Spent three or four hours at Iona Beach Regional Park this afternoon, part of Metro Vancouver’s superb regional parks system.

American Goldfinch

Photographers were drooling over this bluebird. I was, like, that’s a bluebird? : -)

Crows are so smart and cool. . .

Tree swallows having a, er, friendly chat over real estate

Thinking Double-Crested Cormorant?

Red-Winged Blackbird

Snow Geese spooked by an eagle

Said eagle contemplating its poor luck and plotting its next move — and no, I’m not making this up, it flew straight across and I saw it land in this tree.

We enjoyed watching this Pileated Woodpecker in Ron McLean Park in SE Burnaby, BC, today.

UPDATE from BC Ag — it’s not invasive:

Hi Paul,  thanks for the photo and note.  This is a stink bug, but not a Brown Marmorated Stink bug, thankfully.   It is a rough stink bug, Brochymena species, which is actually a predator, and commonly found around the Vancouver area.

We came across an interesting bug on our front door about a week ago. After posting a photo on Facebook, several folks said it was an invasive stink bug. When I went back out to trap it, it had disappeared.

Well, yesterday it reappeared, so I have it in a small plastic container in our freezer.

Some info from the BC government here.

Nice to see cherry blossoms and magnolias approaching their peak in Vancouver and Burnaby.

Museum of Vancouver

Maritime Museum

There were at least half a dozen eagles hanging around Spanish Banks in Vancouver this afternoon.

Spent over an hour shooting around the Kamui Mintara installation on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, BC, today.

This Spotted Towhee was quite friendly — usually they’re very shy

If I have some time to spare, I enjoy going down to Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby to have my lunch while watching wildlife and the working river.