, the sun was mostly covered by clouds, the wind had picked up and the No Bird Feeding Due to Bear in Area sign was up, which everyone obviously ignored.

It was too late to visit the Nature House by the time we arrived, due to Google Maps sending us on a very indirect route from Centennial Beach, but we did see about a billion more goslings, the Sandhill crane was present yet again (though standing in bad light) and more cowbirds were trying to get it on.

The lake level was way up after recent showers, so shorebirds were absent yet again. We had to make due with pigeons, a squirrel and the usual waterfowl.

Overall, it was a fine outing, and I got some snazzy shots, particularly at Reifel, where I had my R7 out for the first time..

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Common yellowthroat
  • Marsh wren
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rough-winged swallow
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Long-billed dowitchers
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Dragonflies
  • Assorted and chonky squirrels

Birding, May 11, 2025: Nature in the face

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

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

Maplewood Flats

It is very green in the forest.

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

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

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

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

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

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

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

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

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

Tlahutum Regional Park

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

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

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

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

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

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Various bugs and bees
  • Black squirrels

May 3, 2025 birding shots added

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

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

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

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

Rocky Point Park, etc.

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

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

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

Como Lake

Como Lake, mostly bird-free.

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

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

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

Tlahutum Regional Park

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

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

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Rippled water and dramatic clouds over Burnaby Lake.

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

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

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

The Shots

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

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

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

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Various bugs and bees

A few shots around Burnaby Lake, April 30, 2025

Taken after my run on my iPhone 12, which I’m getting closer to going from joking about replacing to actually replacing.

And it won’t be with another iPhone.

But now, the pics!

Still Creek with bridge
View from bridge
Still Creek, looking north
View from bridge over Seer Lake Brook
Lily pads reclaiming the lake
Still Creek with bonus goose

Birding, April 26, 2025: Sit, sing, poop

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Boundary Bay (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, windy 12-18°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Rusty the pipe in the slowly-greening marshland.

Reifel was mild, breezy and packed full of people. I think I saw more people than birds.

The geese were quiet until they weren’t. Once one starts honking, the GHM1Goose Hive Mind takes over and they all honk.

We saw a few pintails, so they haven’t all left yet, but chances are decent these may be the last we see until they return next migration. Goodbye, pointy-tailed butts!

We saw a few Sandhill cranes, two of them on their little “making babbies” island, until one departed for the shore where it hung out with the aforementioned geese. Among other winter refugees, we also saw a few scaups, though their numbers have dwindled, too.

Making up for it were swallows and plenty of them, including some that may have been barn swallows but might have been something else, but were probably barn swallows.

There were definitely others that were barn swallows.

And even though one of the bird signs at the sanctuary identifies them as a local (or at least regularly visiting) species, we saw cinnamon teals for the first time: a male and female pair in a pond near the viewing tower. The male is a very bright orange, with piercing red eyes. They each have big bills reminiscent of shovellers, but smaller. The male especially was in very serious dabbling mode, constantly dunking his head.

We also saw an adorable pair of Least sandpipers at one of the inner ponds, the first time I think we’ve seen them at Reifel.

We heard and saw marsh wrens again, underscoring that the best time to see a marsh wren is when he’s horny. Come summer, they’ll be nearly-impossible to spot again.

In all, a pretty good outing, though again, the number of people milling about was noticeable. Also, I felt inadequate with all the people carrying lenses half as long as I am.

Boundary Bay

Looking southeast toward the bay, with bonus chairs.

The main quest here was to find a common yellowthroat, with a side of Savannah sparrow. Mission accomplished on both, though most of the time they were far off and the shots were not great.

We did get a pair of nice matching burns on our necks, though, as I brought sunblock, then thought it was a good idea to just leave it in the car. I am very smart.

While we slowly burned, we observed a few other birds, mostly swallows, what seemed like an endless supply of herons flying overhead, bald eagles circling about or sitting on far-off logs, and a robin or two, which would usually move just as I was lining up a shot. I took photos of the golf course, instead, as I was fairly confident it would not suddenly fly off on me.

