Where: Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Clouds and sun, 18°C
Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach
One of the creeks south of the spit itself.
We have had issues with parking at Blackie Spit before, but figured with the weather looking rather gray, that would not be a problem today. We were wrong! But it wasn’t just the regular crowd, there was a rowing event and the boats were hogging up a chunk of the main parking lot and the entire secondary lot, so we ended up parking near the Sunflower Café, just like the last time we had problems finding parking here.
This turned out to be a good thing, as it led us to discovering a lifer! Blackie Spit itself did not yield many birds, though we did see some juncos, chickadees and a house cat strolling the beach like it owned the place.
We also thought we saw the first massive flock of snow geese for the season. Nic gave a man and his kid a rundown on them. They were quite far off, but even across the bay we could hear them. When we looked at our photos later, we discovered they were actually Canada geese, just in super large numbers. Whoops!
The star, though, was as we were leaving, through a different-than-usual route. We heard some very loud chattering that Nic first thought was a squirrel, because they can sound weirdly bird-like when they want to. But no, this was an actual bird, blue and white, and with a jay vibe happening. Merlin confirmed it was a California scrub-jay. It was very pretty, as well as loud, and posed a fair bit before flying off. Technically it was north of its usual range, though we later found they have been seen before in the Lower Mainland and some parts north. Neat!
As an added bonus, the weather was much better than expected, with some sun and mild temperatures.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Cloudy and (feeling) cool at Burnaby Lake.
We did not see any new arrivals at Piper spit and by the time we got there, the sky had clouded over again and while the reported temperature was 18C, it did not feel like 18C.
Still, we did see multiple coots, a pair of wood ducks with the male doting on the female, a pile of snoozing dowitchers (a little too far off, boo), a twisty heron, and a bush packed full of blackbirds. The butterfly garden is pretty much done for the season, so no pollinators there. The male mallards are looking shiny again.
And only one family was feeding the birds this time, which is actually an improvement.
In all, not bad for the first birding of the fall. The lifer–and the excellent shots we got of it–made it totes worthwhile.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots:
The lifer: A handsome California scrub-jay.Male wood duck being affectionate.Song sparrow on the hunt for seed.
The marshland appears endless from the West Dyke Trail.
The day took a weird turn, camera-wise, as I managed to change the exposure on-the-fly without realizing it until I was looking at the photos later. Whoops. The change was subtle enough that I didn’t pick it up in the EVF. I’ve set it back and think I know how I did it, so hopefully this won’t happen again without me doing it on purpose.
But it was also a day when I shot a lifer–a Peregrine falcon!
Reifel started with a paucity of birds in the entrance pond, but there were signs of others we haven’t seen much, like chickadees. Sort of pond-adjacent was an abundance of barn swallows grooming in nearby trees, including what appeared to be a bunch of juveniles. Cute! The geese were everywhere, but didn’t seem overly interested in trying to eff each other (or anyone else up). Summer doldrums, maybe. We were reacquainted with C21, a goose that has a rather clunky-looking neck collar. No sign of C19 or C20, though. We also saw a towhee wearing a wire. We’re being tracked, the birds are being tracked, everyone is being tracked.
There were a few shorebirds in one of the west dyke ponds, but again very far away, boo. The blind that faces one of the ponds had a special “treat”, though–a growing wasp nest on the inside of one of the wooden flaps, which was left in the open position (for obvious reasons). The honeycomb had probably a few dozen pockets in it, with wasps canoodling around it, probably adding more using their secret wasp techniques. We took our photos and scrammed.
And upon seeing a raptor flying way up overhead, I took a bunch of shots that were mostly mediocre, but were good enough to identify the bird as a Peregrine falcon–a lifer! It seemed to just be passing by.
I experimented more with shooting scenery (and some bugs) using manual focus, which may have had repercussions revealed later (which I will also reveal later).
Boundary Bay Dyke Trail
I have never seen horses out here before. Now I have seen three.
For Boundary Bay, we started near the golf course (there’s always a golf course) and went to the little pump house near 80th Street, probably a few km or so. The trail was very dry and bright. There were basically no birds, except an errant robin and a bald eagle sitting atop a telephone pole. The eagle was “panting” but when Nic crossed to the other side of the trail, it immediately stopped and looked precisely in our direction. And kept looking. We got some very nice shots, then scrammed (at a leisurely pace. An eagle would probably not be able to carry us off. Probably).
The main highlight here were planes, if you’re into planes, the scenery, and bugs, specifically grasshoppers of various colours, and butterflies.
