Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

Early Autumn Colours, Inquisitive Snail

A quick morning loop of Byrne Creek Ravine Park found autumn colours progressing, and a cute snail.

Sockeye Salmon Dying Unspawned on Harrison River & Lake

Yumi and I went as far up the  Fraser Valley as Kilby today looking for spawning salmon.

We were surprised to see lots of dead sockeye on the banks of the Harrison River -- many of them just barely starting to show their spawning colouration, and looking good enough to eat. We could also see lots of big silver fish belly up out on the water. Strange.

On our way home we stopped in at Kanaka Creek to poke around the hatchery, and talked to the manager. He said he'd heard stories of people out fishing on Harrison River & Lake who said they'd seen lots of silver floaters.

I also found a thread on the Fishing with Rod website with similar reports, and plenty of speculation as to what the cause could be -- high water temps? disease?

The above had the most advanced spawning colouration that we saw.

The beach at Kilby.

In several shots I took of the water, you can count a dozen or more dead
floaters per picture, but I've not posted any here because at this size of photo
the fish are just white dots.

Buntzen Lake Hike

We hiked around Buntzen Lake today for the first time in several years. It was not crowded at all, and we met fewer than a dozen people on the loop around the lake.

Double-Yolk Egg

Ran across a double-yolk egg today. They're not that uncommon, but I don't recall cracking one before:

Sampling Japadog, Hanging with ZZ Top at Lonsdale Quay

We headed into downtown Vancouver today to check out Japadog, a sausage and hot dog vendor with a Japanese twist. The dogs were great, but the fries were a bit wimpy and wayyyy over-salted. I had the "Okonomi" pork sausage  with Japanese mayo, Okonomiyaki sauce, fried cabbage and dried bonito flakes. Yumi had the "Oroshi" Bratwurst with grated daikon radish, soy sauce and green onion. Both were delicious!

After the dogs, Yumi followed up with a green tea cream puff from the Beard Papa outlet almost next door to Japadog. Now here's a happy Japanese gal :-)!

Our appetites sated, we took the SeaBus over to Lonsdale Quay. To my delight, a pretty good ZZ Top cover band was playing in the square, so we took in some tunes before the hot sun prompted us to take a walk in breezier spaces.

I am impressed with how the area is developing with an eye to the local shipbuilding history.

Restored moveable crane.

Some brightly painted gear on the old pier.

And a wee little yacht with its own helicopter :-)

Southpoint Rain Garden in SE Burnaby Underway!

It's so exciting to see construction underway on the Southpoint Rain Garden in SE Burnaby, BC. The rain garden is being created on a dead-end cul-de-sac, and will bridge Taylor Park and Byrne Creek Ravine Park.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers brought the site to the attention of the City of Burnaby's planning, engineering and parks departments, and all immediately understood the site's potential. It not only links the green space of the two parks, it will provide natural filtration of rainwater that comes down Burnaby's south slope and that roars unfiltered into Byrne Creek. Streamkeepers have noted for years the oily flow off the streets that accumulated into the rain drains (storm drains) along Southpoint Drive and was visible way down below, exiting pipes into the creek whenever it rained.

The site will also be a gorgeous outdoor nature lab for elementary school students from nearby Taylor Park School. The principal, staff and students have already been involved in discussions and developments. The school has also been so kind as to hold an event with streamkeepers, and everyone appears excited about monitoring the new rain garden and how it will affect local urban biodiversity.

And last, but not least, the site is right by Adera Development's "Green" townhouse development. As part of its ethos of sustainable development and giving back to communities, Adera provided a substantial donation to the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers several years ago. We thank Adera for its patience in waiting to receive full public acknowledgement for its efforts, as the streamkeepers decided to use the funds to support the rain garden - a project that took some time to come to fruition.

I can almost feel the earth heaving a sigh of relief as the asphalt is stripped away, allowing the soil to breath and to absorb rain again!

Way to go Burnaby! I hope this project stimulates more of its kind around our beautiful city.

You're doing good, we heartily appreciate it,  let's see more! :-)

What Camera Do You Use?

I've had this question posed to me several times, and while you could poke around this blog for awhile and figure it out, I thought I'd consolidate some of the info in one post.

The answer is, several cameras.

My present active camaraderie of cameras includes a Canon SD780IS, a Canon S5IS, and a Nikon D300. I'd have several more, if I had the budget!

The SD780 is a teeny, pocket-size camera that I carry nearly all the time, even when I have one of my bigger units along. It's an excellent basic point-and-shoot, and its limitations come mainly in its narrow-range zoom (about 35-105mm in 35mm equivalent) and its poor performance in low light. Aside from that, it's an amazing unit for its size.

The S5IS is a "superzoom" point-and-shoot. It does not fit in a pocket, but it's a heck of a lot smaller and lighter than a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex). Compared to a DSLR its main limitations are poor low-light capabilities, lack of RAW file capture, and much slower "reaction time" when it comes to powering up and shutter lag. I carry it when I don't want to lug my heavy DSLR around, and also use it in situations (like canoeing) in which I don't want to risk my DSLR!

The D300 is a big, heavy, amazingly customizable machine. It takes high-quality shots all over the spectrum from bright days to nearly lightless nights. But, I don't necessarily want to lug it around all the time - though I probably should! :-). A DSLR's big advantage is that you can change lenses, and you have a lot more manual control of f-stops and shutter speeds. I have an 18-200mm zoom mounted on it most of the time (about 27-300mm equivalent on a 35mm camera), and have a couple of other lenses (longer telephoto and close-range macro) that I can swap out as I please.

Do megapixels matter? My humble opinion is that once you reach 8MP or so, you're pretty much covered up to 8 X 10 prints. The SD780 is capable of 12MP, but I have it set to 8MP because its tiny sensor simply doesn't provide 12 *quality* megapixels. The S5 tops out at 8MP and that's where I leave it. The D300 is a 12.1MP machine, and I shoot everything on it at that setting, capturing RAW files.

So why is the SD780 a couple of hundred bucks and the D300 is over $1,500 when they both top out at around 12MP? The Nikon's sensor is a lot larger, with a greater range of tonal values captured per pixel for much better performance, particularly in low light. The D300 is also a tank, well-sealed against inclement weather, and with a wealth of customizable shooting features.

So if three cameras are not enough, what's on my wish list? A newer superzoom. The lens ranges have gotten wider, at both the wide-angle and telephoto ends in newer cameras, and low-light performance and responsiveness (shutter lag) have also improved. I'd also like an "all-weather" pocket camera that can take dunking in water to 20 or 30 feet. . .

And, of course, a high-end DSLR like the Nikon D3X - mind-blowing 24MP image quality and low-light capability, but you're looking at C$7,500 for just the body! :-)

P.S. Oh yeah, at the resolutions of the photos output as 70% quality JPEG files on this blog (usually in the 350 X 250 pixel range), it would be nearly impossible to tell which of those three cameras a particular photo was taken with! So the bottom line is, it's (mostly) not the equipment, it's the photographer. A good eye can produce amazing photos with the most basic of gear.

Rain Refreshes White Rock Scenes

We finally got some much-need rain in BC, and the misty, damp afternoon
provided for some lush shots in South Surrey/White Rock.

The pier.

All other photos taken at Stewart Heritage Farm

Long Weekend Bicycle Ride Around Burnaby

We did a four-hour bicycle ride on this holiday Monday from our home in SE Burnaby near Edmonds Skytrain Station, all the way over to Cariboo and the Central Valley Greenway around Burnaby Lake. We took a break at Piper Spit and watched some wildlife, then headed over to Kensington and eventually huffed and puffed our way up Royal Oak and back to the BC Parkway and home. Whew!

There's a great cycling map available online here.

A few shots from Piper Spit:

And me with bicycle helmet hair:

Happy Birthday to Me – New Photo Backpack

Lens and Shutter was celebrating my birthday with a 25% off sale on Lowe camera bags and backpacks. :-)

So I picked up a Nature Trekker AW II for my birthday.

Seems like a lot of bag to carry, but the important part for me is the well-engineered suspension system, and in particular the padded hip belt that takes the weight off the shoulders, seeing as I have a bad back.

I've accumulated a fair bit of Lowe gear over the years. Here's a shot with three Lowe camera bags with the latest acquisition at the right. I've also got a couple of Lowe hiking backpacks. Great gear! I've used it hard, some of it for 25+ years and it's still going strong.

This shot is missing my classic Lowe shoulder photo bag that I carried for some 15 years. Along with my 35mm film Nikon gear and loads of Kodachrome (may you rest in peace) and Fujichrome film. That bag finally succumbed to jungle rot, well, actually some sort of mould that was impossible to get rid of, from hot and humid Asian weather years ago.

Powell Street Japanese Festival Rocks!

Yumi and I took in the Powell Street Festival in Vancouver today and had a blast. It gets better and better over the years. It's so wonderful to revive "Japantown" for at least a weekend each year. The Issei and Nissei ancestors who used to populate this area of Vancouver would be proud!

The main stage

Love this recycling banner done traditional Japanese style

Bring on Sawagi Taiko - Canada's first women-only taiko group!

And now, the thrilling, exhausting Mikoshi!

Midori the Turtle Falls Strangely Asleep

Midori enjoyed the sun streaming through the windows today, basking for hours. As the rays gradually diminished, she fell asleep in this odd position on the wooden stairs that surround her tank. My wife built the stairs so Midori could get in and out of the water as she pleases.

Oooo! Damn I woke up with a crick in my neck!

OK, all fun aside, this is an excellent example of why not to release pet turtles into the wild, or even to keep them as pets. Aside from the invasive species problem, as you can see, Midori is so acclimatized to human presence that she zonks out in a totally vulnerable manner which no healthy wild turtle would ever be lulled into. . .

Sunset at Spanish Bank in Vancouver

The lovely clear sky was too good to pass up tonight, so we headed out to Spanish Bank in Vancouver to watch the sun set.

The sky was absolutely clear with no clouds to work with,
so I concentrated my shots on this tree, the mountains in
the background, and the changing light.

Choco the Cat Loves Her (Human) Mom

Our SPCA rescue cat, Choco, gets really upset if Yumi heads out somewhere in the evening after coming home from work. She's like a little puppy, moping all day long after Yumi leaves (I do my editing work from home). As the afternoon rolls by, she emerges from one of her sleeping havens and sits near the steps leading to the front door in expectation of greeting Yumi.

So when Yumi heads out again in the same day to an event, or an exercise class in the evening, Choco feels crushed. When Yumi came home tonight from a class with her pack on her back, and we began chatting about how our day went as she skimmed one of the local papers while sitting on the floor, Choco took advantage of Yumi's low pose to do a bit of "you ain't leaving me again" domination :-).

Choco has expressed her frustration at me leaving the house as well: here and again here.

First Walk in Delta’s Watershed Park

We've zoomed past this park many times, and today we decided to dismount our trusty '98 Outback and spend some time on the trails.

It was a good decision, for it's beautiful. Congrats to Delta for preserving this forested watershed.

A couple of observations, though: there are vast swaths of invasive
Policeman's Helmet ( Himalayan Balsam) in sections of the park
that ought to be dealt with, along with lesser stands of Japanese
knotweed. . . And it would be great to have a toilet facility or
three around this large park. Dunno if we missed them, but we
did not see any on the kiosk maps, or the map we had printed
off the web.

Lovely Afternoon at West Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park

It was a gorgeous day to explore parts of Lighthouse Park that we hadn't checked out before. It had been several years since our last visit, and we'll certainly have to go more often.

Byrne Creek Bug Count Yields Baby Crayfish

Twice a year, Byrne Creek Streamkeepers count bugs - the fancy name is "aquatic invertebrate surveys" - to assess the quality of the water in the urban stream. We sample the same locations year after year so that we have comparable data. The bug counts usually run for three weekends in a row.

The crew hard at work - we are fortunate to have members
who let us use their china and dining room tables so that we
can  count in comfort after collecting the samples from the creek.

To our surprise, we found three baby crayfish in our sample.
Here's one of them next to a dime for size comparison.

Developing Thunder Thighs. . .

I spent over four hours on my new bicycle today, and my thighs are aching to prove it. This was only my third ride of the year, and perhaps my enthusiasm carried me away too much.

I cycled from home to Burnaby City Hall to pay our property taxes. Needless to say, going downhill was thrilling, chugging back up the considerable and lengthy slope from the Deer Lake valley to the top of the Kingsway ridge was another matter. But I recovered, and went on to check out the trail all the way to the New Westminster Quay and back to our home in the Edmonds neighbourhood in south Burnaby. By this time I was being routinely passed by svelte young female gazelles as my 50-ish body began to realize its (current!) limits :-).

The lovely new overpass that gets you over the traffic and
down to the New Westminster Quay area.

It truly was a gorgeous day. A view of the mighty Fraser River.

Bountiful Bugs Near Byrne Creek

This morning we walked Byrne Creek Ravine Park in southeast Burnaby, and came across lots of cool bugs.

Note: All of these shots taken with my teeny Canon SD780 pocket camera,
so the lens was just a couple of centimetres away from the bees and bugs.
Stay relaxed, move slowly, and they're very tolerant.

Ugly Bug Ball 2010

DFO Community Advisors in the lower mainland of BC and the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation host a free volunteer appreciation event called the Ugly Bug Ball every two years. For the last several times, the event has been held at the A Rocha facility in South Surrey, a gorgeous old farm that's been turned into an environmental education venue.

A few photos of this year's event, with a concentration on the beautiful natural setting :-):

DFO Community Advisor Mark Johnson sets the stage

PSKF's Zo Ann Morten shows what it means to be a stakeholder :-)

Bribing volunteers with cake!

The wine/whine session where everyone gets to beef in good company!

One of the gorgeous salmon moulded at an Ugly Bug Ball several years ago.

Participants hang out in the orchard.

Looking up at the sun through the orchard trees.

The beautiful pond on the A Rocha property.

Another water feature with snails enjoying the spattering flow.

Some of the gyotaku (Japanese-style transfer images) people created.

It truly is a gorgeous property!

White Rock on Solar-Supercharged Day

We dropped in to the White Rock, BC, pier on a sunny Saturday on our way to the Ugly Bug Ball in South Surrey. It was packed, and we were surprised to snag a parking stall just a few meters from the pier.

Yumi on the pier

Some impromptu sand sculpting  going on

A kayaking class adding colour to the scene

Baby Spiders

We've had a bunch of baby spiders hanging around the front door. They're kinda cute, and, kinda creepy :-). But we're being careful not to disturb them as much as possible until they make their own way in the world.

Busy Burnaby: Farmer’s Market, Hats Off Day, Deer Lake Ramble

It was a glorious Saturday with great weather - sunny but not hot - after several weeks of cool, rainy days here in Burnaby, BC. We celebrated with a grand tour of several places: the farmer's market at City Hall, the Hats Off parade and celebration along the Heights, a ramble all the way around Deer Lake, and topped if off with a balcony BBQ back home.

The Farmer's Market:

Beekeeping is now allowed in many yards in Burnaby. Yay!

On to Hats Off in the Heights. We missed the parade but walked the street festival from end to end:

A & W carhop mannequin on roller-skates :-)

OK, I'm an environmentalist now, but in my youth
I skinned plenty of knuckles on V-8 engines - this one's
a beaut!

