On one of the last really clear weekend days of the year (and not really sure how long this one would stay clear), we set out for our standby haunts
Burnaby Lake
I don’t usually like to post photos from this spot (just up from Cariboo Dam, by the alleged turtle nesting area), but it just felt right this time. The still surface, the greens and browns, the soft mist off the water.
On the way to Piper Spit, we spied a few trees full of these little orange berries and therefore full of birbs. There were juncos hopping underfoot next to towhees, and here’s a female House Finch!
Best of all, there were a few robins! I feel I haven’t shot robins in a while.
And of course these guys are everywhere
At Piper Spit we were graced with a large number of stupendously floofy pigeons!
And a vigorously bathing gull, showing off its tail and nether parts.
Hey look, another cool water reflection shot!
A lovely Green-winged Teal!
And a majestically flapping Mallard!
I just really like this composition.
Hello Mister Acrobat Blackbird!
A lovely backlit Lesser Scaup!
A discreet little songster
ƛ̓éxətəm (Tlahutum) Regional Park
The clouds were moving in as we got there, and rain started pouring just as we got back to the parking lot. That’s good timing!
An immature Great Blue stretching its wings
And then this guy came along. He was careful to stay on the far side of the path, but that was still too close and the heron flew off.
A little Pied-billed Grebe next to a Common Merganser lady!
