Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 24°C
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
A bit of a breeze kept it from feeling too warm.
It was a shorter birding trip today as I did a rare run/birding double header. I have over 38,000 steps as I type this.
It was a sunny and pleasant mid-afternoon at Piper Spit, and with the no feeding rule still in effect, two things can be observed:
Far fewer people on the pier
The waterfowl tend to hang out farther away from the pier because no free snacks
We are still yet to see any new migrants arriving, but soon™. We did see several ducks that appeared to be hybrids of mallards and whatever else a mallard finds sexy (and vice versa).
But the variety and, in some cases, numbers were way down. Pigeons? Plenty! And some of them quite frisky. Blackbirds? We saw one. Gulls? Also, only one. Geese? Multiple gaggles.
Still, we shot what we could, and some birds cooperated by getting all showy with flapping and splashing and scooting across the water.
In all, not a bad little outing and none of my photos were accidentally overexposed, hooray.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Here is an unedited shot of a pigeon (except for cropping) to prove I took photos, while I go through all of my shots.
A pigeon possibly staying away from one very amorous male.
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Richmond Nature House, Terra Nova Park (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Sunny, 20-28°C
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
South pound at Reifel: Mostly empty, a little slimy.
We started bright ‘n early at Reifel, where the clouds quickly burned off and it was actually kind of warm. You know it’s warm at Reifel when the breeze feels pleasant.
There was some incipient goose drama, but for the most part, it was pretty quiet, with many of the ponds and waterways absent of waterfowl. Several ponds were also looking quite slimy, including the London Slough1Dictionary Fun Fact: It can be pronounced sloo or slow, but not sluff, where it means something that can be shed or cast off, which gave us slimy mallards and equally slimy turtles. Everyone seemed pretty chill with the green slime. And speaking of the slough, one of the logs there was, as Nic put it, a veritable United Nations of waterfowl, with mallards, wood ducks, wigeons and mergansers all sharing space, a turtle at the end keeping an eye on them.
The vast marshlands are looking pleasantly green and verdant now, with wildflowers providing ample opportunities for the billion types of pollinators buzzing about. The first of the main ponds on the Outer Dyke (approaching from the north) appeared to have a lot of birds over yonder in the eastern end, so we went to the secret third bird blind and indeed, the area was replete with dowitchers and lesser yellowlegs. They were a little too far away, alas.
We encountered a pair of Sandhill cranes and they were in a restful mood, probably due to the heat. One even folded down on its legs in a comfy patch of shaded grass.
There were goldfinches and yellowthroats, but they mostly remained elusive, as is their way. Herons were more present than in other recent trips, on the ground, in the water and in the air (but not pooping).
We saw more beetles going at it. I’m ready to declare them the horniest bugs of summer, though the dragonflies are putting in a good effort, too.
In all, a perfectly pleasant tour of the sanctuary, with a few birds we haven’t seen lately sneaking back in, like a few mergansers and pintails.
Richmond Nature House
My arm with a ladybug on it, photo courtesy of Nic.
Next was the Richmond Nature House. I did not take any photos here, but Nic shot a rufous hummingbird and a furtive chickadee that came out briefly to check one of the feeders that still had seed in it. Actually, I did take one photo–of a fire hydrant surrounded by flowers. And Nic took photos of me. Or at least my left arm, which had a ladybug on it.
Terra Nova Park
Vast marshlands at Terra Nova, looking north toward the coastal mountains.
We moved on to Terra Nova and for me, it was all planes planes planes! There were only a few birds here–again, probably staying in the shade to avoid the mid-afternoon heat. Terra Nova always offers nice scenery, though. And planes.
The tide was the lowest here I can recall seeing. A collection of herons were gathered south of the Iona Beach jetty, noodling about in an area that would normally be under water. And when I say noodling, I mean standing, because that’s what herons do.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
A pair of poop monsters with urban towers in the distance.
We ended our birbing at Piper Spit and by now it was up to 28C, but the breeze meant it didn’t actually feel that hot. The spit is still a no-feeding area (though a few people were doing that and will end up in bird hell or something. Actually, the birds like the seed, so it would probably be some other kind of hell, like, uh, the no bird feeding hell, where you are waist deep in seed no matter where you go, constantly slogging through), so while there are birds, they don’t hang around the pier itself as closely as usual. We didn’t see anything unusual here and did not magically summon the crane this time. We did observe at length a blackbird on the lily pads giving itself a good bath, though. There were also pigeons acting like red soldier beetles, if you know what I mean. The ladies (or men? I am not a pigeonologist) seemed unimpressed.
As a special bonus, we did not have to wait for a train to pass when leaving.
In all, a good outing.
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 goldfinch
Anna’s hummingbird
Barn swallow
Black-capped chickadee
Brown-headed cowbird
Cedar waxwing
Common yellowthroat
European starling
House sparrow
Red-winged blackbird
Rufous hummingbird
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Tree swallow
Yellow warbler
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
American coot (not yet!)
American wigeon
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Hooded merganser (!)
Lesser yellowlegs
Long-billed dowitcher
Mallard
Northern pintail (!)
Sandhill crane
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Rock pigeon
A few gulls
Raptors:
Bald eagle
Non-birds:
Western painted turtle
Bugs and insects:
Red soldier beetle
Great blue skimmer (dragonfly)
Eight-spotted skimmer (dragonfly)
Blue damselfly
Hover fly
Paper wasp
Sand wasp
A billion others I could not classify or have forgotten
Where: Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Cloudy, 16-19°C
We switched things up by starting at Piper Spit and the signs warning people not to feed the birds are all over the place, and it seems people are actually following the request for the most part (we did see some seed on a picnic table near the dam being nommed on by a song sparrow). This, along with the recent showers leading to the water level of the lake rising again, meant that most of the waterfowl were not hanging near the pier and shorebirds were completely absent.
