Terra Nova

Birding, April 20, 2024: The Wire (Spotted Towhee Edition)

Where: Iona Beach, Terra Nova (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sun and cloud mix, 14-20°C

The Outing

The day promised sun, with increasing cloud in the afternoon and a chance of showers by around 6 p.m., so we were good for birding. The forecast was…mostly right. It clouded up earlier than expected, and the first few drops came just as we were wrapping up at Piper Spit, but it was very mild–shorts weather, even, though I didn’t wear mine, because I thought it might be cool by the water, which was not the case. And because I don’t think of April as being a big sunblock weather month, I didn’t wear any sunblock and got a little sunburned. I’ll learn to wear sunblock in April eventually.

We started at Iona Beach, where the sky stayed clear for most of our visit. The highlights included a massive congregation of dunlins along the shoreline of the Fraser River, just east of the barge parking lot. They have black patches on their bellies when in their breeding colours (most were), which are equally cute and weird. The tide was very low, but on this day we opted to not go way out wandering the flats. We did observe what was perhaps the largest collection of crab parts I’ve seen at Iona. I mean, there are always crab parts, but today it was like the remnants of a crabfest.

Right near the start we noticed some bright yellow flowers that seemed odd, given their placement, and the flowers turned out to be a goldfinch, which promptly took off once we successfully identified it. The goldfinch thus became Nic’s white whale for the rest of the time we were at Iona. They thwarted him at every turn.

I shot a lot of planes. Like, a lot.

We next went to Terra Nova, where, thanks partly to people leaving strategically-placed deposits of seed along the trails (which you are not supposed to do), we saw a lot more birbs than usual, including another banded golden-crowned sparrow (not the same as Bandy at Reifel, as the bands were different. And yes, we checked.) We also saw a spotted towhee sporting bands and a wire (one golden crown also had a wire). They don’t seem to mind the wires. Maybe they pipe in soothing music through them in the evening. A rarely-seen Bewick’s wren could be heard singing in the trees, and we spotted it, though the angles were not great. Still, it’s always nice to see birbs you don’t come across that often. Unless they are goldfinches mocking you.

Next we went to the Richmond Nature House. Actually, we went to the parking lot, which was full, turned around and left. They have construction going on there, so the already-small parking lot is currently even smaller. Worse, the final spot was taken by a Tesla. Boo hiss. But maybe they have stopped filling the feeders, so we didn’t miss anything. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

We wrapped up at Piper Spit, which felt a bit weird to me on this day. A lot of the winter migrants have left, so the overall population is down, and while there are new arrivals like cowbirds and swallows, the place still feels quieter (the migratory waterfowl tend to be in greater numbers than the songbirds). By now it had clouded over, so the light was not great, but the change in conditions did seem to scare off a lot of people, because it wasn’t that crowded. A young couple were on a bench at the end of the pier making out, perhaps not realizing they were not at home on the sofa. If I’d had any bird seed, I would have gently sprinkled it around them, so the blackbirds could have joined in on their fun.

Even the Canada goose drama was at a minimum. There was still some, though, because you can’t have Canada geese without drama. Speaking of drama, I just missed getting a shot of a heron in flight taking a poop. This may be the most dramatic midair pooping in the world, at least in terms of volume. I witnessed it through my viewfinder, I just wasn’t quick enough to get the shot. Maybe it’s better that way.

Just as we headed out, the first few drops of rain began to fall, so our timing was pretty much spot-on as we wrapped up.

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American goldfinch
  • American robin
  • Bewick’s wren
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Chipping sparrow
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Ruby-crowned kinglet
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Tree swallow
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • American coot
  • Canada goose
  • Cormorant
  • Dunlin
  • Green-winged teal
  • Great blue heron
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Sandhill crane
  • Scaup
  • Western sandpiper
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • European starling
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Several squirrels
  • A wasp
  • A weird little beetle that Nic found adorable

Birding, January 26, 2024: A window of opportunity

Where: Iona Beach, Richmond Nature House, Terra Nova (Richmond)
Weather: Cloudy, 7-10°C

The Outing

We opted for a rare weekday outing this week because the weather otherwise looked to be more of The Rains (which turned out to be accurate). We seized our window of opportunity and actually had pretty decent light for much of the day and zero precipitation, woo.

It was an all-Richmond outing today, and that meant planes. And helicopters. And then more planes. I shot more planes than chickadees. To be fair, planes travel in nice, predictable paths, which makes them a lot easier to shoot.

Iona Beach had an unusually dense population of herons nestled in the reeds around the main pond, all of them sleeping or looking stabby. A few flew off, and I managed to capture one pooping in flight. Herons are fairly large birds, so the volume they dispense is…impressive.

Elsewhere, we saw song sparrows, a finch and various waterfowl, including a merganser that was a little too far away to get good shots of. We also fell yet again into the Iona Beach trap of “walk back along the beach, run out of beach, then figure out how to keep going without getting your feet wet.” We got our feet wet.

