We’re not expecting spawning salmon for another week or so, but Yumi and I did a ravine loop along Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby today for exercise, and to catch what was left of the autumn colors.
Found this long, thin bone, along with a few others near the artificial spawning habitat.
We won a pair of tickets to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park at the recent Alta Vista Park Community Picnic raffle, so we headed out today and spent several hours wandering the various trails including the CliffWalk and Treetops Adventure.
I spent a couple of hours shooting at Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC, this afternoon. The foggy, misty atmosphere produced a soft, lovely, light.
A burgeoning community on a “dead” tree in Byrne Creek Ravine Park in SE Burnaby, BC.
Saw very few of these in SE Burnaby this summer, but there were several hopping about on our Byrne Creek walk yesterday.
Took Choco out on her harness. She’s an indoor cat, but she does like to get out to graze now and then. Unfortunately the drought this summer resulted in even less grass than our sparse little patch usually gets.
It’s the time of year when lots of spiders festoon themselves around our front door. Entering or exiting requires a careful scan of the situation, and much ducking and, er, weaving, to get through without creating too much disturbance.
It was a brisk, sunny day today, and my wife and I celebrated her taking the final exam in one of her accounting classes yesterday by taking a three- or four-hour ramble around the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC.
It was my second time there in a week, and I came away pleased with my photographic efforts for the day.
Sandhill crane. At one point Yumi counted 12 of them, a wonderful sight to see. I can remember a decade or so ago, folks would get excited to see even a pair!
Ah am a handsome devil, ain’t I? Spectacular male wood duck.
Not positive about this one. A dowitcher?
Love the cool footsies on this American Coot.
A red-winged blackbird in the hand means soon no more seeds in the hand!
I’m thinking this may be what Stokes calls a “1st winter” Golden-Crowned Sparrow.
A few shots from today’s ramble.
Folks more knowledgeable than moi were proclaiming this an egret
Great Blue Heron
Northern Flicker
I’m not that great on identifying wasps, but I think this is a Yellow Jacket.
I was dive-bombed by several of these on my walk today. I held my peace, kept calm, and closed my eyes when one went so far as to get trapped in my glasses for a second or two.
They kept the peace, too. Whew! 🙂
Spent a couple of hours at Piper Spit on Burnaby Lake today. It went from blue skies to threatening clouds while I was there.
I’m thinking pied-billed grebe.
It appeared to be bath time, as many of the waterfowl were splashing about.
Here’s a wood duck churning away.
I was doing some baking and couldn’t find one of our glass loaf baking dishes so I used a square one.
As I returned to my basement office, I passed Yumi’s seasonal display in the foyer, and silly me, there was the dish, full of salmon coming back to spawn in a colourful bed of glass beads : -).
Wee fishies give young biologists joy : -).
Byrne Creek Streamkeepers volunteers and Wild Research members enjoyed a fish ID workshop this morning, and then we went out and retrieved traps from Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby.
Thanks to biologist Jim Roberts of Hemmera, who gave an excellent presentation on the complexities of identifying salmonids and other BC freshwater fish.
Note all fish are released unharmed.
And thanks to Burnaby-Edmonds MLA Raj Chouhan for hosting the morning in-class session in his community office.