There was also construction equipment out and aboot as they are expanding the width and possibly the height of the dyke in one section for reasons. As it was the weekend, the equipment was idle. I took pictures. Again, the equipment was close and very still.

Piper Spit

A few errant lily pads showing. In a few months, nearly the entire surface will be covered in them.

Sufficiently burned, we ended as we do most times at Piper Spit. No pintails or coots here, and the scaup population was quite low. There were plenty of geese, a few gulls and the usual gangs of wood ducks and mallards. We saw one green-winged teal. Maybe there were more?

There were a lot of people here, too, including a very bossy little kid shouting orders to his family like, “Get your camera!” One kid decided to kind of play with his giant hat instead of wear it and dropped it off the pier. His father helped him get it out. He’s lucky there weren’t more gulls around. They’d totally go for a hat.

As it happened, this is where I learned the limits of the battery in Nic’s old Sony camera. After 691 shots, I got the “Battery exhausted” message and had to resort to taking scenery shots with my 107-year-old iPhone. Admittedly, we were close to wrapping up, so I didn’t miss out on much, really.

Overall, a nice day, with maybe bigger crowds than would be ideal, but with unexpected delights along the way, like the cinnamon teals and sandpipers.

The Shots

Theoretically possible

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Cinnamon teal
  • Common yellowthroat
  • European starling
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Marsh wren
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow
  • ??? swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Lesser sandpiper
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • A few black squirrels
  • Various bugs and bees
  • A persistent helicopter

Birding, April 19, 2025: Herons herons herons!

Where: Crescent Beach (Surrey), Serpentine Fen (Surrey), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Sapperton Landing (New Westminster)
Weather: Mostly sunny, very windy 12-14°C

Crescent Beach/Blackie Spit

View looking east from Blackie Spit.

We headed off under a dreary gray sky (I actually changed out of my shorts to long pants), but by the time we got to our first destination, Crescent Beach, the sun was out. I didn’t regret changing, though, as it was quite windy (gusts up to 37 km/hour), and it was keenly felt right on the ocean.

However, we were rewarded with a somewhat rare sighting of a black-bellied plover, walking along the shore by itself, in its full mating colours. It was a bit far off, but still nice to see. We also saw various killdeer, but my photos of them were thwarted by a combination of foliage and distance. Or maybe a killdeer kurse.

I had better luck shooting some gulls, getting probably the best in-flight shots I’ve taken. There was also a group of herons that came swooping in over the area near the pump house, and I got my best-ever shots of herons in the air. None of them were pooping, though. You can’t have everything.

We wrapped up and headed to destination #2: Serpentine Fen.

Serpentine Fen

Mrsh wrens in here, somewhere.

Yet another heron flew in over the river mere moments after we arrived. Having seen very few herons recently, herons were all over the place today.

We also saw an eagle perched on the roof of the first viewing tower, but it took off before we could get closer, alas. Nearby in the river, a goose was sitting on a nest on a little island, looking strangely serene. Close by in the water were another goose and a heron. For a time it seemed like there might be goose/heron drama, but the heron wandered away.

We saw some shovellers in the ponds here, too, so maybe this is their secret “migration” spot.

The second viewing tower had a hole in the floor big enough to slip a foot through:

The hole as seen from below, from the safety of the ground.

I did not linger long in the second viewing tower.

The third tower never presents much of a view, but if you climb one tower, you gotta climb them all, them’s the rules.

Nic was taunted by a few marsh wrens as we neared the end, but decent photos of them were not in the cards (or the marsh) today.

With the weather warming up slightly, we moved on to Piper Spit.

Piper Spit

The lake surface rippling under a steady wind.

As it’s a holiday weekend, there were a fair number of people at the pier, but it wasn’t too bad. We noted the absence of two recent regulars: Northern pintails and coots. The absence of any potential coot drama just feels wrong. The geese made no attempt to pick up the slack, perhaps due to the copious amount of seed everywhere. Too much, really.

I saw and shot my first brown-headed cowbird of the season, but it was in some bushes, which made getting good shots impossible, short of having a convenient chainsaw, which would probably spook the birds and every other living thing in a 100-meter radius (including myself, I should never operate a chainsaw).

