View of Burnaby Lake just west of Cariboo Dam, between walks.
A little slower today, but also a fair bit warmer and drier. I surprised myself by doing as much running as I did on the second walk.
Mr right ankle felt a bit stiff/janky at times when running, probably from lack of use. 😛 I did remember to stretch before heading out, though!
Being a Saturday, there were oodles of people at Hume Park, enjoying the pool, the shade and possibly alcohol, which can now be consumed in specific areas. Kids on swing sets on one side, drunk adults belching creatively on the other.
The river trail was relatively quiet, though, probably due to the heat (I did not pick an optimal time to go out), with no other joggers and no dogs at all. It was kind of nice.
Anyway, my steps are complete for another day.
Stats:
Walk 116 and 117 Average pace: 9:32 and 8:30/km Location: Brunette River trail/Burnaby Lake Distance: 4.02 and 4.04 km Time: 38:17 and 34:19 Weather: Sunny Temp: 29-30°C Humidity: 45-42% Wind: light BPM: 113 and 121 Weight: 167.0 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 855.82 km
After missing yesterday’s run due to a toothache, I decided I needed some kind of exercise today, even though the tooth is still kind of hurting (I go to the dentists tomorrow).
I left late morning to avoid Xtreme Heat, and it was fine, with a nice breeze blowing. There were some off-leash dogs on the river trail, but fortunately well-behaved. There were no other incidents of note, and the walks were much like the previous–strictly walking on the way to the lake, with a good mix of walking and running on the way back. I felt fine and my mouth cooperated enough that it didn’t distract me.
And that’s about it!
The ever turtle-free Turtle Nesting Area, before starting back from Burnaby Lake.
Stats:
Walk 114 and 115 Average pace: 9:13 and 8:19/km Location: Brunette River trail/Burnaby Lake Distance: 4.02 and 4.03 km Time: 37:01 and 33:32 Weather: Sunny Temp: 23-25°C Humidity: 60-62% Wind: light BPM: 121 and 129 Weight: 167.4 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 847.76 km
I’m counting this as two walks, as I clocked them separately, due to the gap in between them.
I have been getting my daily steps in, but haven’t been doing a lot of capital “e” Exercise lately. It’s Sunday, so I didn’t want to run, but I do have my new orange and purple Speedgoat 6 trail runners, so I put them on and walked to the lake and walked/ran on the way back.
It was fairly warm at 28C, but most of the trek is in the shade or out of direct sunlight, so it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t experience any issues, and I got to watch two Douglas squirrels chase each other around a tree at Burnaby Lake. In all, a good excursion and test of my shoes.
The two Douglas squirrels referenced above.
Stats:
Walk 112 and 113 Average pace: 9:01 and 8:41/km Location: Brunette River trail/Burnaby Lake Distance: 3.02 and 4.02 km Time: 27:14 and 34:56 Weather: Sunny Temp: 28°C Humidity: 56% Wind: light BPM: 120 and 121 Weight: 167.2 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 847.76 km
Serene and bird-free pond. (Technically, there were a few birds.)
For the first time since we began visiting Reifel, we got stopped as the bridge to Westham Island was rotated to allow a sailboat to pass through. It was kind of neat for the first few seconds, then it was just mostly waiting for it to swing back so we could actually get to the birds.
Once there, I noticed the gusting wind of the last few visits was mostly being absent. It cleared up earlier than perhaps expected, and I slapped on sunblock midway through. I only got a little bit of a burn where the camera strap tugs near the top of my t-shirt. I blame a lack of mirror during application.
The wood ducks have vacated the sanctuary again, though I have no idea where they go, because they always come back at some point. This meant most areas were dominated by mallards. The geese seemed to have claimed the main pond by the west dyke and were disturbingly quiet, most of them spending their time napping, like they’re conserving energy for an invasion or something. I don’t think I heard a single honk. Eerie!
There were cowbirds on hand, and they were acting weird–something we would see again at Piper Spit, as the guys were showing off to each other and the women. None seemed particularly impressed. But they persevered, puffing up their feathers, arching their heads back and making lots of weird little peeps and calls.
