Burnaby Lake

Birding, February 16, 2024: All the owls we never see

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, cloudy late, 7-11°C

The Outing

A rare-ish weekday round of birding, thanks to sunny weather. We hit Reifel first and soon discovered that school was out today, as the place was chock-full of kids. They were fairly well-behaved, though.

We got off to a nice start with a pair of Anna’s hummingbirds sharing a drink at a feeder.

Surprisingly, there was a thin patina of ice on a lot of the ponds. I suspect most of it melted by mid-afternoon, but we did see one wigeon land on the ice, then sink into it as it waddled forth. This apparently displeased it, as it then flew just enough to land ahead where the water was clear. We also saw some shovelers hanging out like cool kids on the ice (geddit?)

And speaking of shovelers, they were all over the place and in large numbers, save, oddly enough, in one of the spots they usually hang out. We saw what seemed to be a couple of scruffy-looking juveniles.

And speaking of juveniles (I am master of segues in this post), we saw a bunch of juvenile bald eagles circling overhead multiple times. One pass apparently spooked some of the shovelers and they took off, only to land back where they’d flown from a minute later.

The Chickadee Empire was somewhat in retreat, as we saw fewer than normal, and the ones we did see seemed even less interested in sitting still for a moment.

Herons were dotting the landscape like broody sentinels, and we got to see the Sandhill cranes before exiting. Several of them even flew overhead, giving us a chance to behold their gangly forms in the air.

We even saw a common goldeneye, which I don’t think we’ve spotted at Reifel before, though I only got a single shot of it, as it flew away almost as soon as we saw it.

On the way out, an older man told Nic about all the owls we never see. He was still going on and adjusting the onion on his belt as we left. We did not see any owls, alas.

Next up was Centennial Beach. We actually didn’t see many birds here, but the tide was out, so we strolled offshore and took photos of Mt. Baker. We did some gadwalls, more herons and golden crowns. And Nic got a lot of heart points.

With the sun setting at the late hour of 5:34 p.m. we had enough time to visit Piper Spit. By this time the clouds had moved in, so the light went from good to so-so, but you work with what you’re given. Fortunately, the bufflehead was back and diving all over the place. The seagulls that have been occupying the land mass near the pier were completely gone, replaced by hundreds of crows, preparing for their nightly mini-migration. There were making a lot of crow noises, which complemented (?) the blackbird noises.

After seeing no wood ducks at Reifel and only a single coot (or two? It was only one or two), we saw plenty of both at Piper Spit. But mostly it was crows, crows and more crows. And the bufflehead. And actually, a lot more scaups than I remember normally seeing here.

In all, a good outing, even if the clouds made the shots at Piper Spit a bit more challenging at the end.

The Shots
Soon™. But here’s a shot of two hummingbirds as a start:

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Common goldeneye
  • Dowitcher
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Night heron (sort of)
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup (Lesser and Greater)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow (a billion or so)
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted and somewhat chonky squirrels

Birding, February 6, 2024: What does quack mean?

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, 8°C

The Outing

Today was a surprise edition of birding. The weather predicted some rare sunshine, so we took advantage with a trip to Piper Spit and Tlahutum Regional Park.

First, my camera: Closer examination revealed a lot of carbon build-up on the contacts of the lenses that my previously gentle cleaning had not touched. Using a brass brush and isopropyl alcohol, these were cleaned much more thoroughly. The contacts sparkled!

And the good news is it worked. The telephoto lens worked without any issues at all. It was nice to go back to blaming myself and not the equipment for lousy shots.

Fortunately, I got some good shots, with several chickadees and squirrels fighting for the “most adorable” award.

Piper Spit presented an unusual case of light that was at times too bright, but better still than rain. A woman teased us about a possible owl sighting, but we were not precisely sure of the location, and no owls were sighted. We were sad.

On the other hand, a bufflehead showed up in the mix, and we got some nice shots of his shiny iridescent head. The gulls seem to have taken up semi-permanent residence now, claiming the landmass off the pier as their kingdom. Or gulldom. It’s also the place where they gather and collect weird things like golf balls and other stuff we probably don’t really want to identify.