Still, we got shots of geese wearing leaves and seed, ducks wearing petals, and pigeons snoozing in the sun.

Sapperton Landing

New Pattullo bridge in foreground, old one in background.

After arriving back in New Westminster, I offered up Sapperton Landing as our last stop for the day. It doesn’t always yield a lot of birbs, but has nice scenery as a backup. We did see a song sparrow and an Anna’s hummingbird, along with assorted waterfowl (none very close, as is often the case here). The replacement Pattullo Bridge is coming along and unlike birds, there’s never any risk of motion blur in shooting it. Several of the scenery shots I took here were strangely crooked, even by my usual standards.

Overall, a nice variety of locales, some rarely-seen birds, some darn good shots by both of us, and sunny skies, even if the windchill meant it felt like single digits of much of the day.

The Shots

Theoretically possible

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Barn swallow (first time this season)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • European starling
  • Golden-crowned kinglet (heard)
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Marsh wren
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Tree swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American wigeon
  • Black-bellied plover
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada goose
  • Double-crested cormorant
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Killdeer
  • Mallard
  • Northern shoveller
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Fleeting squirrels
  • Various bugs and bees

Birding, April 5, 2025: Birbs Behind Branches

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, some sun, 11-16°C

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Endless marshland and a hazy blue sky.

The weather was downright pleasant today. Nic wore shorts! I did not. Maybe next time the weather is nice.

We got to Reifel early and given the weather, it was pretty busy. Among the many people was local bird photographer Liron Gertsman, who I recognized as he and his groupies/friends walked past up and went to the top of the viewing tower. I spotted him due to his adorable baby beard. He probably won several awards while at the top of the tower for photography, these things just seem to happen to him.

Meanwhile, on the ground, we saw a good mix of birds. The shoveller numbers seem to be thinning, but we encountered many a YARG (Yet Another Random Goose) as they were scattered all over the place.

The tree swallows are back, looking like shiny little penguins and setting up home in assorted bird boxes. Marsh wrens were singing their little hearts out and a few of them appeared long enough for us to get some decent shots. The even harder-to-shoot golden-crowned kinglets were also flitting about and amazingly, several stopped long enough to make up for the hundred or so blurry or not-quite-there shots. It’s always nice to be reviewing your photos and encounter a good shot only a few photos in.

We saw two Sandhill cranes, though they were apart–one adult and one rather vocal juvenile. I wonder why the family is split up.

The drama this time came courtesy of a cantankerous coot, who took umbrage to a duck, stretched up to full height (and looking very chicken-like) and doing a kind of karate kick with one of its impressively freaky feet to a nearby mallard. It ended after that, but yeah, don’t mess with coots, I guess.

The geese were relatively well-behaved, and all of the ducks gave us good pose.

Burnaby Lake

Increasing green adjacent to Still Creek.

We weren’t at Burnaby Lake for too long for reasons, but the main objective–to find recently-sighted mountain bluebirds–eluded us. Instead, we came across a large murder of geese (that’s what I’m calling them) on the athletic field, except, upon closer inspection with both eyes and ears, these were not Canada geese, but the smaller and honk-free Cackling geese. We’d never seen a large group of them before. They’re kind of adorable with their short necks and stubbier beaks. And they don’t honk, they kind of peep-honk (it doesn’t sound like cackling to me).

There were chickadees here, too, but they were one of the birbs I failed to get any really good shots of today, alas. It was a fine outing otherwise.

The Shots

Theoretically possible

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • European starling
  • Golden-crowned kinglet
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House sparrow
  • Marsh wren
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead
  • Cackling goose
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • White-fronted goose
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • A rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier (maybe?)

Non-birds:

  • Turtles on a log
  • One chonky black squirrel

Birding, March 22, 2025: Some bunny is better than no bunny

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, some sun, 9°C

Piper spit

The lake level is still high, the lily pads still submerged, but let’s check back in a month.

Today’s trek was a bit shorter than usual due to a late start and me not feeling entirely skookum in the morning. I walked to Burnaby Lake, and we then walked from Cariboo Dam to Piper spit and to our delight, there were birbs on the way, specifically black-capped chickadees and plenty of ’em. We also saw some towhees, as well as various sparrows, which was a lot more than the last trip here.

