We put out a box for blue orchard mason bees on our balcony, along with some cocoons, but we hadn’t seen any action. The cocoons were all holed and empty, and we feared predators like wasps had gotten all the bees.
Today I was happy to see a slow-moving, but live, mason bee. Hope to see more as the days go by. We’ve set out lots of flowers on the balcony of various species.
The Wildlife Rescue Association hosted another fun Earth Day event today in Burnaby. The Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society was invited to participate, as we have for many years.
It was a lovely day with lots of kids and families attending.
MP Kennedy Stewart addresses the gathering
Chatted with employees today at the Maxxam Analytics “Day of Caring” at their Burnaby, BC, location. It’s an opportunity for Maxxam employees to learn about local NGOs that they can volunteer with.
Thanks to Karen M and Christy T at Maxxam for the invitation and handling the logistics.
Mark Sloat from the City of Burnaby and I (Byrne Creek Streamkeepers) tag teamed tonight on talking about watersheds and storm drains to a group of Brownies who will be out marking street drains with yellow fish next week.
I spent nearly three hours wandering the trails in Burnaby, BC’s, Fraser Foreshore Park, at the west end estuary/wetland nature area.
Lots of birds, a few people and dogs, some work action on the river, the wooden railway bridge, and even an incinerator.
Rufous hummingbird
Song sparrow?
Varied thrush?
Northern flicker
Northern flicker
American robin
Balancing homo sapiens sapiens 🙂
Metro Vancouver incinerator
Railway bridge
Busy bee
Gorgeous fungus
I had a great time on this glorious afternoon taking about a dozen students studying education at Simon Fraser University on a tour of Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby.
They had their own questions and activities related to community sustainability. I provided them with an overview of what volunteer streamkeepers do, and how we relate to the broader community through umbrella organizations, the municipality, and DFO.
I bought a BC Non-tidal Angling Licence and a Fisheries and Oceans Canada Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence today, both with salmon stamps. Such licences expire at the end of March, and renewing them around this time of year has become a rite of spring.
I am by no means an avid fisherman, but I enjoy hiking, camping, nature photography, streamkeeping and other outdoor activities, so I like having the proper licences if the opportunity arises to wet a line. I have a couple of inexpensive rods and reels, and a small tackle box with an assortment of enough lures and accessories to be suited to most fishing in western Canada.
I have a cousin who loves fishing, and I’m always learning when I go out with him.
I have store-bought canned fish in the cupboard and frozen fish in the freezer, so I figure if I’m eating fish I might as well kill some myself. It’s a reminder that cans and plastic wrap do not insulate us from nature, though nowadays lots of folks have no idea where their food comes from.
I was honoured to speak tonight at the Tommy Douglas Library in SE Burnaby in an event organized by the South Coast Conservation Program called Conservation Through Citizen Engagement on BC’s South Coast.
Pamela Zevit and Tamsin Baker of SCCP provided introductions to their program and the speakers.
Then I spoke about citizen engagement in relation to the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society, and shared some thoughts on communicating about local watersheds to citizens, youth, and various levels of government and government agencies.
I didn’t bother with a PowerPoint, just blathered on with my Slavic passion : – ).
Other speakers included DG Blair of the Stewardship Centre for British Columbia, and Monica Pearson of Balance Ecological, who both delivered stimulating, knowledgeable presentations. Great stuff!
I attended a mason bee workshop sponsored by the City of Burnaby today. I’ve been to these before, but I always learn something new. Today’s speakers were bee expert Margriet Dogterom who runs BeeDiverse Products and bird box and bee box builder extraordinaire Joe Sadowski.
Margriet in action
Joe mentioned that he turned “83 years young” the other day!
When he saw me, he gave me a punch in the shoulder by way of greeting. I may have a bruise coming on 🙂
Organizer Melinda Yong of the City of Burnaby Parks Department
Volunteers with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society completed a weekend fish survey in southeast Burnaby, BC, today with the third-best result recorded in 13 years of collecting data. We caught, identified, measured and released 70 juvenile cutthroat trout and three coho.
Please note that this activity is done with authorization from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans SEP Program, and with training by the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation.
The fish survey involves rambling through the bush. Those hi-viz vests really stand out in the forest.
Someone had placed this chair at this idyllic spot. Nice view, too bad whoever was sitting here appeared to have been tossing beer cans in the creek… Sigh
Skunk cabbage popping up in several place. This is a cool plant!
Emptying a Gee trap
Checking out the results
Releasing the little guys unharmed
Thanks to all the volunteers!