Along the way, we saw a lot of gulls diving for goodies and got some good action shots there.

Next up was the Richmond Nature House, where we actually found parking. Yay. The feeders were doing good business, with approximately one million juncos dominating. At least until the towhees wanted some seed. We were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of a female and male downy woodpecker, both of whom went for the suet. We watched the fame stuff the suet into little holes in a nearby tree. That woodpecker is probably more organized than I am.

One squirrel was present and managed to squeeze itself into a feeder where it gorged on and off. It would sometimes come out and wade around in the water (most of the area around the feeders was a bit flooded from the recent snowmelt) to find soggy but easy-to-access seeds there.

We ended at Terra Nova, where we saw more planes than birds. I was happy, Nic less so. But we did get a nice treat, as the pond where we usually see a grebe or two not only had a grebe, it was much closer than usual, allowing for our best, grebiest shots yet.

I experienced some issues with my camera after swapping batteries, which may have been a coincidence, or it could be the camera just needed to be cleaned. Or both. It wasn’t due to the cold, though, as it got up to a downright mild 10C, a sharp contrast to recent outings. I’ll be thinking of spring now, which means more snow is on the way, probably.

Terra Nova is also where we saw this weirdly yellowish looking bank of cloud along the horizon, out on the strait, the kind you’d see in a horror movie, with ships full of undead pirates sailing out if. We just saw the cloud, though.

Overall, a fine outing, despite said glitches, with better than expected weather and light that was largely better than expected.

The Shots
Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Dark-eyed junco (x 1 million)
  • Fox sparrow
  • Downy woodpecker
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • Northern flicker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Great blue heron
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard
  • Ring-necked duck
  • Pied billed grebe
  • Snow goose
  • Surf scoter
  • Trumpeter swan

Common:

  • American crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • One very robust squirrel

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

Birding, October 22, 2023: Snow geese in the mushroom kingdom

Where: Iona Beach, Terra Nova, Richmond Nature House, Garry Point (all in Richmond)
Weather: Overcast, 12-13C

The Outing

It was our first truly fall bird outing of the season. I wore pants! I needed them. And not just for the sake of decency.

We had a quest: to find snow geese. We knew they are in the area, but wanted to see them up close and honking. Our first stop was Iona Beach and voila–snow geese! A small group was snoozing and milling about just north of the parking lot. We got our shots in early, but more is always better. We did an abbreviated tour of the beach, as this was not our usual birding day, and saw a lot more snow geese on the far side of the Fraser River, along with cormorants, various gulls and ducks. Also, a lot of giant mushrooms, no doubt benefiting from all the recent rain.

When we circled back, more snow geese had arrived, forming two groups, so we did indeed get more shots.

The tide was in again for the second time in a row at Iona, and it was cold and windy, a big change from our last visit.

We next ventured to Terra Nova, but alas, no snow geese. We did find some solace in a pair of grebes dunking around in a pond covered in red slimy gunk, apparently changing colour for the season. They didn’t seem to mind. Also, there was an assortment of juncos, golden crowns and song sparrows near…the washrooms. Probably just a coincidence.

I shot a few jets taking off and disappearing into the clouds, which looks kind of eerie. The stuff from which bad horror stories are made.

After Terra Nova, we popped by the Richmond Nature House. The feeders were full and the joint was jumping. There were chickadees, both black-capped and chestnut-backed, juncos, towhees, house finches, song sparrows, golden crowns, a Steller’s jay (neat!) and probably every squirrel in Richmond. Everyone was flitting about, diving into the feeder boxes or grabbing seed to go from the hanging feeders. One squirrel actually squeezed inside the cage surrounding a hanging feeder and proceeded to gorge itself.

We ended with a very cooperative Anna’s hummingbird sitting in a nearby tree, singing and showing off its gorget.

Our final destination (not to be confused with the clever/terrible horror movies) was Garry Point. Here we did see more snow geese–but they were off in the distance, beyond where we could go without being able to fly ourselves. Which we cannot do.

But we did round out the afternoon with a few more scenery shots, and a few robins and shorebirds.

In all, it was a good outing, with plenty of birbs, birds, and snow geese, just as we’d hoped. And it didn’t rain!

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

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

Waterfowl:

  • Cormorant
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Pied-billed grebe
  • Mallard
  • Snow goose

Common:

  • American crow
  • Rock pigeon
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Black, gray and Douglas squirrels
  • Kites and various fixed-wing birds in and around YVR

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, July 22, 2023: Duck drama, heron drama and wasps

Where: Iona Beach Regional Park and Terra Nova (Richmond)
Weather: Sunny, 23-27C

The Outing

Deferring our pilgrimage to the heron refuge in Chilliwack one more time, we stayed local and still saw herons, plus heron drama. It seems no body of water is big enough for some herons to share with others.