And a surprise appearance by barn swallows! We’ve seen them in March, but I don’t recall ever seeing them in February before, and especially not the first week of the month, so that was a neat treat. The albino pigeon was back, too, easily identified by, well, being pure white. But also by being banded. I’ve seen one other albino here, but it is not banded.

There was some avian drama to be had and the pecking order (heh) appears to be:

  • Crows > coots
  • Goose > crows

Coots, of course, mostly terrorize themselves.

Tlahutum presented a surprising number of birds, but they tended to be farther away, and by then the light was getting low and golden. Still, we saw some mergansers, gadwalls and yet more swallows (way up high). The fields of tall yellow grass did look rather pretty in the golden light of late afternoon.

Overall, this was a fine shorter outing, and I was pleased that my camera is back to behaving normally again.

The Shots
Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned kinglet
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Dowitcher
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crows (multiple murders)
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Several Douglas squirrels

Birding, February 3, 2024: The return of berserk geese, plus a bad camera

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 6-7°C

The Outing

We expected cloudy skies today and that’s what we got, though it started to brighten just as we were winding up. But at least it didn’t rain.

For the first half hour or so at Reifel, things seemed about normal. It was cooler than the previous visit, and a bit of wind made it feel cooler, still, but nothing like the deep freeze of mid-January. I forgot my gloves, but while my hands got cold, they didn’t get numb or fall off or anything.

We saw a million mallards near the entrance, and the blackbirds and sparrows near the entrance were being much chattier than usual. Maybe they’re excited about spring coming next month. I am!

We continued down to the bird blinds (nothing to see there, boo) and made our way up the west dyke trail. It was there that I first had a glitch with my camera.

The first of what would be too many to count. If I had to put a number on it, though, I’d say at least dozens. It got progressively worse, persisted through two batteries and by the time we were wrapping up at Reifel, I was pretty relieved that I wouldn’t have to continue doing battle with the camera.

We made a short trip to Piper spit after. Good news: the light was better! There were shorebirds! Bad news: My camera was still being dumb.

I missed a lot of shots. Not one-in-a-million shots, but good shots all the same.

But when the camera was not testing my patience, we noted that Reifel was pretty waterlogged, maybe the worst we’ve seen it. The downside of this was we saw no shorebirds there. On the plus side, we did see wood ducks again, and most of the other species were well-represented. Raptors were present, but tended to be farther away, but we did get to see a Sandhill crane shove its head in a Rona bucket again. It loves that bucket.

While we saw juncos, their numbers weren’t as insane as they were at the Richmond Nature House last week. And we saw buffleheads! They moved to the other side of the pond when we got close enough to shoot. Coincidence, or were they toying with us humans?

And the Canada geese were back, subtly cluing us in to their presence through prolonged and loud honking. A collared goose approached me, not to hiss and dominate, but apparently hoping I had pockets of seed. It stood there so mournfully, I couldn’t bear to take its picture. Also, my camera wasn’t working.

Piper Spit offered a nice contrast, as we not only got brighter skies, but also a few species we didn’t see at Reifel, like green-winged teals and dowitchers. The gulls seem to be here semi-permanently now, and several were bathing, as they also seem to do a lot. And of course, there was coot drama.

Overall, a shorter but still productive bird outing, but I was very cross with my camera by the end. I am researching to see what the issue might be (cold? some mechanical defect? karma?), but would settle for winning the lottery and just buying a replacement.

The Shots
Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House sparrow
  • Marsh wren (heard, not seen)
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Dowitcher
  • Great blue heron
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Trumpeter swan

Common:

  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • One very robust squirrel

Birding, January 20, 2024: Towhee in the snowhee

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Overcast and foggy, 3-5°C

The Outing

After last week’s deep freeze, we got snow on Wednesday and oodles of snow, at that. Some light rain followed on Friday, but not enough to diminish the snow much, so we donned our metaphorical snowshoes and headed to Piper Spit, which we felt would be the most accessible birding spot this weekend.