The freaky catfish have returned to the London Slough, affording us some delightfully hideous shots of them, as they congregate near the surface and directly below the railing overlooking the slough.
We did not see any marsh wrens this time, but Nic managed a few photos of a Bewick’s wren. There were a few chickadees around, but only a few, and I could only get butt shots. But they were nicely detailed butt shots.
They couldn’t touch the robin butt shot that Nic got. That one was truly spectacular, hall of fame material.
The other highlights:
A juvenile killdeer! Cute! But a little too far away to get great shots.
Ducklings! Several groups, one quite close to us, still fairly young, so very fuzzy and adorable. We also saw some juveniles, which look more like mini adult ducks now. Strangely, we did not see any goslings.
Several small groups of greater yellowlegs hanging out in the main pond by the outer dyke. There’s been a bit of a paucity of shorebirds lately, so this was nice.
We saw a mysterious sooty-coloured bird sitting up in a tree between two of the inner ponds. It looks like an all-black swallow. Merlin suggested a Northern rough-winged swallow, which is a clear miss, and even a brown-headed cowbird, also a million miles off. It’s rare to stump Merlin when you have pretty clear shots of the bird in question, but we did! We debated whether it might be a purple martin, but to me the beak did not have quite the right shape. I declare it Sooty Swallow.
The sandhill crane couple that is nesting on a small island in an inner pond has had babbies! Only about a week old, there are two of them, and we went to the viewing area (the central trail is temporarily closed to keep pesky humans away), where the “maximum 6 people” rule was, shall we say, loosely enforced. To everyone’s credit, people were quiet and letting them just do their thing. In the case of the babies, this was mostly just sitting, occasionally lifting a head up, or walking a very short distance before repeating the first two. Nic got a shot of a worm-feeding. Who doesn’t like a fresh yummy worm hand beak-delivered?
I had some issues with my camera that prompted me to use my new PACK1Portable Awesome Cleaning Kit, which consists of a repurposed earbuds case filled with cotton swabs and a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol, but troubles persisted, as you will see.
Centennial Beach
The usual very low tide at Boundary Bay.
Centennial Beach was fairly busy for a Friday afternoon. It was the last day of school, and I’m guessing they still do the half day thing, so the kids were taking advantage of the sunny weather. The pond had a few mallards, but we got some great shots of assorted dragonflies, including a couple that were…coupling. I’m not going to judge by saying the way dragonflies reproduce is freaky and terrifying, but.
We unlocked the Savannah sparrow achievement. Centennial is a pretty reliable place for seeing them, you just have to hope one lands close enough to get some good shots. In this case, we had one perch atop a sign post, which was very considerate on his part.
There were a lot of crows around, for some reason. We saw one cooling off on the ground by spreading its wings and “panting”, a few others bully some starlings out of the topmost branches of a tree, and another harassing a Northern harrier who probably got too close to some hideously rotten something-or-other the crow had down on the mudflat waiting for him.
We also saw two bunnies, the first of which gave us several excellent cute bunny poses and didn’t seem overly fussed by our presence. We aren’t raptors, so I guess that checks out.
I used the “level” feature in my iPhone’s camera app to see if it would help with my often-titled scenery shots–and it did!
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Looking east from the pier, toward the towers around Lougheed.
We ended at Piper Spit, where the wood ducks were not at all absent, though the males in particular are looking quite scruffy in some cases. The geese here were also very eerily quiet, and the cowbirds were just as weird as at Reifel. Blackbirds were more plentiful, and a bunch of rock pigeons were hanging out. The regular rains of June meant the land mass is completely submerged, and the overall higher water level also meant no shorebirds here. :sadtrombone:
It seemed to be nap time, so many of the ducks and others were napping, nestled in the shaded areas filled with comfy grass. Like Reifel, we saw no goslings here. Maybe they were over in the fields. Or gathering for the invasion I mentioned above.
Piper Spit has such a different vibe in the summer. It’s utterly pleasant and pretty, but strangely quiet compared to the height of migratory seasons in the spring and fall (roughly speaking). Still, we did get some nice shots of a chunky gray squirrel doing that classic cute squirrel pose. And we didn’t get stuck waiting behind a train.
