Reifel Bird Sanctuary

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 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 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, December 15, 2023: Chickadees for miles, plus a woodpecker

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Richmond Nature House, Terra Nova (Richmond)
Weather: Partly sunny, 6-8°C

The Outing

We headed out for a rare weekday trip to Reifel and lo, when we got there we didn’t have to check in. Instead, a sign indicated that due to low reservations, anyone could just drive on in, which we did. And it was probably the quietest I’ve ever seen the sanctuary. We were able to go for long stretches without seeing anyone, especially in the first hour or so.

What we did see were chickadees. A billion chickadees. And at least a million towhees, who were being unusually cooperative in having their pictures taken. The avocets were still in the main pond, so they may be settling in for the winter. Sadly, they were on the far side, so good shots were not to be had. Herons were scattered about, but none particularly close and most of them either sleeping or grooming, boo. I mean, good for grooming and staying tidy, boo for not showing off that fantastic “stab you” stare they have.

Noted by their absence again were Canada geese and wood ducks. We did see some geese in a field outside the sanctuary, but the wood ducks were nowhere to be found.

We also saw a bonus pheasant on the way in, which was spiffy, even if we couldn’t really stop to get photos.

It was a good day for raptors, too, with a pair of juvenile bald eagles perching high in a tree above us, a Northern harrier sweeping across the shoreline, and a red-tailed hawk perching atop a tree and posing, though perhaps farther away than we would have liked.

Squirrels were copious and rotund.

At one point, Nic slipped when stepping onto one of the slippery wooden viewing platforms. I proved I was not a hardcore photographer by first asking if he was OK, then checking to see if his camera was OK (both were OK).

And after lamenting no Sandhill cranes as we got ready to leave, a pair of Sandhill cranes appeared as if by magic, so we rounded out Reifel with some shots of the pair stalking through the parking lot.

Next up was the Richmond Nature House, where plenty of chickadees, juncos, assorted sparrows and several ambitious squirrels were working away on the feeders. As a bonus, we also saw a downy woodpecker.

We rounded out the day at Terra Nova, where we saw few birds, but got some nice scenery shots of misty mountains, the setting sun and, of course, more planes than you can shake a jet engine at. Well, I did, at least. Nic doesn’t do planes. I compensate by doing all the planes.

Overall, it was a perfectly pleasant outing. There was little wind and it felt relatively mild. A nice way to wrap up birding for 2023 (barring minor excursions here and there).

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • American robin (maybe)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Downy woodpecker
  • European starling (sighted, not shot)
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Northern flicker
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • American avocet
  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Snow goose
  • Trumpeter swan

Common:

  • American crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle (adult and juvenile)
  • Northern harrier
  • Red-tailed hawk

Non-birds:

  • Black squirrel, gray squirrel and Douglas squirrel

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, October 28, 2023: Brr-ding and the return of the waxwings

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (both in Delta)
Weather: Sunny, 5-8°C

The Outing

It was sunny but cool in that mid-fall way today, with the temperature a mere 5C to start and only climbing up to 8C in the afternoon. I wore my lined hoodie and was fine, mostly due to there also being very little wind.

We started at Reifel and were delighted to see the Sandhill cranes right at the start, though one of them mostly kept its head in a Rona bucket filled with food. We moved in and it was sleepy time for most of the ducks.

The Chickadee Empire is still in force, with many of its loyal citizens gathered around one apparently very interesting bench (probably because of nearby seed). Towhees, juncos and various sparrows were joining in as well.

Several ponds were curiously empty, though, and we did not see any wood ducks the entire day. Maybe they all went to Piper Spit on a field trip.

We think we saw five–not just four!–avocets in the pond adjacent to the West Dyke trail, but were unable to confirm 100% as they were snoozing, with their heads tucked in and their legs completely submerged. We also saw some harrier activity and would see even more at Boundary Bay.

Most of the winter migrants have arrived now, and we could only count scaups as a notable omission. Apart from the missing wood ducks, we actually saw quite a large variety of birds at Reifel, everything from grebes to pintails, ring-necked ducks and a few white-crowned sparrows.

For the first time that I can remember, we saw sparrow drama, so it looks like all birds can be dicks, just like people! There was no coot or goose drama this time out, however.

We started our trek around Boundary Bay at Beach Grove Park, which we hadn’t done for quite a while, going as far as just before the golf course before turning back. The tide was out, so we ventured onto the flats to start to get some scenery shots before moving back up to the trail. At first, the picking were pretty slim, but eventually we saw a lot of birbs and birds, including some we hadn’t expected, like yellow-rumped warblers, cedar waxwings and a Cooper’s hawk apparently picking on a northern harrier. We also saw the first bufflehead duck of the season.

