Birding, September 12, 2026: The return of (some) migrants, surprise shorebirds, plus a billion butterflies

Where: Serpentine Fen, Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)Weather: Partly sunny, 19–21°C 20,000 steps and four locations later, we wrapped up the penultimate summer birding outing for 2026 under partly sunny skies. Serpentine Fen Rare instance of the Serpentine River not lined with people fishing. First up was Serpentine Fen, which had a weirdly large number of people fishing along it, like there was a contest or something. And that contest was Insure No Waterfowl Will Hang Out Because of Everyone Fishing. Despite that, we did see some herons, and assorted seagulls over the river. We also spotted some Yellow-rumped Warblers in a stand of trees, but my camera failed to properly focus on any of the four shots I managed, as the warblers tend to move around a lot. It was confused, I was sad. This is the best I got, as example: Note the branch behind in perfect focus. However, the best stuff would come later, not when we discovered…