Overall, a fine morning and afternoon of birding.
The Shots
Bumblebee on a flower.
Barn swallow hanging out.
A butterfly of species "I'm too lazy to look up."
Cowbird on a rail.
A week old Sandhill crane baby, looking fuzzy and adorable.
Ducklings.
Ducklings on the move.
A baby duck.
A great blue heron flies low over a slough.
Dragonfly on wood.
Bee on a wildflower.
A red soldier beetle getting its pollen on.
A song sparrow looking contemplative.
Song sparrow state.
A song sparrow sings.
A house sparrow having a dirt bath.
A mysterious sooty-coloured swallow.
A gathering of greater yellowlegs at one of Reifel's larger outer ponds.
A bunny praying for carrots, perhaps.
Bunny in the grass. It seemed relatively unperturbed by our presence.
Look back and caw.
A crow beating the heat.
Dragonfly on dirt.
A killdeer exploring along the shoreline.
Cowbird shining in the sun.
A blackbird ponders.
What lurks in the mind of a Canada goose?
A Canada goose extreme grooming.
A mallard resting in the grass.
A mallard gliding off Piper Spit.
A pigeon observes activities from above.
The lighting and scenery almost make this squirrel shot look like a diorama.
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The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American goldfinch
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Barn swallow
Bewick’s wren
Black-capped chickadees
Brown-headed cowbird
Cedar waxwing
House sparrow
Mysterious dark swallow
Red-winged blackbird
Rufous hummingbird
Savannah sparrow
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Tree swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Greater yellowlegs
Killdeer
Mallard
Northern pintail (one!)
Sandhill crane
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
European starling
Seagull
Raptors:
Bald eagle
Northern harrier
Non-birds:
A chunky squirrel
Catfish (probably brown bullhead, though I am not a fishologist)
I pondered what to do today in terms of activity. Last week, I did not run due to a head/chest cold, which continues to linger on into this week. It came down to one of three options:
Take the camera and walk to Piper Spit. Round trip: 12 km.
Do a casual walk to the lake and back. Round trip: 8 km.
Do a walk to the lake, then another back, but dressed for a run and treating the walks as exercise. Round trip: 8 km.
I opted for option #3 and in fact ran a great deal of the second walk back. The weather was pleasant, with a light breeze and a mix of sun and cloud. I experienced no issues during the run part (but forgot to stretch before, whoopsie). When I first got to the lake, I briefly contemplated an actual run (even just 2.5 km) but ultimately decided I was not quite ready.
You can see a clear difference in the two walks, though, with average paces of 9:25/km and 7:39/km when I kicked it up the proverbial notch.
My Garmin watch was not overly impressed. After the walk to the lake, my training status went from Detraining to, well, it stayed at Detraining. But after the second walk (which involved a lot of running), it improved to…Unproductive. I suppose the next time it will get nudged, possibly, to Recovery.
It was nice to at least get out and get moving again.
Turtle Nesting Area at Burnaby Lake, where I have still yet to see a turtle.
Stats:
Walk 111 Average pace: 9:25 and 7:39/km Location: Brunette River trail/Burnaby Lake Distance: 4.02 and 4.04 km Time: 37:48 and 30:54 Weather: Sun and cloud Temp: 20°C Humidity: 53% Wind: light BPM: 116 and 130 Weight: 170.1 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 840.71 km
Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Como Lake (Coquitlam), Rocky Point Park (Port Moody), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, 12-20°C
The Outing
With a rare day of sun, we headed off for a day of Friday birding.
Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Everywhere you go, it’s gonna be lily pads.
We started at Burnaby Lake–but with a twist! We would start at the Avalon parking lot, walk to Piper Spit, then continue around the entire 10.3 km loop back to the parking lot.
We had barely begun our trek when, sitting on a railing on the footbridge over Silver Creek, we saw a Swainson’s thrush–a lifer. This is the same spot we also saw a brown creeper, so apparently it’s a favourite hangout for Birds You Almost Never See. After grabbing a few shots before it flew off, we continued on to Fungus Face™, where several Douglas squirrels were dashing about, stopping occasionally to sit on their haunches, nibble on food and look adorable. After a few moments, it became apparent that there were more than just a couple squirrels. Several were taking to higher branches and chittering in a vaguely disturbing way, perhaps as a territorial display. As the vibe shifted from “aw, cute!” to “be prepared to run” we opted to move on.