Unexpectedly, it was also foggy, which provided a spooky ambience to Burnaby Lake and, later, Tlahutum Regional Park.

The land mass that formed off the pier at Piper Spit had been extended by a combination of the lake freezing and the snow on top, proving a vast plain for a copious number of gulls and poop monsters.

Songbirds were also in abundance, standing out against the bright snow, though this also made for trickier shooting.

It actually went better than expected, and we both got nice shots with the bonus of the above-freezing temperatures meaning no camera glitches, just people glitches. Speaking of people, both places, but especially Tlahutum, were surprisingly busy. I guess people like trudging in the snow. Or maybe everyone was just delighted to go outside and not have every exposed part of their body go numb within seconds.

The gulls were busy splashing about or taking off in great flocks and circling around before coming back and landing in the exact spot they left from (stretching their legs–er, wings?) Meanwhile, a patootie1Yes, this is what I’m caling them of pigeons settled along the railings at the end of the pier, posing for some nice shots before departing back to nearby trees.

And while there were song birds aplenty, we didn’t see any chickadees, which made the outing slightly less delightful. I also didn’t spy any squirrels, but I wouldn’t blame them for holing up in the trees with their nuts and seeds until the snow is gone.

The highlight at Piper Spit was probably a bald eagle that dramatically emerged from the mist, swooped down, caught a fish or something fish-like, then carried it off and back into the mist. Neat!

Tlahutum had no highlights. We saw two song sparrows. One flew off before we could take photos, the other was far away. Oh, and I think we saw a crow flying overhead, too. But the frozen waterways and fog made for some cool (heh) scenery shots, and Nic got enough heart points to lift the meter from Couch Potato to Outdoor Potato.

In all, it went better than anticipated, and it was amazing how any temperature above freezing suddenly felt all balmy.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Northern flicker (heard)
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Scaup
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Lots of people, weirdly
  • The fish or whatever it was the bald eagle caught

Birding, January 13, 2024: Frozen

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, -7°C to -5°C

The Outing

The second birding trek of 2024 took place as we were breaking records for cold weather. It started out at -9C and got up to -5C by the time we left Reifel. Normal highs would be around 7C. So it was chilly. Fortunately, there was little wind, as earlier wind gusts had temperatures feeling like as low as -26C.

In fact, save for a bit of open water tucked under the deck that houses the warming hut (my second favourite place), every pond and waterway at Reifel was frozen solid. It was pretty, but this meant that diving ducks were nowhere to be seen, as they do not have tiny, duck-sized ice picks to break through the frozen surface.

Shorebirds were also absent for similar reasons. We were sad.

Canada geese and wood ducks, which might have otherwise been present, were both absent, though we saw them at Piper Spit.

But we were compensated by seeing a red-bellied sapsucker and a barred owl. I actually got a shot of the owl’s face, proving they exist (owls, not just owl faces).

Back on the negative side, it seems the extreme cold was playing havoc with our equipment at times. I had a sequence where all of my photos were super blurry, as if image stabilization was working in reverse or maybe the ghost of George C. Reifel was grabbing my camera and shaking it every time I lined up a chickadee.

There were a lot of chickadees.

My camera seemed to benefit from spending some time in the warming hut, as did I!

The cold not only affected which birds we saw, it also affected the behaviour of the ones that remained. I asked Nic1If you are reading this and you are not Nic or haven’t read a birding post before, Nic is the friend I go birding with. He still only has a single SD card, but his camera could totally beat up my camera around the back of the school. to offer his thoughts on the birdly behaviour, and they are below.

Nic's notes on winter birds as written by Nic:

Aggressive chickadees

Chickadees were landing and flying very close. They even landed on us a handful of times, which they’d never done before! 

Missing ducks

With every single pond frozen--and not just a little bit frozen, the ice looked really solid--there were far fewer ducks to be seen. Some species, such as hooded mergansers and buffleheads (diving predators) and shovelers (filter feeders), were complete no-shows. Remaining were some mallards, wigeons and pintails--all ducks that live on grass--clustering around the main pond behind the office and warming huts. That’s where people were feeding them, and the ice under the huts seemed mostly melted. 

