Yay! Saw a pair of spawning Coho salmon in the lower ravine today.
We’ve been getting so few spawners back that this is a wonderful sight to see. Especially with Coho, since many of the few females that come back to our creek die before spawning.
I spotted the female first. You can see her white, abraded tail, worn down from digging her redd (nest for her eggs). And you can see the redd, the bright patch of cleaned gravel and cobble.
I suspected there must be a male nearby, and then the female spooked and ran about 10m d/s to hide under a log. I took another quick look, not wanting to disturb her again, and was elated to see the larger, wine-dark colour of a male beside her!
The female with her tail abraded from digging in the gravel/cobble. You can see the redd, or nest of eggs, to the right.
A few mintues later when she hid under a log with the larger, darker colored male