We decided to round out the day with a risky trip to Blackie Spit.
Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach
Distant kayakers make land off Blackie Spit.
This is risky only in the sense that a sunny Saturday afternoon is likely to find the parking lot full. And it was. But we went to the second, smaller parking lot further in, the one with the curiously square roundabout (a squareabout?) and lo, there was a single spot! We parked a short distance from a Cybertruck, which seemed to have parked in a handicapped spot without apparent reason[Cybertruck joke here].
The tide was way out and Blackie Spit itself is now restricted to a single straight trail that doesn’t really get close to the water, so it’s a bit of a bust now. The scenery is still nice.
We ventured onto the other trails, saw more shorebirds (still kind of far away), but again, not too many birds venturing out into the mid-afternoon sun, apart from some song sparrows, a crow and a seagull that Nic and I both managed to capture pooping in mid-flight. You take the wins where you can.
And that was the day! The weather was perfectly cromulent, the lack of birds not surprising, and the rare gems all the more precious because as birding goes, we are also in the summer doldrums.
Soon, though, there will be coots.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
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.
Looking west across the marshland, the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island in the distance.
Another Friday birding adventure, but due to scheduling and not the weather, which continues to be sunny and warm (but thankfully not hot and gross). We first headed out to Reifel, hoping to see the pair of adorable Sandhill crane babies.
As we neared Westham Island, we got stuck behind a rather slow-moving car with a large lab-type dog stuffed in the rear window. It was panting. But don’t worry, the windows were open. I know this because people on both sides of the car occasionally stuck their arms out and waggled their hands. I’m not sure if they were signalling that it was OK for us to pass them–most of the road here is “no passing” and usually the driver does the signalling, as the driver is the one, well, driving. Maybe he had one hand on the wheel and one holding an extra hot cup of McDonald’s coffee1I know McDonald’s doesn’t do this anymore. Please don’t sue me, McDonald’s.. Whatever the case, we observed that dogs are not allowed at Reifel, but the car was passing every possible stop before Reifel, including the island hotspot of Emma’s Farm, which is so popular in the summer they have “No parking here” signs all around the property, so people won’t park just anywhere, desperate to get in and touch cows, or whatever it is you do there.
As it turns out, the car turned off at one of the last few houses before Reifel, which made me wonder, how often do any of the island residents actually go there? Do they ever go there? Do they even like birds?
In any event, we like birds and arrived to a flurry of barn swallows buzzing the main lagoon. Nic got some nice shots, I got one blurry shot that vaguely resembles a UFO.
We also discovered that the wood ducks are still here, when we came across a bunch of male wood ducks in one of the increasingly swampy-looking inner waterways. These young fresh fellows were just starting to develop their mullets. Apparently the wood ducks stay, but just move out of view during the summer. Maybe that’s what the shovellers and pintails do, too.
Chickadees remained scarce and elusive. I did not get any shots. We did see some towhees and a few errant song sparrows, but most of the birbs proved elusive. There were goldfinches, too, but either far off in the marshland or in deep shadow in the trees, taunting us to get good shots. I did not.
However, there were oodles of herons all over the place, lots of them flying around, plus bonus turtles outside the first bird blind.
One highlight began as a lowlight–the Sandhill crane viewing area was closed, meaning a large swatch of the inner ponds was inaccessible, and we wouldn’t see the adorable babies.
Fortunately, Sandhill cranes can’t read signs and pay no attention to human barriers. We were preparing to leave and lo, the entire family was right there in the picnic area near the entrance, casually strolling about as they do. The two kids are rapidly growing and already entering the “90% legs” phase.
The other item of note were my shoes. I have new HOKA Speedgoat 6s. They look like this:
We encountered the first of many sets of ducklings near the base of the viewing tower, and these duckings were very interested in my new shoes, with all of them coming up and pecking at them or pulling at the laces. Apparently this colour combination resembles either a food source or just something delightful to them (I mean, the colour is pretty delightful). One duckling even started following me as we left the area.
So now I know how to attract ducklings.
Canada geese were still ever-present, and still ominously quiet. One mom came by with her gaggle of kids, and they were in that prime gangly teen stage, still all downy, but showing adult colours, and 95% legs (even more so than the crane babies).