We also saw the titular bunny, but it didn’t stay around long, due to a couple of people walking close by it. I got several lousy shots, though! (I did better with the chickadees.)

In another sign of spring, skunk cabbage is starting to pop up in the marshy spots alongside the trails. It isn’t quite to the point where it earns its name, but that will happen soon™.

At the spit, the better-than-forecast weather meant there were a fair number of people, but it was fine. The people were much better behaved than the waterfowl, who were rather nippy with each other. Several geese went full-on berserk. Spring fever, perhaps.

And I almost got a decent shot of a gull in flight. Almost. Maybe I’ll just focus on them for a bit one time and adjust settings to better capture them in the air.

I did get more good shots of some crows. Yeah, they’re just crows, but in the right light (which I got today) you can see a ton of detail in their feathers, rather than it all just being a spooky black blur. And I enjoy taking shots of “ordinary” birds, always hoping to catch them doing something weird.

In all, it was a fine outing, even if it was a bit more compact than usual. The only thing I really missed was getting a shot of a squirrel being adorable. Maybe next time, when I show up completely covered in nuts.

Side note: Efforts to revive my old one have failed, so I am tottes looking for a replacement now. I did discover the camera still shoots and records video, though, so I could still use it to become a world-famous vlogger.

The Shots

Theoretically possible

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Bufflehead
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada goose
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • A bunny (that didn’t stick around long)!

Birding, March 16, 2025: Ducks don’t care

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Party sunny, some showers, bonus hail, 7°C

Piper spit

A goose on the field near Cariboo Dam, suspicious of me taking its photo.

With a narrow window of possibly decent weather, we decided to do a quick afternoon of birding at Piper Spit and take our chances. The weather held for the most part, with the sun poking out at times, though we did get the occasional and rather brief cloudburst (literally, ten seconds of rain, then it would stop). As we crossed over the dam upon exiting, it got fun with hail as well.

But despite the lack of song birds (I managed to catch all of one song sparrow), the waterfowl were still out in force, with the lake level higher and the land mass east of the pier temporarily reduced to two small islands, which the crows and gulls seemed to be fighting over. The shorebirds were gone, departed to other shallows.

Even the blackbirds seemed to be mostly hidden, with bunches chattering in the trees, but mostly out of sight.

The usual gang were out in abundance, though a lot were acting a bit snippy, with lots of tail biting and such (hence the title, because ducks don’t care about you if you’re in their section of the lake). Several geese were acting berserk, which is almost comforting in these troubling times.

It was Sunday, so the number of people shouldn’t have been a surprise, but still, it surprised me. Most started clearing out mid-afternoon when it seemed clear (ho ho) that the weather was shifting.

And we got treated to a Douglas squirrel being adorable, so in the end it was fine overall.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Coquitlam River, looking dark ‘n moody.

We skipped the community garden and a glance later confirmed ponds a-plenty throughout, so it would not have been easy to navigate without getting into the muck. Plus, the flowerbeds are still too fallow to be attracting birbs.

The waterways along the trails did yield a few species we didn’t see at Piper Spit, namely some gadwalls and, somewhat unusually (for us), a pair of grebes.

It was rather brisk, though. Every shot I took looks cold. The bridge over the Coquitlam River had shiny new planks, though. Well, they weren’t shiny, because they’re wood, but they had that fresh wood look to them.

In all, a shortish trip to Tlahutum, but not a bad one. The weather was again a bit erratic, starting out quite decent (the rains in Burnaby missed the area) but turning dark ‘n moody as the afternoon progressed. Still, we mostly dodged the rain again.

Overall, not bad for a truncated outing, but I’m looking forward to it being a bit greener, a bit warmer and a bit drier.

The Shots

Theoretically possible

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco (I saw some en route to Burnaby Lake, so I’m counting them)
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee (heard, not seen)

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Bufflehead
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Green-winged teal
  • Kingfisher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Pied-billed grebe
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • A slightly chonky Douglas squirrel

Birding, March 1, 2025: A conglomeration of waterfowl

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Everett Crowley Park (Vancouver), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sun and high cloud, 7-14°C

The Outing

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Moodly-looking marshland.