We dropped by Deer Lake on the way home and walked a complete loop:

The songs that burst forth from little balls of fluff are amazing!

This young Canada Goose is starting to fill in with an adult's patterns

An osprey soaring over the lake looking for a meal.
It's wonderful to see such magnificent birds right in the city!

Camping, Canoeing, Bears at Birkenhead Lake

Friday:

The first camping trip of the year was met with rainy weather, but we forged on regardless and had a great time. We headed up to Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park, one of our favourite parks because it's only about a 3-hour drive from Vancouver, yet it's remote enough that it tends to be fairly quiet, especially early in the season.

And quiet it was! Of the nearly 100 sites in the campground, several walkabouts over the weekend showed only a few dozen were occupied. We had reserved a nice site up against Phelix Creek,  and the sound of the rushing water also helped to muffle any human noise.

Rain regardless, we put our canoe in the water on Friday afternoon and paddled for several hours until we were soaked and tired. Trolling a line behind produced a single bite, and no catch.

Fortunately we had been able to set up the tent and rope up a tarp over the table before the rain hit, so were fairly comfortable on Friday evening with a cosy fire.

A 15-minute shot of sun through the clouds!

Saturday:

Saturday resulted in more rain off and on, and blasts of wind. We headed out in the canoe again, but there can be substantial winds with occasional heart-quickening, canoe-heeling and spinning  gusts on the  mountain lake, so we headed back in after only an hour or so out on the water.

The next bit of entertainment came as Yumi was washing some of the mud off our trusty '98 Outback at our campsite (15km of access road to the park is "gravel," or in other words, potholed, stony washboard, packed dirt :-). As she went to refresh her pail of water from a pool just off the edge of the tent pad, I saw a black shape silently lumber past through the woods just a few meters beyond her.

"Yumi, get back! Back to the car, right now! There's a bear!"

Poor Yumi didn't see a thing, but scampered back nonetheless. It was amazing how silently, and how fast, that black bear rambled by.

I immediately ran out into the road because I knew some kids had been bicycling up and down the campground, and sure enough a wide-eyed little boy zoomed off to his dad as I barked at him, "look sharp, there's a bear right in there!"

The father spotted the bear, policed his family, and then the two of us monitored the beast, while spreading the word to other campers, blowing our car horns, etc. The fellow said he'd heard from park staff that the bear had recently gotten into a cooler that some irresponsible camper had left unattended. The word was to make as much noise and be as uninviting to the little bruin as possible, in the hope that it would move on, and not get itself shot.

The bear moved back down the campground between tent sites and the creek, and disappeared. Half an hour later as Yumi and I set out to hike up to the Goat Trail Lookout, the bear burst out of the bush, ran across the road, and hightailed it into the forest on the other side with park staff in a truck hot on its heels, horn blaring madly. The attendant got out, hollered he was going to set off a bear banger, and, BOOM!

We saw no more of the bear, but we sure made a lot of noise as we climbed up to the Goat Trail Lookout!

Crossing high, fast, Phelix Creek on the Goat Trail

Now that's some head banging!

The lookout

Yumi scoping the lake and mountains

An hour of sunshine, wow!

There is canoe rental at the lake now, but we're glad we
have our own

A red-breasted sapsucker that let me get to within two meters
or so to get this shot with my teeny Canon SD780 pocket camera

Instead of canoeing the choppy lake, we decided to try the trail on the north side to where the wilderness campground used to be (now shut down due to hazard trees).

Not far down the trail we ran across a big pile of fresh green scat - OK, at least the bear's a vegetarian. Another dozen meters and lots more fresh scat, dark in colour, but at least no bear bells in it :-).

We ventured a bit further, but as our pace slackened and doubts increased, we decided that common sense outweighed valour, and turned back.