And we saw a most unusual sight: A single Eurasian wigeon. I think Nic and I took a combined 500 photos of the bird. It was very cooperative that way. I had to go for quantity, as my camera sees wigeons as robins, which is to say fuzzy and slightly out of focus (as a side note, I had some camera issues today, despite the camera being cleaned the night before. The only thing I can think is heat may have been a factor. The telephoto lens casing did feel pretty warm after some time in the sun). The wigeon was very handsome and helped cap a typical summer day at Reifel–pleasant, beautiful vistas, but overall quiet compared to migratory seasons.
Crescent Beach/Blackie Spit
Shell on a log at Blackie Spit.
Nic did not want to log 30,000+ steps, so suggested Crescent Beach next, which is relatively compact. Unlike Reifel, which was quiet both bird and people-wise, Crescent Beach was hopping–with people. Birds, not so much, and some of the ones we did see were off in the distance. We saw herons, some gulls, plenty of crows, but no killdeer (which had been reported in the area). Again, some nice scenery shots, but not much in the way of birbery. We did see a snail clinging upside down on a flower, with a large spider nearby. I’m not sure if there was drama there, or if they were both just avoiding the sun.
Speaking of, I once again avoided any sunburn. Then forgot my sunblock in the car.
Overall, not a bad day of birding, and the weather was just plain nice.
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.
The weather forecast was a lying liar again, promising “mostly sunny” and delivering the opposite. We did have some blue sky, but the sun was mostly blotted out. On the plus side, less harsh light to deal with.
We started out at Blackie Spit, delighting in the ease of parking on a weekday morning. It was perhaps a bit cooler than expected. The water was low, which bode well for shorebirds, and we saw…a few. A couple of greater yellowlegs were poking about. We also saw some cormorants, a few loons (the bird kind, not the people kind), and a horned grebe. The herons were on the pilings instead of their usual spot in the marshland. It seems the herons everywhere have shifted locations. Spring fever, maybe.
We also saw a pair of juvenile bald eagles on other pilings, with an adult in a nearby tree. Maybe a parent watching the kids? You know what trouble kids can get up to.
The bird boxes offshore usually used by purple martins appear to have been taken over by starlings, as Nic got shots of them all over the boxes, with some bringing in nesting material.
After wrapping up there, we made a quick return trip to 1001 Steps to see if we might spot more Harlequin ducks or birds of paradise or something. We saw a couple of cormorants flying off and a distant heron. I shot a lot of rocks. We moved on after working out our thighs on the trip back up the staircase.
Next we hit a new location, Brydon Lagoon in Langley, as Nic had seen reports of a rare Black Phoebe in the area (Black Phoebe sounds like a goth YA novel to me, but what do I know about naming birds?). While we did not see the rare bird, we did see birds. The lagoon itself, with a fountain in the middle, was actually well-represented by many species, sort of a mini Reifel or Piper Spit. We ventured south into Hi-Knoll Park, which consists of meandering trails, which offered pleasant views of creeks and things, but few birds. We saw a robin. I took blurry photos.
It was nice to check out new scenery, though.
We rounded off the afternoon with our usual last stop at Piper Spit and lo, a lifer1This is what fancy birder people call a bird they’ve never seen before. It has nothing to do with serving prison time. appeared in the form of a tree sparrow, which is a small birb with great camo. The water at the lake is still high, so no shorebirds to be seen, but most everything else was around, including the buffleheads, which seem to be at least semi-regulars now. The cowbird population is also much higher than it was from even a few days ago, when I was last here. When it comes to photos, cowbirds are still like migrant robins for me.
As expected, the sun started coming back out as we wrapped up. But it didn’t rain, we saw a lifer and got to see some new sights, so that was all right.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Where: Crescent Beach, Serpentine Fen, 1001 Steps (Surrey), Sapperton Landing (New Westminster)
Weather: Cloudy, 8°C
The Outing
It was a gray, cloudy day, with generally mediocre light, but on the plus side, my camera behaved again1Except when it came to one robin. See below for the blurry details., and it didn’t rain until after we had wrapped up.
We ventured to south Surrey and 1001 Steps, on the promise of spotting Harlequin ducks and lo, they were there! They were not close to the shore (none of the waterfowl were, a recurring theme for most of the day), but we got shots that say, “This is a Harlequin duck!” (Nic fared better–this is where 400mm vs 250mm can make a real difference).
