All posts by Paul Cipywnyk

Nature, Photography

Disturbing Number of Dead Crows in Burnaby, BC

While walking along the Central Valley Greenway in Burnaby, BC, today, I came across at least a dozen dead crows. It was disconcerting.

I called Wildlife Rescue and they referred me to the BC Wild Bird Mortality Investigation program. I also reported it to City of Burnaby Parks.

dead crows burnaby bc

I searched a bit online and came across this story of unusual numbers of dead crows in eastern Canada.

UPDATE: My interview with CBC Radio’s Gloria Macarenko.

UPDATE (Dec. 16): Environment Canada says tests show Avian Influenza

Business, Nature, Photography

My 2023 Birds of BC Wildlife Calendar

Here’s my first venture into making and selling a calendar to support my photography.

Northern Harrier, Great Blue Heron, Cooper’s Hawk, Bald Eagle, Barn Owl, Anna’s Hummingbird, Baby Barred Owl, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Pileated Woodpecker, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, Cedar Waxwing.

Birds of BC 2023 Wildlife Calendar

The printing – ordering – shipping site is in the US. I’ll try to find a Canadian supplier as well.

 

Business, Technology

‘Early Adopter’ Me Appears to be Slowing Down

Funny how “early adopter” me has become “things are running fine, why change?” me. . . 🙂

I wonder if that’s a reflection of age?

I began building my own computers back in the mid-1980s, and in those days I was always tinkering, swapping video cards, adding memory, installing larger hard drives, upgrading fax/modems (remember those?). . .

I’ve had an “upgrade to Windows 11” icon sitting in the taskbar on my notebook computer for many months. OTOH, my tower computer is so old, it won’t run Windows 11.

I’m starting to itch to click that icon on my laptop. . . . At least if there’s a bit of a learning curve, I’ll still have Windows 10 on my tower, eh?

And since my tower and my laptop pretty much have all the same applications and utilities on them, if something breaks, I’ll know what else needs upgrading before going Win11 on a slightly newer refurbished tower computer that I’ve never used yet.
Nature, Photography, Streamkeeping

Super Salmon Spawner Patrol on Byrne Creek in Burnaby

Had my best spawner patrol of the year so far on Byrne Creek, with a total of 6 live Coho and  1 live Chum salmon. I also processed (species, sex, length, spawning status) 5 dead Coho and 1 dead Chum.

I also got to watch a pair of Coho spawning. They tend to by shy, and I don’t get to see this that often!

Some photos and a video:

chum coho spawning byrne creek burnaby bc
Chum


Coho


Four Coho and a Chum ready for processing


Coho


Coho at the gate in the sediment trap

Video of Coho spawning in the lower ravine:

NOTE: Volunteer Streamkeepers have training and permission to monitor spawning salmon, and to process them after they die. We cut carcasses in half after we’ve gathered the data so that we know they’ve been assessed, and return them to the stream to provide nutrients to the ecosystem.