Yumi and I walked the Pitt River Greenway in Pitt Meadows, BC, for a couple of hours today, starting from Harris Landing and heading past the airport and back, and then east and back. Lovely day!
Rufous Hummingbird
Pileated Woodpecker
LBB
Steller’s Jay
Turkey Vulture
Lovely morning with lots of wildlife at Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC, today.
Canada Goose goslings
The parents are very protective
Mallard Mom taking the kids for a stroll
She was snacking on dandelions along the way
Caught this Great Blue Heron in flight heading home to the Deer Lake colony with material to repair a nest
Hummer coming in for a landing. These wee birds are very territorial, and once you spot them, you can be nearly assured of seeing them using the same perches
Frog at Deer Lake. Good ‘un or bad ‘un?
Had a long walk both west and east from Byrne Road along the Fraser this afternoon. Lots to see and photograph. One advantage to having aching knees is that you slow down and see more. . .
Bald Eagle caught in a tractor beam : -)
Lots of Great Blue Herons
I like moths as long as they’re not in my suit closet ;-).
Found this snail on the sidewalk, so I moved it to a safer place.
Another one
Fuzzbutt on the Byrne Creek Meadow Ave. bridge
One day after schoolchildren released coho smolts into Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, BC, fish were found dying. Studies show that coho are particularly sensitive to road wash that contains a toxic combination of pollutants including gasoline, oil, antifreeze, and metals.
They actually try to swim with their heads above the water as they try to escape the pollutants
It would likely help if the City of Burnaby council would actually implement the Byrne Creek Integrated Stormwater Management Plan and the Environmental Sustainability Strategy.
The watershed needs rain gardens, swales, and biofiltration ponds. The more road wash that is intercepted and naturally filtered in the ground the better.
UPDATE: I sent this to Dr. Jenifer McIntyre, a professor at Washington State University, who has been researching the impacts of road runoff on salmon. She shared a link to her latest published study comparing road runoff effects on coho vs chum.
Looks interesting!
Lots of eagles and a northern harrier at the North 40 Park Reserve in Delta, BC, today.
Northern Harrier
Took a day trip to Alice Lake Provincial Park just north of Squamish, BC. Here are a few bird photos.
I heard woodpecker-like noises as I walked around the lake. I saw a dying tree, and figured that’s where the action would be. I finally spotted this sapsucker excavating a cavity. You can see wood chips flying in a couple of the photos.
A Brown Creeper
I think this is a Yellow-Rumped Warbler, aka Audubon’s Warbler
Steller’s Jay
All photos taken from the east beach at Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC.
When your knees ache and you don’t want to walk far, get there early and just stand quietly and watch as the colours change. . .
What a beauty!
We took a long walk at Burnaby Lake today, first checking out Piper Spit for bird action, and then going west, back to the spit, and then east.
At one point as we were walking a trail I said “this looks like a place owls would like.” About five seconds later, Yumi says, “and there’s one there.”
A little further on and we saw a raptor high in a tree, eventually getting close enough to see it was an osprey with a fish.