Overall, today’s outing was a bounty of birds, and the cold weather actually wasn’t that bad. I could still feel my fingers when using the camera! However, I had a weird and higher-than-average number of blurry shots, so boo on that. I will try to camera better next time.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Chestnut-backed chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • Lincoln’s sparrow
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s Jay

Waterfowl:

  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Cormorant
  • Great blue heron
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern shoveler
  • Pied-billed grebe
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Sandhill crane
  • Snow goose
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Cooper’s hawk
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Fuzzy caterpillar
  • Gray squirrel
  • Various fixed-wing birds in and around Boundary Bay Airport

I did it, I made a photo gallery!

Yes, I finally got off my lazy butt and actually went through the photos I took on Saturday (October 7) and put together a gallery, which you can observe by looking right below:

Birding, October 7, 2023: Wet feet and The Chickadee Empire

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Iona Beach (Richmond)
Weather: Sunny, 12-21C

The Outing

The day started bright and early at Reifel, and it was indeed bright–a clear and ultimately warm (possibly record-setting) sunny day.

We immediately got shots of hummingbirds as several duelled or took turns going to the feeders, then moved on to find a lot of the usual birds not in the usual spots, or just absent altogether. We only saw a single pair of wood ducks, which is kind of weird, and the Canada geese were keeping themselves confined to several specific areas instead of going wherever they wanted, as they usually do.

And Chickadee Country was now Chickadee Empire. I have never before and may never again take so many shots of chickadees. To say it was a target-rich environment would be an understatement–they were everywhere, and in large numbers, so large that they seemed unconcerned by our stinky human presence, making it possible to get some very close-up shots.

The blackbirds were also ever-present, and eating seeds in their usual “wear all the food on your face” manner, which makes for great pics.

The four avocets were still in the big main pond, but were a little too far from shore to get good shots, alas. We did have better luck with the mostly-snoozing yellowlegs near the entrance, plus one that had again gone rogue and was looking for food along the shore of an inner pond, mingling with the ducks and geese.

We also saw a turtle, and for a time were confused about which end was its butt. This happens when you can pull your body parts into a shell.

Some new arrivals included fox sparrows and a ring-necked duck, plus the snow geese are back, though we only saw them far off in the distance.

After wrapping up at Reifel, we headed to Iona Beach, where the tide was…in! This was very unusual for us, and it meant the odds of seeing shorebirds were low and the odds of walking out on the tidal flats were zero, unless you wanted to wade in up to your hips (spoiler: I did a variation on this later in our visit).

The pond area did not yield much, save for some b;blackbirds, but we saw a nice selection of sparrows along the trail that leads toward the north jetty. Feeling saucy due to the summer-like weather, we pressed on farther than usual, to the first cut in the jetty that was put in to allow salmon and other fish to pass through.

After getting shots of gulls and scenery and things, we turned around for our long journey back to the car. Because the tide was in, we only had a narrow strip of shore to walk along. I walked a little close to the tide washing up a few times, getting my feet a little damp, then grossly miscalculated one stretch and got my feet just plain soaked.

In a way, it was a relief, because it meant I no longer had to be careful and could just stomp through the tide like a little kid. Which I did. We reached one area where we had to ascend up and over bramble and logs to continue through, and this is where Nic’s leg met a sharp thorn for the second bird outing in a row. The blood sacrifice made, we ventured on without further injury.

In the end, we both got some very nice shots, equally struggled with focus issues (with the cameras, not with what we were doing), but enjoyed being out on what was really a glorious early fall day.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Fox sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Northern flicker (probably)
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • White-throated sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped warbler

Waterfowl:

  • American avocet
  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Canada goose
  • Cormorants (a pair flying overhead)
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Glaucous-winged gull
  • Ring-billed gull
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Black squirrels
  • Various aircraft
  • Wasps

Birding, September 16, 2023: Hail to the Leaf

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Terra Nova (Richmond), Piper Spit (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 17-25C

The Outing

We hit five places today, one for each finger!

Reifel Bird Sanctuary: It was about 17C when we arrived in the morning, but it actually never felt cool and ended rather warm, which was a nice wrap-up for our last visit to the sanctuary for this summer.

More winter migrants are arriving, with northern shovelers joining the coots. We also saw two rare birds, which was spiffy: a white-fronted goose, and four avocets. Unlike when we saw a single avocet here last fall, these four were close to one of the bird blinds, allowing us to get much better shots. There were also chickadees everywhere, right from the parking lot on forward. The wood ducks were also seen in increasing numbers and seem to be racing ahead of the mallards in getting their full breeding plumage back. Pretty boys everywhere. The geese were acting strange and weird, as always.