I arrived early, shot some song sparrows, a robin, and a mom with a lone baby duck near the dam. After Nic arrived, we saw another female mallard, sans family, hanging around the dam. She jumped onto the edge of the fish ladder, then…jumped into the fish ladder itself, which is basically a series of rapids descending into the river. She seemed to enjoy letting the foaming water swirl around her and occasionally jammed her head in, sometimes coming up with strands of yummy (?) vegetation.
At the lake, a group of cinnamon teals and a blue-winged teal made an appearance, which was spiffy. Also, seemingly moments after I noted the absence of the sandhill crane, it flew in and landed in its usual area. Next, I will use my powers to win $10 million in the lottery.
Among the birds that hang out at Piper Spit, the “friendliest” are probably the blackbirds, as they will happily eat seed from your hand. The absence of seed seems to have made them all a little deranged, as we had them attempting to, and in some cases, succeeding in landing on us, even though we were seed-free. Maybe they thought that if they stuck to the routine, the seed would just manifest.
And while I did not get a shot, because it was hopping madly deep inside the branches of a tree, we spotted a warbling vireo, which for mew is a lifer. Neat.
There are a couple of stumps on the way to the pier that someone always covers in seed for the Douglas squirrels. These were cleaned up and a cute little sign placed on one. This will make getting shots of squirrels eating in that adorable pose more challenging.
A sign saying “No wildlife feeding.” Squirrels are sad.
The weather began to warm up a bit at Tlahutum, though it remained cloudy and dim. It’s been like this since summer officially began, so the people who complain about the heat should be pleased.
We saw a mix of swallows and sparrows in the community garden, along with an ever-elusive American goldfinch, which helpfully sat atop a pole. But the pole was set against a bright cloudy sky, making the goldfinch a very darkfinch. It no doubt chuckled to itself, then flew off.
The surprises here were the four-legged kind. As we crossed the bridge over the Coquitlam River, we spotted an otter out for an afternoon snack. It appeared to catch some kind of fish or something. My shots were not great, but you can see its whiskers and adorable little ears.
And as we were returning from The Big Pond a coyote came up behind us and then scooted rapidly past, ambling at a decent gait until it was a safe distance away. It then stood and looked across the river, giving us some fine profile shots. We wondered if it would cross the bridge (which we would be doing) but as it neared, a cyclist approached, so it jogged past. The cyclist, by coincidence, was heading the same way and the coyote booked it at that point.
In all, it was a comfortable day, weather-wise (no sun beating down on us) but with iffy lighting (no sun beating down on us).
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Shots coming soon, but here are two as a preview. The first is the American goldfinch, which was post-processed up the wazoo–I cranked exposure way up, cranked highlights way down and then added a bit of sharpening to get something resembling a goldfinch.
Max exposure, min highlights, one American goldfinch against a very bright sky.A coyote on the ground, where the light is much more cooperative.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Boats on the inlet, Port moody.
A distant killdeer at Rocky Point. I needed all 400 mm of my new telephoto lens to capture this.
Great blue heron swallowing some fishies at Rocky Point.
A Canada goose going on about things.
A Canada goose gosling going on about things.
Puffy-headed white crown sparrow in profile.
A house finch pausing on a wire fence, Tlahutum Regional Park.
A white-crowned sparrow belting it out in the community garden.
A crow against a rather bright backdrop.
A millipede milling about on the trail.
A tree swallow squatting on his house.
Bee getting its pollen on.
The main pond at Tlahutum Regional Park.
Female cowbird seeking seed.
Male cowbird with seed.
Sandhill crane in repose, looking rather orange.
"Sup?"
A soggy gosling coming out of the water.
Goslings deep in conversation.
Pigeon proudly posing.
The super-long train we inevitably got trapped behind as we left Burnaby Lake.
The only decent shot of a wood duck I got. Don't ask how many shots I took.
I call this my Liron Gertsman prizewinning shot. Gimme my award!
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.
Boats on the inlet, Port moody.
A distant killdeer at Rocky Point. I needed all 400 mm of my new telephoto lens to capture this.
Great blue heron swallowing some fishies at Rocky Point.
A Canada goose going on about things.
A Canada goose gosling going on about things.
Puffy-headed white crown sparrow in profile.
A house finch pausing on a wire fence, Tlahutum Regional Park.
A white-crowned sparrow belting it out in the community garden.
A crow against a rather bright backdrop.
A millipede milling about on the trail.
A tree swallow squatting on his house.
Bee getting its pollen on.
The main pond at Tlahutum Regional Park.
Female cowbird seeking seed.
Male cowbird with seed.
Sandhill crane in repose, looking rather orange.
"Sup?"
A soggy gosling coming out of the water.
Goslings deep in conversation.
Pigeon proudly posing.
The super-long train we inevitably got trapped behind as we left Burnaby Lake.
The only decent shot of a wood duck I got. Don't ask how many shots I took.
I call this my Liron Gertsman prizewinning shot. Gimme my award!
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 bridgeView from bridgeStill Creek, looking northView from bridge over Seer Lake BrookLily pads reclaiming the lakeStill Creek with bonus goose
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.
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.
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.