Likewise, no shorebirds anywhere. Are the avocets finally moving on?

Coots (yes I know, they’re not ducks) were present, but in very limited numbers. They seemed to be scattered throughout the sanctuary: one by the small slough in front of the entrance, a handful by the observation platform in the centre.

More robins

Robins come and go regardless of temperature, but there seemed to be an unusually high numbers of robins around, and in unprecedented spots, like around the west dyke trail. Then again, maybe that’s where the best winter berries are found!

More Sandhill cranes

Staff said there were fifteen cranes hanging around the sanctuary, and they all seemed to stay around the main pond. Small wonder, since they were being fed mountains of grain 24/7! This is not without problems, because those birds are fairly finicky and territorial, and I could see a few small confrontations as they bumped up against each other's personal spaces; the local family (2 parents + 1 young) are the most put out, I'm told. And wouldn’t you be, if you suddenly found a dozen strangers camping in your front yard during lean times?

Birbs and ducks crouching down

Ducks tended to lie down on their stomachs when resting on the ice, and in at least one instance it looked like it was pulling its feet up and into the feathers. Likewise, birbs crouched down very low when eating, covering the legs with their belly fluff. Just some rarely-used tactics to keep their extremities warm.

In all, it was weird dealing with such unusual cold, one of those “interesting to experience” things that I can’t say I’m eager to go through again.

We wrapped up at Piper Spit, and while there was ice on the lake, it was not fully frozen and the area immediately around the pier had no ice at all, so most of the usual waterfowl were present, along with a bunch of gulls and crows. By this time the temperatures were starting to fall and, as is often the case, there was some wind coming across the water, so my hands were starting to defeat the image stabilization all on their own. I also took copious shots of gulls taking off and landing repeatedly, but most were with the sun shining into my viewfinder, so I was hoping the shots would turn out.

Most did not turn out.

But I did get some decent shots, even with the cold and complications. In all, I’ll be happy to go out next time with temperatures above freezing. It’ll feel downright spring-like in comparison.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House sparrow
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-bellied sapsucker
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Barred owl
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Gray and black squirrels

Birding, January 6, 2024: New year, strange birds

Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Piper Spit (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Partly sunny, 3-8°C

The Outing

Our first birding outing for 2024 started at a rather chilly Centennial Beach, with a brisk wind and the tide in, so shorebirds, while present, were not nearby for good photo opportunities.

But we did see a bunch of golden-crowned sparrows, a northern harrier we didn’t have time to get shots of, and a bald eagle in a tree by the parking lot. Unfortunately, the perspective meant all I could do was catch a shot of its butt. I also got a shot of a robin’s butt. It was a butt kind of day.

After rounding out our trip there with shots of some good peeps (wigeons), we headed off to Richmond Nature House, where there was no parking at all, and two other cars waiting for a spot. Sadly, we had to move on, and went next to Piper Spit.

As compensation, we got a visit from a handsome Steller’s jay, and also a bufflehead that, rather than hanging back like they usually do, actually came in close to the pier, allowing us to get our best bufflehead shots ever. There were also a lot of gulls hanging around, trying to pull unspeakable things out of the water when they were not strutting around, proudly showing off the golf balls and other spherical objects clutched in their bills. Gulls are weird. We also saw our first Canad geese in a while. They are also weird and we have the pictures to prove it.

Even though it was already golden hour-y by the time we finished up at Piper Spit, we still went to Tlahutum, where we did see more golden crowns, some mergansers and another bufflehead (!) Generally the number of birds was small, so we mostly took shots showing off the setting sun.

In all, a decent outing to start the year, with cool but mostly sunny weather.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee (briefly seen)
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • European starling
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s jay

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler (seen but not shot)
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier (seen but not shot)

Non-birds:

  • None! Unless you count people and dogs.

Gallery for November 26, 2023 birding is here

Yes, I finally put some photos together. Enjoy!