We started at Iona Beach and I had a plan–a second pair of sneakers to wear, so I could get them muddy and wet and still have a nice dry pair waiting in the car after. I also had bug spray to prevent a repeat of the Episode of Many Bites from the previous summer. Between the bug spray and sunblock, I was assured that every piece of sand would glue itself to my exposed skin. Which it did.

But no bites and no burn!

As is nearly always the case, the tide was extremely low and after going through the wooded area near the river, where we saw flycatchers, sand wasps, goldfinches, a bazillion dragonflies and more, we moved onto the tidal flats, where the sand was unusually firm1Obligatory “That’s what she said” joke here, affording us a sense of security that would later partly betray us as we did a big loop out into the area north of the jetty, only to encounter much muckier and slipperier sand as we approached the beach. We both stayed upright and my feet never got wet, though. I love it when a plan works.

At Terra Nova, the birds were fewer, including a few seagulls, distant herons and some more furtive goldfinches (Nic got nice shots, I got shots). I did get a decent pic of a seaplane, though! And the views are always nice.

I did some experimentation with adjusting ISO on the fly this time, and it looks like it somehow got stuck at a setting a few times that was way too high, blowing out several images (easily fixed in post, however). I may have to read the documentation.

Despite the heat (both areas offer little shelter from the sun), it was a perfectly pleasant outing. Who knows what setting on my camera I will next figure out how to sort of use?

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Blackbird
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Goldfinch
  • Flycatcher
  • Northern flicker
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Swallow (could not ID which type)
  • White-crowned sparrow

Waterfowl:

  • Mallard
  • Great blue heron

Common:

  • Crow
  • Seagull

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Non-birds:

  • Sand wasps (roughly one million)
  • Dragonfly (several types)
  • Grasshopper

Birding, April 1, 2023: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Terra Nova and Richmond Nature House

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Terra Nova, Richmond Nature House
Weather: Sunny, 7ºC

The Outing

No April foolin’, but my telephoto lens was mega-dirty and I got a depressingly large number of blurry shots.

But a few good ones, too.

The best part may have been the weather. The forecast had called for clouds with a chance of showers, but instead it was sunny right up till the very end, when a light shower finally moved in.

We started at Reifel and spent almost four hours there, strolling about, accidentally going down the same trail multiple times, but seeing lots of the usual birds. Swallows are ever-present now, but so far all the winter migrants are still here, too. The geese are mating, so are acting even more berserk and deranged than usual. One of them stared me down and actually made a motion to nip at me, but never followed through. I walked by, and it immediately went back to “nothing inside head, stare blankly into the distance” mode.

After finishing out Reifel, we had lunch then headed to Terra Nova at Nic’s suggestion. I pointed out that we’d be driving right by the Richmond Nature House on the way, so we opted to pop in and at least check the feeders (the trails had not yielded much in past visits).

And lo, we saw the elusive rufous hummingbird! And even though it was occasionally just sitting there, posing, I still wasn’t able to get a good shot. Poop! We also saw some finches and a dove, so it turned out to be a nice detour.

We next went to Terra Nova and observed copious numbers of snow geese flying overhead, heading north, so they also haven’t entirely moved on, either. At Terra Nova itself, we didn’t end up seeing a whole lot. Nic thought there was some exotic bird in a field, but it was just a pigeon (lolz). We mostly saw scenery, planes and encroaching clouds finally promising some precipitation. With Nic’s camera battery trickling down to zero and me on my third of three batteries (I ended up taking over 1,000 photos, several of them in focus!) we decided to head out, only to discover at the entrance to the trail parking that the hundreds of snow geese were landing in a narrow field between the beach and the road. We quickly parked and took a billion goose pictures until Nic’s camera battery died, then left again for real, just as the first sprinkle started. We got delayed slightly as the geese crossed the road into a larger adjacent field. Honk!

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Blackbird
  • Dove
  • European starling
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • House finch
  • House sparrow
  • Northern flicker
  • Purple finch
  • Rufous hummingbird
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Tree swallow

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Bufflehead duck
  • Canada goose
  • Gadwall
  • Great blue heron
  • Green-winged teal
  • Hooded merganser
  • Lesser scaup
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail
  • Northern shoveler
  • Sandhill crane
  • Snow goose
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • Crow
  • Pigeon
  • Seagull

Non-birds:

  • A few black squirrels

A few photos from Terra Nova

Yesterday Nic and I went to Terra Nova in Richmond to take pictures of birbs. Here is the experience in list form:

  • It was relatively mild, temperature-wise, at 9C, but the wind was whipping full force, and it made it feel like about -30C or something. My hands would turn freezing after taking just a few pictures.
  • I did not take a lot of pictures
  • The photos I did take of birds were nearly 100% out of focus. sometimes the branches the bird was sitting in would be in focus, sometimes nothing would be. This was kind of annoying.
  • I got a few decent scenery images, which can be seen below
Taken with Canon EOS M50
Taken with iPhone 12