We’ve had quite a bit of rain recently, and this was evident at Piper Spit, where the land mass to the east of the pier–which had been getting larger–was now completely submerged. The lone coot was absent, but in its place was a single green-winged teal. The male mallards and wood ducks are rapidly shedding their mating colours, and letting themselves go, as men do in the summer. The pier was dominated by geese and their rapidly-growing goslings, some of whom are entering that awkward teen phase where they have tiny heads but giant legs. It was apparently morning nap time, so there wasn’t a lot of activity, though the geese were being weird, as usual.
We moved to the viewing platform next door and appreciated the scenery and sun before heading back down. This is where we encountered Sarcasto. He had a BTL1Big Telephoto Lens, identifying him as a likely birder. He was on the trail leading to the viewing platform and aiming at some kind of bird. Apparently as we approached the bird took off. Someone else nearby wondered what it was, to which Nic responded likely a house finch. Sarcasto turned around to us and said, in a clearly sarcastic tone, “Thank you.” Like we had done a terrible thing by possibly and unintentionally scaring off a finch.
Sarcasto would follow us for much of the rest of the way, probably thinking of new sarcastic things to say the whole time.
We continued on encountered two more lifers (for me, at least, Nic can confirm if both were lifers for him as well): a dusky flycatcher and a willow flycatcher. It was a liferpalooza.
Other highlights from around the lake:
An osprey circling above Piper Spit
A heron flying close overhead, then perching in a nearby tree and looking all stabby-faced for us
the water fountains (yes, these count as highlights)
Several pretty views of the lake, which is already in its lily pad-covered glory
Swallows buzzing low over the water at the rowing club and then hanging out on the marshy shore nearby
A surprise killdeer hanging out with them that we didn’t see until Nic spotted it in one of his photos afterwards
A coyote wandering the trail right near the 10 km mark. It moved off onto one of the horse trails before we could get photos, alas
With over 20,000 steps already logged on my watch, we moved on.
Como Lake (Coquitlam)
Como Lake was the smallest and calmest body of water we visited. Plus baby ducks!
I suggested Como Lake, because it is small and easy to walk around and we might see ducks or something. And we did! We also saw ducklings, which were cute and fuzzy and seemed to enjoy snarfing up the copious amounts of cottonwood dander floating on the lake surface (cottonwood dander was everywhere). This was the place that had famously netted off access points to the water to get rid of the geese and on last visit it had been a 100% success–no geese to be found.
This time they were legion, complete with goslings. But it was worth it for the baby ducks. Maybe they’ll put the netting back once everyone is all grown up.
There are also ping pong tables here now, and playing ping pong on a bright summer day strikes me as both weird and appealing.
Rocky Point Park (Port Moody)
The supports indicating the height of the previous bordwalk can be seen on the right.
The last time we went to Rocky Point Park, we never actually got there, because there was no place to park, and we left without ever stopping.
Being that it was a weekday this time, we actually did manage to park.
On the downside, there were few birds to be seen, mostly just crows. But the scenery was nice–what we could see of it. We hit the Shoreline Trail and discovered that since our last visit they have been replacing the boardwalk at the end of the inlet (the new boardwalk is being raised significantly higher “to accommodate rising sea levels due to climate change”, which is both a good thing to plan for, but also yikes, because the new boardwalk is going to be a lot higher). This meant we had to go around on the street to get to the other side, where a man showed Nic photos of a local bear (the furry kind that lives in the forest and hibernates, not the furry kind that hits on cubs in bars). I shot a few of the crows, then as we headed back, we encountered two people from Environment Canada (?) that identified us as birders thanks to our BTLs. They let us know about a heron rookery that will still have its hideously cute fledglings for about another month before they leave the nest, so we may venture back to catch some shots before then. We didn’t immediately go because at this point we’d walked about 5 million steps.