Birding, November 25, 2023: I was talking to the ducks

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 4-8°C

The Outing

It was a sunny if brisk day. I headed out before sunrise! I took this photo while waiting at the SkyTrain station for the train to arrive:

We headed off to Reifel and the lack of any real wind helped a lot with staying warm (the extra layers helped, too). We were immediately greeted by the sight of at least four sandhill cranes, grazing about in the grassy area near the hummingbird feeders, and covetously eyeing the yum-filled Rona bucket. The light was pretty terrible here, and proved to be an interesting challenge throughout the day. The birds, however, were plentiful and adorable.

Also, for reasons I could not fully suss out, the sanctuary and Piper Spit (and the restaurant we lunched at) were all super busy. It’s not a holiday (sorry, Black Friday doesn’t count :P), so I’m not sure what was up. I speculated that maybe people were afraid this would be the last sunny weekend for the next four months.

The crowds meant the birds were being well-fed, which meant we had plenty of targets of opportunity. Even the towhees, normally on the shy side, were feeling friendly, with one hopping right up to me, too close to even get a shot. A chickadee casually hopped between Nic and me, Another swooped right past Nic’s face, perhaps as a show of force by the Chickadee Empire.

It was also a heronpalooza. They were all over the place at Reifel, including in the air. And we saw a rare harrier perched on a tree (if only for a few moments), so that was neat.

Four avocets were still in the big pond by the outer dyke, so they may be settling in for the winter. They were too far out for me to get good shots, though. Boo. A guy coming out from the haunted bird blind1It’s more isolated than the others, but I can’t say I’ve seen any ghosts there–yet! gave vague directions on an American bittern he’d seen, but we never saw it. I was a little sad, Nic was a little bittern.

The shortage of wood ducks at Reifel continued–we only saw a single pair, and they were too obscured by low branches to get good shots of. Also, somewhat weirdly, no Canada geese were present, though the snow geese were raising a ruckus along the shore, along with some swans (which we got shots of flying overhead, woo).

We also saw buffleheads and mergansers. Nic caught a shot of one male merganser that looked like he was about to take off, but was actually just taking a massive poop instead. Nature is not always pretty.

The wigeons were being whacky, and we observed various bits of wigeon warfare. I also witnessed some wigeon wuv2Sorry! Mostly. as a pair did this strange head-bobbing ritual, followed by the male, er, doing the deed, then the female going into a flapping frenzy afterwards. I’m not judging!

And I took pictures.

Since the shorebirds were not close by and in bad light, we headed to Piper Spit for some golden hour hijinks and hopefully get better, closer shots of some dowitchers. As I mentioned, it was packed here as well, with lots of bird feeding, feeding frenzies, and birds all over the place. The only disappointment was no Steller’s jays this time.

The light at the lake was especially weird–not just increasingly golden as we neared sunset, but also with lots of interplay between shadow and light, in part due to so many people moving along the pier, with the sun being low behind them. It produced some dramatic shots, as well as some not-so-great ones.

We also saw the world’s largest gray squirrel. I’m not one to fat shame a squirrel, but let’s say this particular one was set for this winter and possibly several others.

In all, a fine outing, and we got out just as the temperature started to plunge (though we got caught by a train and had to take photos of it while we waited). I feel I got a much higher ratio of good shots vs. last week, so I am pleased.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • American avocet
  • American bittern
  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose3Technically we didn’t see them at either location, but I saw some in a field outside of Reifel
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Lesser scaup
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Snow goose
  • Trumpeter swan
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Black and gray squirrels
  • Rusty the pipe

Birding, November 17, 2023: The light, the loons and the lens cap

Where: Green Timbers Urban Forest Park (Surrey), Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 5-10°C

The Outing

Saturday birding was replaced with kooky Friday birding, due to what looked like better weather on Friday. The weather was indeed sunny, though it cooled noticeably once the sun began to dip (more on that below).

The other downside of weekday birding is rush hour traffic, which caught us multiple times.