It was here that I made a discovery about my camera issues. A small leaf landed on the camera and I started blowing on it to get it off. Nic advised me that I could also use my hands to, you know, just lift it off. I didn’t want to do that, lest I touch something I didn’t want to touch (on the camera, that is, though I also don’t know where that leaf had been, either). It was then that the proverbial light bulb went off over my head. I regularly turn my camera off to save on battery when I am not expecting to be shooting photos for at least a few minutes. The on/off switch is right next to the dial that selects shooting modes. With the leaf gone, I looked down and thought, THIS is how I had changed modes without realizing it, by pushing on the dial when I was moving the on/off switch (they are very close together).

Now that I know this, it should happen less often. I am also experimenting with leaving the camera on all the time once I start shooting, to see how quickly I go through the batteries (I start each bird outing with three fully charged, which should always be more than I need). We’ll see how it goes!

Richmond Nature House: The feeders were still empty, so we saw no birds here, but Nic’s curiosity was sated.

Terra Nova: We did not see many birds here, but did shoot a distant heron, some gulls, a few song sparrows and I shot a bunch of planes, or fixed-wing birds, as I call them. We also shot a grebe, but it was not close and not in great light.

Piper Spit: The land mass at the spit is back, and it’s actually quite large. I expect it will grow in size as long as the dry weather holds out. Again, we saw oodles of pretty wood ducks, some coots, lots of geese, and many greater yellowlegs. Several ducks were having baths, making for some great action shots. Today, it felt like Piper Spit was coming out of its sleepy summer state, with more birds coming in and general birdiness all around.

Tlahutum Regional Park: We only visited the community garden here and observed two hummingbirds battling again), spotted some newly-returned golden-crown sparrows, some white crowns and a fleeting flicker. There was also a squirrel eating the head of a giant sunflower. And speaking of eating, three deer were helping themselves to an all-you-can-eat buffet (though we only directly saw two). Deer have freakishly giant tongues. And no manners.

By this time (closing in on 6 p.m.) we were in the golden hour, high clouds were moving in and Nic only had room for a few more dozen photos on his SD card, so we wrapped up. Still, we saw a bounty of birds, I actually got some of my best shots in a while and the weather was pleasant throughout the day.

Also, I decided to experiment and shot in both JPG and RAW. My total file size ended up being just over 21 GB. Yikes.

The Shots

Soon™

An Anna’s hummingbird to start:

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Bewick’s wren (possibly heard, but not seen)
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Northern flicker
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped warbler

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • Avocet (rare)
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Sandhill cranes (briefly, flying overhead)
  • White-fronted goose (rare)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Ring-billed seagull
  • Rock pigeon

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Douglas, black and gray squirrels
  • Deer
  • Western painted turtle
  • Grasshopper
  • Bees ‘n dragonflies
  • Various helicopters, passenger jets and seaplanes in and around YVR

Birding, September 2, 2023: Return of the coot

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Piper Spit (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 18-28C

The Outing

It was actually kind of hot, which was somewhat unexpected, even though it is technically summer for a few more weeks. It was warm at Reifel even mid-morning, but it never got uncomfortably hot. The heat may have affected how many birds we saw, though, as some were no doubt seeking to keep cool in the shade.

At Reifel, we got some early shots of yellowlegs as they were parked up front right in the main pond. There were also swallows still buzzing about, but we declined to try shooting them this time. We next moved on to the London Slough, which had some herons on the periphery and the logs replete with geese and gulls–and two western painted turtles hanging out at one end. There were also several wood ducks who were in their full breeding colours, and were strutting their stuff on the runway fence railing.

We saw a plenitude of chickadees, the usual ducks (wood and mallard), along with a few less seen but technically not migrant waterfowl: mergansers and a pair of Northern pintails.

We saw more numbered geese (wearing collars around their necks bearing numbers like C29) and, of course, goose drama, though perhaps the heat kept any of them from going truly berserk.

The highlight may have been right at the end, when we saw the young eagle that sometimes hangs out at the main pond, trying to catch prey. Apparently it’s not very good at flying or hunting yet, and the staff have dubbed him Doofus. Ouch. He looks appropriately menacing in that raptor way, sitting on the rooftop of the viewing area, though.

Next up was Piper Spit, where most of the landmass is now again submerged following the recent showers. The water is still quite shallow, so that meant more yellowlegs, yay.

There were also a lot of pigeons, who alternated between flying in a group around in circles and landing in a long line near the end of the pier. More importantly, we saw a winter migrant! Two, in fact, and it was our buddy the original weird bird, the American coot. Now we know for sure the season is changing.

We rounded out with an abbreviated trip to Tlahutum Regional Park, where we saw a heron hunting (we don’t see them often here) and, thanks to a couple on the lookout, a rare sighting of a Lewis’s woodpecker. They appear in BC, but very seldomly make it this far west. Unfortunately, it was atop a telephone pole quite far away. I got some shots, but they’re of the “Yes, there is a bird” variety.

