These little birds are so gorgeous!
Category Archives: Photography
Yumi’s Seasonal Foyer Display – Coho-ho!
Coho-ho, Merry Fishmas!
Well, that front one looks like a sockeye. . .
Snowy Byrne Creek Walk
It’s been snowing steadily in SE Burnaby. I wrapped a camera in a protective plastic sleeve and enjoyed a stroll in Byrne Creek Ravine Park.
The magnificent giants in the old farmyard
The footbridge in the lower ravine
First Snow in Burnaby, BC
I have several errands to run, but I think I’ll postpone them. The first snow of the year is always crazy around here, because snow at all is rare. So why drive if I don’t have to? I need to drive to work tomorrow anyway, so I can cross items off the to-do list on the way home.
Ode to a Knife
OK, let’s get one thing clear off the top. I love this knife, but I’m not homicidal. I just have a long history with this sturdy implement, and I admire its durability.
It’s a US Boy Scouts sheath knife circa 1970. I bought it when I was living in New York City, and was active with the local troop in my ‘hood, so it’s at least 45 years old.
It’s all original, including the leather sheath.
It has been much used, and, for a knife, abused. As you can surmise in the scars in the detailed photos below, it’s pounded nails, stripped 14/2 wiring, split kindling when an axe was not available and a rock was used to pound the blade into the wood. . . In addition to more “knifely” duties such as cleaning fish.
And it’s still solid, still takes a good edge, and will long outlive me. I may ask to have it buried with me when I depart, just in case there are zombies on the other side :-).
If you check the BSA online store, it appears nothing like this is available anymore.
I still take it hiking and camping, though I’ve retired it from streamkeeping — I have an excellent, inexpensive, plastic-handled stainless-steel knife from MEC for that duty now.
Beauty, eh?
Giving Sigma 10-20mm/3.5 Ultra-Wide Zoom a Workout
Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby, BC, today.
Fraser Foreshore Park Feathered Friends
Lots of birds at Fraser Foreshore Park in south Burnaby today.
Mute swan
Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Sparrow
Daredevil chickadee
Chickadee
Vireo?
Towhee
Northern Flicker
Sandhill Cranes
CORRECTION: March 15, 2019, been told by a crane expert these are trumpeter swans!
Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Junco
Lovely Day for Byrne Creek Salmon Patrol
We retrieved a pile of dead chum and one dead coho today on Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, BC, and processed them for size, sex, and spawning status.
If you see fish carcasses cut in half, don’t worry, that’s done by volunteer streamkeepers after they have assessed the dead salmon. We cut them in half so it’s easy to see that they have been processed and the data collected. Streamkeepers have training and permission to carry out this activity.
Note that it is illegal to interfere with spawning salmon, and that includes removing dead ones. Please watch from a distance when observing this amazing natural spectacle.
One coho salmon in a row of chum
Chum Run Setting New Records on Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby
Wow, what a season it’s shaping up to be! Nearly every day that volunteer streamkeepers patrol Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, BC, new records are set for chum salmon spawner returns. We’re finally seeing a few coho, too!
This lovely coho shot past us upstream as we were patrolling, and then rested long enough to grab a photo or two.
Big male chum at the lower end of the culvert, which has become one huge redd.
Several pairs of chum spawning at lower end of the culvert
A few of the fish that volunteer streamkeepers processed today for length, sex, and spawning status.
Lots of chum in the lower ravine.
Byrne Creek Ravine Stroll
I took a walk along Byrne Creek all the way from Rumble St. down to Marine Way. A lovely oasis in SE Burnaby, BC.