The 1001 Steps that winds down to the rocky beach is more like 250 or so, but it’s still a notable number when you’re climbing back up. This is where all that jogging finally paid off. The beach is quite rocky, so we had to step carefully, but the view was very pretty, even with the cloud cover, and there were many birds swimming off the shoreline. We saw some species I don’t see often, too, like surf scoters and grebes, so despite the so-so light and distance, it was spiffy to check out a new area and see a new bird in the bargain. After climbing back up the stairs, we walked a few blocks to Kwomais Point Park. Here, there were a lot of songbirds, including bushtits (hehe) and a brown creeper, but most were not nearby. There was one extremely chill robin and I took a bunch of photos, but my camera was more interested in the grass directly behind the robin for reasons. I vow to shoot in manual mode the next time I see a robin sitting still like that. I will learn how to do this, just like a real guy-with-a-camera.
We actually started the day at Crescent Beach and Blackie Spit. There were lots of mallards, pintails and wigeons, but cormorants were absent, songbirds were not very prevalent, but we did see some greater yellowlegs, including two that had a bit of drama along the shoreline. Something felt off about the area today, though, whether it was the weather, the mix of birds or maybe just the time of year.
After 1001 Steps, we moved on to Serpentine Fen and got all crazy, walking the trail in reverse. I don’t mean walking backward, which would have been awkward, but possibly entertaining for others, we simply walked the route opposite the way we normally do. Sometimes you see views or things you didn’t notice before.
What we did see were lots of goldeneyes, wigeons, more mallards and several brooding herons. A few songbirds showed themselves here and there, but perhaps the biggest congregation consisted of several giant flocks of starlings atop some tall trees and power pylons. For some reason, this place had a lot more people than I would have expected for such a dreary day. But maybe people go somewhere else on nicer days? Maybe nothing new is on Netflix?
We wrapped up with an impromptu stop at Sapperton Landing, because I was hoping to see some birds near the river’s edge. And we did see some goldeneyes and a few others, along with some sparrows and a crow that took off at the precise moment I took its photo. It was a fitting end to what was a day of not-great shots. For the most part, it was the conditions and not my own ineptitude, or camera problems, but I think, after three years with my camera, I am ready to step up and start learning more control over the hardware, so I can better blame myself when a shot doesn’t turn out, just like nature intended.
The Shots Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American bushtit
Anna’s hummingbird
Black-capped chickadee
Dark-eyed junco
Golden-crowned sparrow
Red-winged blackbird (heard)
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee (heard)
White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl:
American coot
American wigeon
Belted kingfisher
Bufflehead duck
Canada goose
Common goldeneye
Common merganser
Cormorant
Dunlin (?)
Great blue heron
Greater yellowlegs
Green-winged teal
Harlequin duck
Horned grebe
Mallard
Northern pintail
Scaup
Surf scoter
Common:
Crows
Seagulls
Raptors:
Bald eagle
Non-birds:
A rabbit at Serpentine Fen with a weird-looking puffy cheek
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.
Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Crescent Beach (Surrey), and Piper Spit (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 12-17C
The Outing
We hit four sites on our first official fall bird outing and the weather, though sunny, was indeed fall-like, with it starting at only 12C at Centennial Beach, along with a brisk wind. It warmed up to around 17C by late in the afternoon.
Centennial Beach: Raptors on Raptor Trail once again failed to materialize, but we did see a bald eagle out on the tidal flats. Shorebirds were also scarce, possibly due to the tide being way out, as it often is when we visit. We saw gulls, a Brewer’s blackbird couple, a wigeon or two, plus a bunch of goldfinches that would not stop flitting about.
Boundary Bay Dyke Trail: Planes were plentiful, and birds were, too, but much like earlier, they were flitting like mad from tree to tree and branch to branch, making good shots a fun (?) challenge! We did see a Northern harrier or two, as well. As always, the view was nice.
Crescent Beach/Blackie Spit: Seagulls were flying around in abundance, as were some herons, but no loons, alas. We did see some more yellowlegs and a few cormorants. The beach and park were fairly busy, which surprised me a little. Apparently everyone wanted to be outside on the first nice Saturday of fall. By now it was warm enough to doff jackets, if desired.
Piper Spit: This place was crawling with people and children (not that children aren’t people, but you know what I mean). Coots were croaking, but all the shorebirds were in one tight group, snoozing. Golden hour was setting in, so light was rather harsh. We shot a heron grooming up in a tree. They always look weird up in trees. I did not notice any pigeons or seagulls, and the land mass seems to be continuing to expand, so I assume they are letting more water flow out of the lake, Or maybe it’s magic.
Overall, it was a good day of birding, even if we didn’t see anything super exotic, and even though a lot of the birds were even more uncooperative than usual. Don’t they know we just want to capture them in all their pretty glory?