Still, a nice lifer. And we also saw some of Nic’s favourites in the community garden, white-crowned sparrows, so we left on a chirpy note.

Also, did I mention it was hot?

The Shots

Full gallery soon (for real, I swear), but here’s a shot to get started.

Greater yellowlegs about to disturb the slumber of a fellow shorebird

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • House sparrow
  • Lewis’s woodpecker (lifer–seen at Tlahutum)
  • Northern flicker
  • Purple martin
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • American coot (first sighting of the season)
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall (?)
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Hooded merganser
  • Northern pintail
  • Mallard
  • Short-billed dowitcher
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Douglas squirrel
  • Western painted turtle
  • Bees ‘n dragonflies

Birding, August 19, 2023: Haze, wind and the dial of doom

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta) and Iona Beach (Richmond)
Weather: Smoke haze, 17-23C

The Outing

We started out bright and early, but with an ominous sign: Smoke haze from forest fires to the east was starting to turn the sky a white-gray. By the time we got to Reifel, the blue sky was all but gone.

Still, we saw birds!

It was windy as all heck, too, which made the first part of the morning a wee bit chilly, but not too bad overall.

We started by watching some geese go cuckoo over an apple, then moved on, slightly disappointed by the lack of winter migrants, but it’s still early. Mallards, geese and house sparrows were in abundance, with the latter two showing up in unusually large numbers at the London Slough.

From there, we didn’t see a lot for a while, but came across the proverbial jackpot, with a plethora of dowitchers and yellowlegs in a pond that is most often unoccupied. I suppose the lack of rain has created shallower conditions in this particular pond, just right for shorebirds.

We also finally lucked out in Chickadee Country with a bunch flitting around the viewing platform, after mostly just hearing them taunting us earlier on the trails.

A thing we noticed among the birds and birbs at Reifel: Many were molting, so everyone was looking extra scruffy, sometimes adorably so. The mallards and wood ducks were starting to show signs of their handsome breeding colours returning, so the shift from summer to fall is underway in Birdville.

We wrapped up with some shots of sandhill cranes, one of whom was gorging itself on whatever was in a big plastic Rona bucket. Another actually sat down, something we’d never seen before (except when nesting). Sometimes you just want to get off your feet.

Our trip to Reifel was bracketed at the beginning and end by…cows! In an adjacent field, not in the actual sanctuary itself. I’ve now shot both cowbirds and cows. (We did not see any cowbirds.)

From there we went to the Richmond Nature House, which was a complete bust, as the feeders are still empty. We completed our tour with a tour of Iona Beach, though the wind and bugs (which caused us to retreat quickly from the pond area to apply bug spray as they were biting into us with relish) made us less adventurous than usual. The wind was so brisk I had to wear my cap in reverse to keep it from blowing off, and pretend I was hip. We walked onto the jetty to the point where you can move up or down on the stairs, then turned back. Along the way, we saw some gulls and distant herons, but not much else. Back on land, we caught sight of some cormorants near the barges, but really not much else in terms of birds.

It’s funny how the combination of the wind and the encroaching heat haze made the day feel a bit weird and off. I was expecting it to be quite warm originally, and at times it didn’t even feel like summer.

Overall, though, I was pleased with the shots I got, but unknown to me, disaster was waiting in the wings (bird joke): The dial of doom.

Like most cameras, mine has a dial that lets you switch shooting modes. Like most dials, it has notches and requires a little effort to switch modes, so you don’t do so easily and perhaps capriciously. Today, I observed several times that the mode had gone from P to something else, like AV. Looking through the EVF, I spotted nothing amiss. I am unsure how the dial got switched, though did note that my right thumb sits very close to it when I’m holding the camera. I would like to think I’d notice if my thumbs was clicking the dial to a new position, but maybe not! Maybe my thumb is cursed, or evil. Or my camera is. Or everything is.

What it mean is that I took a bunch of photos that were complete, utter garbage, along with even more than were unusable, blurry messes, but in which you could still at least identify objects, like ducks and trees. I ended up losing over 150 photos because of this. I was not pleased.

But I’m also unsure what to do. I’ll adjust my camera, so every mode should give me good shots, but I’m still baffled at how the dial seemed to so easily turn. If I can software lock it to P, I will do that. If I can’t, I’ll just cry into my pillow. Then I’ll just keep checking to insure the dial is set to P.

That is my new mantra: Still on P.

Overall, then, this was a real mixed bag. I did get some good shots, so it wasn’t a complete disaster, but oof, how can I have had probably my worst day of shooting ever over two and a half years after I got my camera? Bleah!

The Shots

The rest Soon™, but here’s an Anna’s hummingbird to get started.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Cedar waxwing
  • Collared dove
  • Goldfinch
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • Canada goose
  • Lesser scaup
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Long-billed dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Great blue heron
  • Sandhill crane
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • Cows