While the views were nice, Rocky Point ended up being a bit of a disappointment. I mean, even a couple of seagulls dropping clams from the sky would have been something. Alas.
Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
An orange-belted bumblee in the communmity garden.
The people above also mentioned a kind of bunting at Tlahutum, which was our next and last destination. Unfortunately, neither of us could remember their general directions on where to go, but it seemed to be two spots: one in a grove of trees near the first and smaller parking lot (which we never park at), and the other past a pond by the forensic psychiatric hospital. We tried the area near the smaller parking lot first, but did not see any buntings–or any other birds. Merlin stayed mum.
We moved to the main parking lot and noodled around near the entrance to the hospital, discovering a grassy labyrinth (complete with signpost identifying it as such), leading to a debate over labyrinth vs. maze. We saw no sign of any pond. Nic wondered if it might be near the gazebo, but it appeared occupied, and it just felt creepy to wander the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, so we agreed to do more research and try again at a later date.
With the aforementioned 5 million steps in mind, we stuck to the community gardens, and only certain parts of it, as all the rain had resulted in big ol’ puddles forming again at key junctions. We saw a lot of swallows, including a violet green swallow. We briefly saw some goldfinches and Nic managed a single shot before they flew away, possibly forever, satisfied at their taunting of us.
The day ended with me grabbing a couple of slightly fuzzy shots of a robin. I didn’t use manual focus because it looked fine through the EVF. One day I’ll learn.
Overall, though, a fine day of birding, with multiple rare sightings, pleasant weather, no sunburn and plenty of lush, green scenery. 9/10 black-capped chickadees (which we did not see, sad face).
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American bushtit
American goldfinch
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Barn swallow
Brown-headed cowbird
Dusky flycatcher
House finch
Marsh wren (heard, not seen, at Burnaby Lake)
Northern flicker
Red-winged blackbird
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Swainson’s thrush
Tree swallow
Violet green swallow
Willow flycatcher
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Killdeer
Mallard
Western seagull
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Rock pigeon
Raptors:
Osprey
Non-birds:
Douglas squirrel (a veritable gaggle of them)
Butterflies: Tiger swallowtail, Milbert’s tortoiseshell and a Celestrina echo (yes, Nic looked up the latter two)
Bumblebees of various sorts, including orange-belted
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 12-16°C
The Outing
After The Burning™ of last week, I made sure to cover myself all over with sunblock and reapplied it midday. As it turned out, it was also so windy (14-20 km/h with gusts up to 35 km/h) that I ended up wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so most of my body was covered, anyway. My legs did not burn again.
We started out with our old standby of Reifel and this time we saw a few black-capped chickadees come out from hiding. Yay. Weirdly, though it was a Friday, there were many kids around. They were relatively well-behaved, but I’m assuming the schools must have closed early for the Victoria Day weekend, or home-schooling has suddenly gotten very popular. The geese were also relatively well-behaved, and I have no explanation for that. One approached me with its mouth open, but it wasn’t hissing or being aggressive, I think it just wanted whatever yummy seed I had in my pockets (I had none). It seemed sad at the loss.
We started along the usual east dyke trail and when a family went to bird blind B, we opted to go to bird blind A next door. After we were done (the return of purple martins to the bird boxes in the marsh flats confirmed), Nic wanted to skip bird blind B (see above: children), insisting we would see nothing (to be fair, most of the time we just see the slough and no birds, whales or anything else). But just as I pressed to go back, a blackbird suddenly appeared and landed on a branch directly above us. It screeched chirped insistently at us and was very loud, then flew off in the direction of the bird blind. It was A Sign.
We went to the bird blind and lo, there was a heron perched on a branch just on the other side of the blind. Granted, herons are not exactly uncommon (though this was the only one we saw on the ground), but still, it was something! Thanks, screechy chirping blackbird!
Reifel was otherwise pretty light on both song birds and waterfowl, with many ponds empty or sparsely populated. It gives the mallards more room to roam, though. We spied no Northern shovellers again, though maybe they’re just hiding. A few pintails were lurking, and the massive turtles at the entrance slough were still hanging out on their favourite logs.