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
American blackbird
American robin
Anna’s hummingbird
Black-capped chickadee
Brewer’s blackbird
Golden-crowned sparrow
Goldfinch
Northern flicker
Savannah sparrow
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Steller’s jay
Yellow-rumped warbler
Waterfowl:
American coot
American wigeon
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Greater yellowlegs
Green-winged teal
Mallard
Northern pintail (possibly)
Wood duck
Common:
American crow
Glaucous-winged gull
Ring-billed gull
Pacific gull (?)
Raptors:
Bald eagle
Northern harrier
Non-birds:
Douglas and gray squirrels
Dragonflies
Grasshoppers
A fuzzy little caterpillar dude (or dudette, who can tell?)
Where: Blackie Spit (Surrey), Centennial Beach (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Smoke haze and sun, 23-26C
The Outing
Two bits of good news to start:
Despite the return of the smoke haze after a brief respite, it wasn’t as bad as previously. The main change is it was no longer causing a distinct yellow cast to the lighting. Today it mainly affected the visibility of distant scenery (no shots of Mt. Baker) and the sky looked whitish-blue instead of just blue.
I never had any of the shenanigans that happened last week with my camera. I set it to P (Program) mode before heading out, and it stayed there the entire day. Woo. All lousy photos were my own fault, just as nature intended.
We hit four places today. It was kind of crazy, but the good kind of crazy. Mostly.
We started at Blackie Spit and at first the birds were as scarce as the water (it was low tide). Once we moved away from the beach, our luck improved with some house finches, purple martins, a northern flicker, distant herons, a gaggle of ducks in a creek huddled against the shady side (smart ducks–it was hot!) but best of all, a group of greater yellowlegs hanging out on a couple of logs, most of them initially snoozing. They were eventually joined by others, along with a pair of short-billed dowitchers, and began feeding and bobbing and doing the things they do.
We moved onto Centennial Beach next and there we saw some Brewer’s blackbirds, a couple of waxwings, some raptors (not on the Raptor Trail but technically above it), herons and more shorebirds, including a variety of gulls, some terns, more yellowlegs and the ever-cute and weird killdeer. We also saw a very shiny beetle, which ended with Nic taking a photo of his own foot. Nic got some really nice shots of a red-tailed hawk and was able to crop out all the weird stuff that showed up in multiple images, then mysteriously went away on its own. We agree that my dial of doom curse had somehow transferred over to his camera, at least for today.
From there, we moved on to fill our tummies with lunch, then headed for an unplanned trip to the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail. We saw many grasshoppers, though Nic has declared he is done with them, but they remain a freaky favourite of mine. Birds were a bit scarcer here, but we did see some more finches, chickadees (however fleetingly) and a trio of red-necked pharalopes, which I’d never shot before. They were not especially close, but I did get some shots that were good enough for Merlin to ID. I also got some extreme close-ups of planes landing at Boundary Bay Airport, of course. We also saw a male and female harrier and were able to get some of our best shots ever. Even I got a decent shot, woo.
After this, we were still not done, and headed to Tlahutum Regional Park for a quick check of the community gardens. We saw more flickers, white crowns, but best of all, hummingbirds that cooperatively supped at flowers nearby. We both got good shots of these pointy-beaked birbs when they weren’t chasing each other in a territorial dispute..
We each also drank our own weight in fluids. Did I mention it was hot?
Overall, a very respectable outing, with enough birb surprises to almost make up for no Savannah sparrows.
The Shots
This gallery has everything. Birds! Bugs! Boats! Black and white! Yes, I indulged myself and converted three photos to black and white, but I kept the originals for comparison.
Lonesome gull.
Great blue heron keeping vigil, Centennial Beach.
Warning on a calm sea.
Room for one only.
Greater yellowlegs doing a balancing act.
Shorebirds by the shore.
Greater yellowlegs strolling for food.
Piling it on.
Pipes!
Pipes! But now all artsy in black and white.
Sand wasp.
A somewhat scruffy crow.
Boat plying the water off Crescent Beach.
Boat, but now black and white, save for a daring splash of colour. But is it art?
Brewer's blackbird, giving everyone The Eye.
Brewer's blackbird, triumphantly having acquired a seed.
Ducks before muck.
Killdeer at rest, looking slightly weird, as they do.
Killdeer doing the flap.
Shiny black beetle.
Female harrier swooping by, up close.
Grasshopper between hops.
Private plane landing at Boundary Bay Airport.
Chairs with a view.
