Category Archives: Nature

Invasive Stink Bug Knocking on Our Door

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.

stink bug

Some info from the BC government here.

 

Don’t Step in the Poop, Dear, People Want to Look at It

Don’t step in the poop, dear, people want to look at it. 🙂

Overheard today from a parent to a young child during a tracks and scat talk ‘n walk at the Kanaka Creek Stewardship Centre in Maple Ridge, BC.

Super event, great fun and educational to boot.


Folks taking turns observing raccoon tracks


Lovely Kanaka Creek


Scat with bones in it


Claw marks


The lovely stewardship centre


A cool bug

Kanaka Creek Tracks Scat
Yumi on the bridge


Moi enjoying the creek and forest

Fry Spotted in Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby

I spent a couple of hours after work this afternoon searching for fry in Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby. Success!

I spotted one near the wooden footbridge at the bottom end of the ravine, and half a dozen upstream and downstream of the Meadow Ave. bridge.

Din’t get any clear shots, but judging by the orange tails they were coho.

coho fry byrne creek burnaby

It’s always so rewarding to spot fry in the spring, for that means that salmon that came back to spawn in this stressed urban creek the previous autumn were successful in starting a new generation. Yay!

Rice Lake Loop in North Vancouver

If we’re on the north shore in Vancouver and have a bit of time, we love the quick and easy Rice Lake loop. It’s a fairly short, flat trail, yet the lake and the towering trees refresh the soul.


This female mallard was almost overly friendly — very conditioned to humans. No handouts from us!


We didn’t see any water life until Yumi spotted this caddisfly larva crawling along the bottom. These creatures are so cool — they build “shells” out of bark, leaf litter, sand, tiny stones, etc.


Merganser

Rice Lake North Vancouver


That’s some excavating! Perhaps the work of a Pileated Woodpecker?