We got more shots of marsh wrens. I guess this is the time of year when they just let it all hang out. Such is the way of love and seeking the same.
We next took a trip to the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail, which we haven’t been to for a while. Again, it was very windy, but we did see Savannah sparrows a-plenty–on logs, on fence posts, on the golf course. They never got very close, as is their way, and I had to use manual focus for all of my shots to prevent them from appearing as bird-shaped blobs, but we got some respectable shots. I opted not to shoot a distant robin.
I shot a lot of planes as we passed under the flight path of nearby Boundary Bay Airport. They’re like giant birds, but a lot more predictable. If I could shoot swallows the way I shoot planes, I’d be an award-winning photographer. In my mind, at least.
We rounded off the day at Piper Spit, which was pleasantly unpopulated by people. Here we saw a lifer: a semipalmated plover, which looks similar to a killdeer, but is somehow more adorable. We also saw (and Nic shot) a cliff swallow, which is a darker, non-shiny swallow uncommon to the area. Surprisingly, a lone wigeon and The Last Coot, which I’d thought had already left, were present.
Goslings a-plenty were being shepherded around, but off the main trails. It seems the adults have learned to keep their babbies away from people. And kids.
In all, a fine day of mid-spring birbing, once again being boosted by some unexpected visitors.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Where: Tsawwassen Beach Trail (Tsawwassen), Iona Beach (Richmond), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 15-25°C
The Outing
Today was kind of a weird birding day, with maybe the greatest number of steps to the smallest number of birds seen. Part of that is due to migrants having left for the warmer months, but we also didn’t see a number of the usual birbs, like black-capped chickadees. Also, the last coot at Piper spit has apparently finally joined its brethren to make more freaky-footed offspring elsewhere.
I logged just over 30,000 steps and despite putting on sunblock (twice!), still managed to get a bit burned in a few spots. Not too bad, really, and the second application was too late to help (I kind of knew this as I put it on, but put it on, anyway). As you might suspect, it was sunny and quite warm, rising to at least 25C by mid-afternoon. We started out at Tsawwassen Beach Trail, or more accurately, the gargantuan Tsawwassen Mills mall, where we parked. We walked to the beach trail from there (only a few blocks) and covered probably around 11 km there alone, looking for shorebirds or any birds. And we did see some, including killdeer, some gulls, barn swallows and some smaller shorebirds that were too far off to positively ID (I did not get shots). And that was the main issue I had with Tsawwassen–we didn’t see much, and what we did see tended to be well off the shore (the tide was extremely low). Nic did get multiple chances to shoot Savannah sparrows, but they regularly foiled him by having their backs turned, or the lighting was bad and whatnot. Also, the kelp was really stinky.
I got some good shots of tires, though. And also some nice pics of a couple of cute marmots and a juvenile heron who wasn’t fully-developed yet, but already had perfect stabbyface eyes. And I would be remiss to not mention a trio of female buffleheads in a pond that apparently decided migrating isn’t for them. They were diving and swimming and having a good ol’ time without any pesky men ducks around.
We next went to Iona Beach, hoping to find a yellow-headed blackbird that has been seen in the area. We did not see it. We did see more swallows and regular blackbirds, but again, not much in the way of shorebirds. The tide was so low that the first cut in the north jetty (so the fishies can swim through) was passable by just walking across it. The most abundant creature was probably crabs and, well, they were all dismembered and dead.
Undaunted, we moved on to Tlahutum and its community gardens. We were teased by one crow, who almost let us shoot it up close, then flew off, probably doing the crow equivalent of a Nelson “Ha ha1”, but other than that it was mostly swallows again. I’m not complaining. Swallows are pretty and fabulous, but a little more variety would have been nice. We only went as far as the bridge over the Coquitlam River, as by this time we had walked about 5,000 km.
We made our last stop at Piper Spit and got a nice treat there–a Wilson’s pharalope, which could have been a bit closer, but gave us plenty of time to capture it on virtual film as it waded through the shallows, often with a smaller shorebird in tow (a least sandpiper, apparently). We’re outside the pharalope’s breeding range, so they are considered rare here. Neat! There was also goose drama, of course, but even fewer bird species than the last time. The remaining coot decided to scoot, I didn’t see any Northern pintails, even though they allegedly don’t migrate, but the one Sandhill crane was still hanging around. And several geese families had their new broods in a fenced off area adjacent to the park, which is a pretty smart way to keep the goslings clear of twerpy little kids (and adults).
In all, it wasn’t a bad day of birding, but the variety and quality of my shots were both a bit lacking. At least I know the extra spots to apply sunblock for next time.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
It was forecast to be sunny and mild, so we wore shorts! It was a bit brisk at Reifel in the morning, with a strong breeze blowing off the strait. An older man intoned to us, “It isn’t summer yet” but did not actually call the fashion police on us. I didn’t wear sunblock, so got some more mid-spring burning around my ears and neck. Next time I’ll wear sunblock, I swear.
Apart from being brisk in the morning, it was more like Reifel Bird Scarcity, ho ho. The overall bird population was down due to migrants heading off and the locals being busy in the bushes making babies (or so I assume). We didn’t see any American wigeons, though, oddly, there was a single Eurasian wigeon present. There were no coots at all, though we did see a single coot at Piper Spit. Likewise, there were no scaups, buffleheads or ring-necked ducks to be seen. We saw what appeared to be one snoozing merganser sleeping on a small island next to some geese, though they apparently don’t migrate, they just hide or something.
And speaking of geese, we finally saw goslings and plenty of them. More on them in a bit.
While many bird species were absent at Reifel, the ever-elusive marsh wren was actually seemingly ever-present. We saw and shot at least four of them, with varying degrees of success. A volunteer teased us with an alleged sighting of a pair of cedar waxwings in the area, but we did not see any. Boo. We did, however, see a few shorebirds on the inner ponds, the tiny and adorable least sandpiper, so that was neat.
The geese were taking notes from the blackbirds with regard to their table manners, proudly wearing their food all over their faces.
The wood ducks near the entrance were displaying their iridescent mullets along the railing. I swear they actually pose for people because they know how pretty they are. We did not see any ducklings, though.
After Reifel, we went to Centennial Beach. Here, I doffed my hoodie, opting for sunburn. The pond was largely empty, but we did spot a few Savannah sparrows on logs, and raptors above, the latter both in the sky and in trees. We then forged on to Blackie Spit because of reports of shorebirds. The tide here, as elsewhere, was extremely low. There were no shorebirds, unless you stretch to count seagulls. Which we do not. We did see some green-winged teals and various birbs, including more Savannah sparrows, a distant goldfinch and a train, which is not a bird at all. We also saw a bunny, also not a bird. It was hungry, so we watched it eat various wildflowers and things. Rabbits have an automatic “so damn cute” mode when eating.
We ended at Piper Spit, which, perhaps due to it being after 6 p.m., was quite busy. The number of waterfowl here is also down, through all the regulars were accounted for. The geese were out with their babbies, some of which are already showing their first growth spurt. There were many goslings, most of them huddled together in one mega-group. Amazingly, none of the small children present were unwise enough to try to go after them, so goose drama/murder did not occur. Or at least I didn’t directly witness any.
The Shots
Anna's hummingbird on a feeder, pondering.
Possibly a rufous hummingbird on a feeder. I mean, it's definitely on a feeder, but possibly a rufous.
Female cowbird pausing before moo-ving on.
Male cowbird looking for the herd.
This great blue heron seemed to be yawning when I took this photo.
An adorable gosling in the grass.
A pair of barn swallows hanging out.
A barn swallow thinking how weird it would if it was called a bran swallow instead.
Turtles logging on.
Eurasian wigeon wondering how it got here.
Coastal mountain seen from the West Dykle Trail at Reifel Bird Sanctuary.
When a blackbird poofs out while eating, it means I AM DINING ALONE.
Do you tell a Canada goose it has no table manners? No, you do not.
A least sandpiper on a log. The shadow was harsh, so I had to jigger around a bit to make the sandpiper more visible.
Song sparrow in shadow.
Song sparrow complaining about autotune and pitch correction software. I mean, it's possible.