Chairs, but black and white. Does less colour make them less comfortable?
Anna's hummingbird, between rounds of feeding and fighting.
I went out with a minor bit of trepidation. A few days earlier I’d caught a bug from Jeff, but on Friday I was feeling fairly decent and got a lot of stuff done, so I was hoping some birding on Saturday would be fine.
I was mostly right. By the time we got to our third and final stop, Crescent Beach, I was beginning to flag. Despite asking really nicely, Nic refused to carry me out. I managed to get out on my own two feet.
As for the various locations:
Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest: The name is a bit of a misnomer, because most of the area is shrouded in semi-permanent shade due to the abundance of very tall trees. It’s great for that forest vibe, and is neat to walk off a street and into the middle of fairly dense woods. The Merlin app was going cuckoo, reporting as many as seven different species at once, yet we actually saw very few birds, most of them remaining high up in the trees or away from the trails. My shots here were not great, though I did get a couple of nice shots of some fungus and then, right as we were about to enter the parking lot to leave, a junco came out and did a bunch of posing for us. What a nice junco!
Serpentine Fen: It had been a while since we’d visited here and the weather was ideal–sunny, but not hot. It was very pleasant, and the area was lush, though the river was very low. We did see more birds here, including an abundance of geese and herons in the river. Songbirds were more elusive, but we caught sight of a wren, a Savannah sparrow and a few song sparrows. Strangely, no ducks at all–not even mallards in the ponds. Again, my shots were not great.
Crescent Beach: We arrived here around 3 p.m. and given that it was:
Canada Day
A Saturday
Gorgeous weather
The beach was very crowded. We could not find parking in the usual lot and ended up parking further away, near a café, and had to walk in from there. As we trekked across the beach and through the trails, I began to flag, but managed to stay upright. We again saw no ducks, but there were song sparrows, some herons and purple finches were in abundance. A cedar waxwing also made an appearance, as did some Savannah sparrows.
Yet again, my shots were not great. As we left, I pondered this. A lot of the birds were far away, and the lighting was often not great (shadows or bright sun), but there seemed to be more to it than just the specific conditions of the shoot.
Later, when Nic and I talked about it, I mused that my shots had been getting worse–blurrier–for some time now. I am cleaning the lenses and contacts regularly, so I didn’t think those were the cause. As Nic looked over my camera, he noticed that the EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) was blurry. I concurred, but had always figured that it was my eyes and not the EVF (my prescription for lenses is about two years old now). Nic consulted the internets and discovered where the diopter1In this context it’s the control under the EVF that sets how sharp the image is in the EVF is located. I’d known about this before, but had completely forgotten about it. Fiddling with it brought the EVF into sharp focus. It is very possible this was at least one of the major culprits of my shots not being as clear as they could be. I will find out more the next time I go out and aboot shooting birds.
In the meantime, and as a bonus, I have also discovered how to make quick exposure and ISO changes. I’m finally learning to use my camera two and a half years after buying it! Go me.
As for the outing, I put in 25,000+ steps, which was probably way more than my body was in condition for, but the weather was nice, and I was glad to be out.
The Shots
Upward view of forest at Sunny Acres Urban Forest. Shot with iPhone 12.
Fungus the first, Sunnyside Acres. Shot on iPhone 12.
Fungus the second, Sunnyside Acres. Shot on iPhone 12.
Scruffy dark-eyed junco, probably a juvenile, Sunnyside Acres.
Great blue heron on the shore at Serpentine Fen.
Serpentine Fen, shot on iPhone 12.
Idyllic, if empty, pond at Serpentine Fen.
One of several bald eagles cruising over the fen.
Metallic bird. Strangely, the advertising on its belly didn't survive post.
Lorquin's Admiral butterfly
Savannah sparrow experiencing the power
Purple finches flapping furiously
Verdant field at Serpentine Fen
Bumblebee to flower: "I love you so much!"
Great blue heron on remnants of a pier, Crescent Beach
I’m still recovering from a head cold or maybe the flu (who can say for sure?) but thought a gentle day of birding would be fine. I mean, it was, except that I walked way more than intended–over 24,000 steps. That was perhaps too much, and toward the end I was flagging pretty hard. Some food and rest later helped, but I haven’t felt this bagged in quite a while.
We hit three spots:
Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest
Serpentine Fen
Crescent Beach
Overall, my shots were not great, but I may have found out partly why–more later when I have more energy to typy-type.
For now, here’s a shot looking up in Sunnyside Acres, taken on my iPhone:
