May 23, 2005
Victoria Day Byrne Creek Observations
Yumi and I spent a couple of hours this lovely afternoon poking around along Byrne Creek. A few observations:
The most interesting was a small coho fry in the sediment pond just below the gravel pile. There were lots of larger coho fry in the 5-6+cm range, however this one was distinctly smaller, perhaps 3.5-4cm, and swimming alone. This makes us wonder if we got late coho spawners that we missed. We had a similar phenomenon last spring, with batches of small coho fry appearing months apart. Hm..... We're going to keep a sharp eye out to see if we spot any more small coho babes, or if this one was just some strange runt of the litter.
NOTE: All of the fry that we initially thought were late coho are more likely cutthroat trout... Live and learn :-).
There were lots of cutthroat and coho smolts in the sediment pond as well. Their numbers have been increasing over the last few weeks. Interesting to see how they move about the system. The incoming water was slightly soapy and there was oily film on the surface.
Saw lots of tiny stickleback at the upper end of the overflow pond, and more at the lower end.
We also saw a coho fry at Tag 531, and at least half a dozen at Tag 532. This is d/s of the Hell Hole, but above the Hedley outfall.
Somebody built a fire on top of the roots of the big cedar near the Hell Hole again. This time they dragged woody debris out of the bush. There were broken beer bottles and a can of fire starter. We've broken up fire rings there several times, however I think we need to clean up the area and cover the burned roots with earth. I think the dead coals and ashes attract more use, and Parks has never done anything about it.
There were lots of people walking the ravine, and we did some PR work, pointing out fry etc. Met one middle-aged fellow and his wife who said they had recently discovered the ravine and were so impressed that they sent an email to Burnaby Parks telling them how much they liked it! They had heard of the '98 toxic spill into Byrne Creek and were happy to hear that we were getting spawners back and that there were lots of fry.
There were lots of mayflies beneath stones wherever we looked in the ravine.
We saw a 12cm crayfish just below the Southridge culvert in shallow water, and it was acting strange, showing no fear and moving in a tight circle in the bright sunlight. Closer observation showed it was injured, with the antenna and eye damaged on the side it was constantly turning away from.
Here's a photo that Yumi took:
The Morning Glory is really starting to take off along the Brynlor trail. We pulled some off of young maples and salmonberries.
Water temp at the footbridge (Tag 516) was 12C, and at the lower end of the SedPond (Tag 514) it was 13C.
An interesting afternoon!
Posted by Paul at May 23, 2005 07:38 PM