I missed the snow at Reifel in the sense that I was not there when the snow was. I did not otherwise miss it. Today it was mostly sunny and quite mild, with temperatures well above normal and little to no wind.

We didn’t have to go far to find the Sandhill cranes, as three of them milled around us right at the entrance. A sad note here, as one of the nearly adult-size babbies disappeared a few weeks and has not been seen, despite park volunteers looking for it, or signs of it. The others were wandering about in that nonchalant way of theirs. We also had our best view of the night heron, which was still not great.

The great blue heron were mostly seen from a distance, and one of their usual spots in the slough near the entrance had been taken over by the largest gathering of turtles I’ve seen there, spread out among the logs and basking in the sun.

After shooting the cranes, we headed up the East Dyke trail and saw a large blob of people ahead, gathered in the area where owls have been spotted. They had spotted an owl, specifically an adorable little Northern saw-whet owl (less adorable if you’re a vole or field mouse). Even better, I got probably my best owl shots ever, which is admittedly not a high bar, since almost all of my previous shots ranged from bad to “I swear there’s an owl there.”

Chickadees were in short supply, which seemed odd, but we did see a few wood ducks, the geese had returned and honked regularly to remind you they had done so. Towhees were once again out in large numbers. No sign of any spring migrants yet.

And eagles. Everywhere we saw eagles, flying in circles in groups of about six to eight, all over the place. Maybe a social thing? It was a good way to test the strength of my arms, as to get shots I had to point the camera straight up at the sky. The shots I got were okay, but Nic fared a bit better.

I got my first-ever shots of a trio of hummingbirds at one feeder, all drinking instead of fighting. Some of the shots were pretty decent, woo.

Reifel was also quite busy, which was not surprising given how mild it was. Overall, it felt like we moved through more quickly than usual, but we both got good shots, so that was OK.

Everett Crowley Park

Avalon Pond, where a few ducks were hanging out.

This was a new place for us and a rare bit of birding in Vancouver proper. The park is nice enough and has nice, wide trails and a cute little pond called Avalon Pond, where we saw a few mallards. However, many of the trails are off-leash for dogs and this is obviously a very popular spot for dog walkers, which is not great for birding, as birds and dogs do not normally act like best buds together. We did see a junco and a few robins, and one song sparrow. BUT…one of the robins was leucistic up in the hizzy, with a lot of white all over parts of its body that are normally not white, giving it a distinctive and snazzy look. This pretty much made the trip worthwhile. That said, we probably won’t come back, due to the dogs.

There were signs noting that No nuisance barking was allowed. I wonder where the line is between acceptable and nuisance barking is?

Also, it doesn’t state who shouldn’t dig, so I assume the rule applies to both dogs and people. Several large holes indicated this rule was not always being observed.

Barking your shin is allowed, but not recommended.

Piper Spit

View from Piper Spit, looking east.

The sun had mostly disappeared between high clouds at Piper Spit, which made us sad, and our trip to the rowing pavilion yielded no birds other than pigeons, though we did get some scenery shots.

At the spit itself, the usual gang was there, including a gull that was very proud of the golf ball it had procured. There was duck drama, but the coots seemed relatively well-behaved. The geese were honking and being weird and one on the pier got nippy, and also started showing its tongue, which is something you should never see or ever want to see.

In good news, the dowitchers were back. In less good news, they were on the west side of the pier, which is bad from a lighting perspective. Nothing some post-processing magic can’t fix, I suppose.

There were also quite a few people here, many holding out their hands to feed the blackbirds and one person bravely risking all of her fingers by letting a goose eat from her hand. I would only do this while wearing industrial gloves. And a welding mask.

In all, a nice mix of old and new, with perfectly pleasant weather that beat the ice and snow of our last outing a few weeks back.

The Shots

Soon?™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Black-crowned night heron
  • Canada goose
  • Common merganser
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveller
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Assorted gulls
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagles and plenty of ’em
  • Northern saw-whet owl

Non-birds:

  • A few squirrels
  • Approximately one million turtles
  • Lots of dogs, but none that were nuisance barking