But we started out relatively early and in a new location–Green Timbers Urban Forest Park. It lived up to its name, with both green and timbers being present. And it started out with wacky hijinks. Instead of going immediately to the lake, we went to a small foot bridge that connected a smaller pond to the lake to take some shots there. Nic took the cap off his telephoto lens and then, as if for comic effect, it dropped onto the bridge, landed on its edge and rolled just enough to go over the edge.

It didn’t land in the water, but was unreachable without clambering down. Which Nic did. Lens cap secured, we moved on.

We focused mainly on the area around Green Timbers Lake, a pretty if petite body of water as seen below. The east side of the trail hugs the lake, affording us good views. The trail arcs wider on the west and the adjacent area to the lake there is fenced off, so all the more exotic birds were hanging out there. And by exotic, I mean a heron, a fair number of cormorants, and some buffleheads. On the east side, where the people were feeding ducks, despite signs saying not to, were, well, ducks. And plenty of ’em.

We also saw a sign (sadly, I did not take a photo of it) warning of Deep Water Thin Ice, which Nic thinks would make for an awesome album title by some goth band, so I record it here for posterity.

On the trail west of the lake and on and around a large concrete block (?) someone had sprinkled a lot of seed, which was attracting chickadees, towhees, a squirrel and multiple Steller’s jays. We have been seeing them all over lately, and I have no idea why. They are fabulous, so this is quite welcome.

Green Timbers, with lake. Image from Google Maps

We decided to round out our trip there by going to the Surrey Nature Centre and checking out something called the Big Hill. I was intrigued because Surrey generally doesn’t have many hills, especially big ones. Curiously, the sign directing us down the trail for the 20-minute walk to the Nature Centre dumped us on a road with no indication of where to go next (just down the street a short way, as it turned out). We chatted with a nice park worker there, who informed us of a red-tailed hawk that sometimes flies over the area (she correctly surmised that two guys with cameras bearing telephoto lenses were birders and not, like, peeping toms). We did not see the hawk, but the worker did point out the Big Hill to us. I have included a shot of it below, with arrows to better identify it. It’s big if you are very small. I mean, I’m not saying I was unimpressed, but I walk up a bigger hill just to go to the local grocery store.

The “Big Hill”, image from Google Maps

After wrapping up at Green Timbers, we moved on to Blackie Spit, which is wonderfully quiet during the week.

We headed out to the spit first, though a new(ish) sign indicated not to go all the way out due to birds. But even as we contemplated the sign, we saw a heron land not far away and in an area we don’t normally see them. Then another heron landed not too far from the first one. Then there was heron drama. After, only one heron remained. I mean, they didn’t battle to the death or anything, one just chased the other away.

We saw more herons in their usual locale in the marshy area to the south. We also saw large numbers of wigeons–including Eurasian wigeons, which we don’t see often–as well as wood ducks, mallards and northern pintails. The tide was in, so shorebirds like yellowlegs and dowitchers were not to be seen. We did see a kingfisher, though.

And we saw loons. We have seen loons here before, but this time they were kind enough to be closer to the shore, so I finally got decent shots of them, rather than my usual “you can tell by its shape that it’s a loon” photos.

For sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds, we saw some Northern flickers, sparrows of the song, golden and white-crowned variety, as well as one especially vocal crow. There were some finches and juncos for good measure, and what Merlin tells us was a sharp-shinned hawk sitting atop a distant tree. Neat!

We also discovered a trail we have missed despite being to Blackie Spit many times. We noticed a woman sitting on a bench on the other side of a creek, where we assumed you could not reach. Clearly she had reached it. We then discovered the path, which is narrow, but affords a different view. We now know for the future.

By the time we finished lunch and wound up the trip to Blackie Spit, the light was getting low. As mentioned, we had not seen any shorebirds, and Nic wanted to see shorebirds, so we headed off to Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake, to get in a few minutes of birding before the sun set. We arrived a little over half an hour before sunset and stayed until ten minutes before. By that point, the light had shifted from (very) golden to dim and the temperature began to drop noticeably.

But we did see shorebirds! And more Steller’s jays. Those guys are everywhere now, it seems. It was kind of fun to get shots in the somewhat extreme lighting conditions, but that’s what the denoise filter is for, amirite?