Song sparrow song sparrowing.
Marsh wren looking for love.
A marsh wren in a rare moment of immodesty.
A bunny nibbling on flowers at Crescent Beach.
The low tide at Centennial Beach left a lot of seaweed high and dryi(ing).
White-crowned sparrow, through a wire frame.
Buttercups!
Yep, we got stuck waiting for yet another train at Piper Spit.
Female mallard looking pretty.
A western gull chilling out at Piper Spit.
The Last Coot. Seriously, this was the only one we saw at Piper Spit.
Sandhill crane posing during golden hour.
A gosling demonstrates its superiority by climbing onto a log, before tumbling off.
"I sing the song that will destroy the world! Also, check out my fancy mullet."
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The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Where: Iona Beach, Terra Nova (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sun and cloud mix, 14-20°C
The Outing
The day promised sun, with increasing cloud in the afternoon and a chance of showers by around 6 p.m., so we were good for birding. The forecast was…mostly right. It clouded up earlier than expected, and the first few drops came just as we were wrapping up at Piper Spit, but it was very mild–shorts weather, even, though I didn’t wear mine, because I thought it might be cool by the water, which was not the case. And because I don’t think of April as being a big sunblock weather month, I didn’t wear any sunblock and got a little sunburned. I’ll learn to wear sunblock in April eventually.
We started at Iona Beach, where the sky stayed clear for most of our visit. The highlights included a massive congregation of dunlins along the shoreline of the Fraser River, just east of the barge parking lot. They have black patches on their bellies when in their breeding colours (most were), which are equally cute and weird. The tide was very low, but on this day we opted to not go way out wandering the flats. We did observe what was perhaps the largest collection of crab parts I’ve seen at Iona. I mean, there are always crab parts, but today it was like the remnants of a crabfest.
Right near the start we noticed some bright yellow flowers that seemed odd, given their placement, and the flowers turned out to be a goldfinch, which promptly took off once we successfully identified it. The goldfinch thus became Nic’s white whale for the rest of the time we were at Iona. They thwarted him at every turn.
I shot a lot of planes. Like, a lot.
We next went to Terra Nova, where, thanks partly to people leaving strategically-placed deposits of seed along the trails (which you are not supposed to do), we saw a lot more birbs than usual, including another banded golden-crowned sparrow (not the same as Bandy at Reifel, as the bands were different. And yes, we checked.) We also saw a spotted towhee sporting bands and a wire (one golden crown also had a wire). They don’t seem to mind the wires. Maybe they pipe in soothing music through them in the evening. A rarely-seen Bewick’s wren could be heard singing in the trees, and we spotted it, though the angles were not great. Still, it’s always nice to see birbs you don’t come across that often. Unless they are goldfinches mocking you.
Next we went to the Richmond Nature House. Actually, we went to the parking lot, which was full, turned around and left. They have construction going on there, so the already-small parking lot is currently even smaller. Worse, the final spot was taken by a Tesla. Boo hiss. But maybe they have stopped filling the feeders, so we didn’t miss anything. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.
We wrapped up at Piper Spit, which felt a bit weird to me on this day. A lot of the winter migrants have left, so the overall population is down, and while there are new arrivals like cowbirds and swallows, the place still feels quieter (the migratory waterfowl tend to be in greater numbers than the songbirds). By now it had clouded over, so the light was not great, but the change in conditions did seem to scare off a lot of people, because it wasn’t that crowded. A young couple were on a bench at the end of the pier making out, perhaps not realizing they were not at home on the sofa. If I’d had any bird seed, I would have gently sprinkled it around them, so the blackbirds could have joined in on their fun.
Even the Canada goose drama was at a minimum. There was still some, though, because you can’t have Canada geese without drama. Speaking of drama, I just missed getting a shot of a heron in flight taking a poop. This may be the most dramatic midair pooping in the world, at least in terms of volume. I witnessed it through my viewfinder, I just wasn’t quick enough to get the shot. Maybe it’s better that way.
Just as we headed out, the first few drops of rain began to fall, so our timing was pretty much spot-on as we wrapped up.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
