We enjoyed watching this Pileated Woodpecker in Ron McLean Park in SE Burnaby, BC, today.
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.
Some info from the BC government here.
Signs of Spring in the Lower Mainland
Nice to see cherry blossoms and magnolias approaching their peak in Vancouver and Burnaby.
Museum of Vancouver
Maritime Museum
Eagles at Spanish Banks, Vancouver
There were at least half a dozen eagles hanging around Spanish Banks in Vancouver this afternoon.
Raptors in SE Burnaby
Yumi spotted a couple of Barred Owls and a hawk today on our SE Burnaby walk. Not sure if the hawk is a Sharp-shinned or a Cooper’s.
UPDATE: One expert has weighed in on Cooper’s. Thanks!
UPDATE 2: And another has come down for Sharp-Shinned. . .
Kamui Mintara ‘Playground of the Gods’ Sunshine
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
Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Lunch
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.
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
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.
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
That’s some excavating! Perhaps the work of a Pileated Woodpecker?