We also saw a bunch of people launching canoes from Piper Spit. Now, canoeing on the lake is fine, but launching your canoes from the middle of a bird sanctuary is a bit rude. They temporarily displaced most of the birds as they moved out. One woman on the pier was quite animated about how she felt about these canoodlers. This also happened as the sun was dipping behind the trees, so I don’t know if they were planning to paddle by the light of the crescent moon or had flashlights, because pretty quick it was going to be dark.

In any case, we were done, and I somehow took over 700 shots, of which several were actually salvageable. Woo! Time to watch more camera tutorials, because then I can blame someone else for my shots of varying quality.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • Northern flicker
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s jay
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Common loon
  • Eurasian wigeon
  • Green-winged teal
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier
  • Sharp-shinned hawk (probably)

Non-birds:

  • Black, grey and Douglas squirrels

Birding shots from November 11, 2023 are up

The light was often not great, but you do what you can, then fix in post.

A highlight:

Steller's jay perched on a branch
Steller’s jay perched on a branch

The gallery:

A few shots after the Friday, November 10, 2023 windstorm

We had a windstorm blow through the area (as windstorms do) on the night of November 10th, a few days ago as I write this.

I went birding the next day and captured a few shots of the destruction while walking down the Brunette River trail.

First, the pretty. The wind yoinked a bunch of leaves off the trees, making the trail resplendent in fall colours:

A jogger in red heads down the yellow leaf road

And the destruction. This was the largest piece of debris on the river trail I saw, and definitely not something you would want clobbering you on the head at 70-90 km/h:

This was right near the entrance off North Road, so I saw the worst right up front

This rare non-run day shot from the top of the Cariboo Dam shows that the morning after the storm was actually pretty decent:

All quiet now, save for the mad dashing of squirrels gathering food for winter

Birding, November 11, 2023: In before the rain

Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Overcast, 10°C

The Outing

Considering the forecast for the day was heavy rain, we got lucky! It was actually reasonably decent for the first few hours and when the rain did come, it was when we were basically done and heading back to the car–and it only started raining heavily once we were inside. Thank you, Mother Nature.

And as an extra bonus, we actually saw a surprising number and variety of birds at both locations.

The area between the Nature House and Piper Spit was replete with sparrows and sparrow-adjacent birds, all hopping around the one cool spot that coincidentally had a lot of seed. We saw plenty of towhees and chickadees, some of the seasonal migrants like juncos and as an extra treat, a pair of Steller’s jays. Neat! Also, a lot of squirrels were darting about, prepping for the winter. The grey squirrels seem to be massive now. One of them even looked a little surly. It would probably beat me in a fight.

We saw what Merlin (the app, not the bird or wizard) claims is an Iceland gull, but neither of us was 100% confident in its identification. Gulls have about a billion variations. Even the gulls probably couldn’t tell you which they are.

On the waterfowl front, there were bursts of duck drama, but also duck and seagull bathing, coots causing commotion and plenty of gulls, which always seem to take refuge at the spit after a big storm.

Speaking of storms, we had a big storm last night, with winds up to 70-90 km/h. The trails were carpeted with fresh leaves, twigs and other debris, and I counted multiple large sections of trees down, along with an entire tree itself alongside the main trail.

Tlahutum didn’t offer as many birds, but it did offer some we didn’t see at Piper: mergansers, buffleheads and a kingfisher. Sadly, my kingfisher shots were fuzzy and out of focus. Boo. Nic’s were better, so at least one of us got some decent ones. We also saw the birbiest golden-crowned sparrow I’ve seen in a while.

The weather started to turn just as we were wrapping up at Tlahutum, which was convenient. We saw the kingfisher on the way out, so that was a nice treat to end the birding, even if my photos didn’t quite turn out (also, don’t ask about my junco shots).

In all, this was an unexpectedly good day, both for the number and variety of birds, and also in the weather holding back long enough for us to fully check out the two places we had planned to visit.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s Jay

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Merlin (?)

Non-birds:

  • Black, grey and Douglas squirrels