Shooting Sea Shells at Centennial Beach in Delta, BC

Spent a lovely hour or two down at Centennial Beach in Delta, BC, wandering the beach. It was pouring rain in Burnaby, but only overcast further south.


Looking north toward Vancouver


Looking south

Centennial Beach Delta BC
Looking at a reflection in the pond

northern flicker
It was a fairly quiet day for birds, but I did chase this Northern Flicker around a bit

shells beach life
I had a wonderful time wandering the beach, shooting various shells and other beasties. Such a wonderful array of patterns and colors.

Still Some Coho on Byrne Creek

It was a late start to salmon spawning season on Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, BC, this year and we have seen very few fish compared to past years. It’s a mystery that’s troubling.

We saw one chum, and several coho today. We also processed — measured and assessed spawning success — a few dead coho we found.

Unfortunately, this coho female did not spawn before dying. That’s sad to see, particularly since we’ve been getting so few salmon back the last few years.

unspawned female coho byrne creek burnaby

We also saw this big coho on its last fins. It was barely moving.

large coho fungus byrne creek burnaby

NOTE: Streamkeepers have training and permission to monitor spawning salmon and collect data when the fish die. It is illegal to interfere with spawning salmon.

The carcasses are cut in half after they are assessed, to ensure we don’t double count, and are returned to the creek to provide nutrients to the ecosystem.

Milky Spill in Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, BC

Photos of today’s incident in Byrne Creek in SE #Burnaby.

A volunteer streamkeeper on his way to Edmonds Skytrain Station this morning noticed the mess.

Called it in to the City, and hope they can find the source.

From Griffiths Pond near Edmonds Skytrain Station I backtracked it all the way to where the creek first appears above ground near 16th. The flow was from higher than that, and was dissipating by the time I got there.

I have not seen any distressed or dying fish, so we might have dodged a bullet, yet again. This has happened a few times over the last few months. Not good.

We have spawning salmon in the creek, and later I will check the sediment pond further downstream, though if it’s this thick down there I likely won’t be able to see anything.

mikly spill byrne creek burnaby bc
Fish ladder at Griffiths Pond


Heading upstream to where the creek comes out of pipes near 16th.