Sunday:

It still being cloudy and drizzly, we packed up in the morning, thought about another jaunt in the canoe, took one look at the cold, choppy lake and decided to head south. Coffee in Pemberton, a walkabout at Alice Lake, lunch in Squamish, and a leisurely drive home.

Glorious Day Photographing Birds at Reifel Sanctuary

What better way to spend a long-weekend Monday than wandering around for three or four hours at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

My favourite shot of the day - hummingbird in flight

For those curious the tech specs are: Nikon D300,
handheld Nikkor AF-S 70-300 VR zoom at 300mm
(35mm equivalent of 450mm), ISO 1250, 1/500 @ f9.
Aperature priority, +1.0 EV.

No post-processing aside from cropping.

Hummingbird with tongue sticking out

Chickadees are pretty darn cute, too

Red-winged blackbird letting a crow know its not wanted

Crow stares at nattering blackbird

Mom in convoy

A mass of cuteness

Awwww!

Swallows are way cool

And way pretty

Yumi surrounded by goslings

Parents keep a sharp eye out

When they're not snoozing

A pintail

A shoveller

A junco

A grosbeak

The ubiquitous heron

The rare sandhill crane

Some sort of finch? I'm still not good at my small birds

A bunch of bee and wasp shots

A Photographic Jaunt Along Vancouver’s Waterfront

Rode the SkyTrain and SeaBus today, and had a blast walking around and taking photos.

These cormorants like to hang around the SeaBus terminal

What's this?

A cool hunka modern art!

My ghostly reflection in the piece

Goose on the green roof of the new convention centre

Orca block sculpture

The Winter Olympics 2010 cauldron - apparently the plan
is to spruce up the site and light it on special occasions

First Fry Born in Byrne Creek Since March 4, 2010, Toxic Kill

A few days ago some Byrne Creek Streamkeepers reported seeing fry in the creek - - the first since someone poured a cleanser down a street drain on March 4, 2010, killing everything in the creek. Streamkeepers and local schoolkids have released chum salmon fry and coho salmon smolts provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans since the kill, but these are the first native-born fry we've seen.

They are likely cutthroat trout fry, spawned after the kill, incubated in the gravel for 7 - 8 weeks, and just starting to pop up now. It's great to see life coming back to the creek!

Rice Lake, Lynn Canyon, Newts

We hiked around Rice Lake in North Vancouver this afternoon, followed by another loop to the Lynn Canyon suspension bridge. We were enchanted by dozens of rough-skinned newts in Rice Lake. We'd never noticed them before, but today we watched them for nearly an hour. They're so cute!

They sit on rocks under the water and come up to
the surface every few minutes

Exotic Fish Identified in Burnaby Pond

Several times over the last couple of years we've seen strange fish in a pond in Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby near Byrne Creek. I finally got some photos that were good enough to ID one of the species, though it's difficult shooting through the murky water even on a bright, sunny day.

Unfortunately, a biologist has identified them as pumkinseeds,  a species introduced to the lower mainland, likely by people who like fishing for them and eating the pan fish. Unfortunate, for several reasons: if they spread they can compete with native species, they may not have natural predators here, etc. City of Burnaby staff helped with the ID process and are aware of the problem. I have no idea how it can be resolved, but whoever is dumping alien fish in this pond, please stop! Native fish like coho and chum salmon, and cutthroat trout, have enough to contend with in our urban watersheds without having to compete with alien species.

Pond Life in Fraser Foreshore Park

I love this pond near the outlet of Byrne Creek into the Fraser River in SE Burnaby - despite its unfortunate populations of alien fish (see above entry). It's a magnet for all sorts of bugs, amphibians, reptiles and birds.

Steveston Stroll

One of our favourite places to go for a stroll is down in Steveston. The picturesque remnants of the fishing village and canneries offer lots of photo opportunities. Here are a few shots from today:

Baby bird in old cannery building begging for food

Same photo edited with high saturation and low gamma applied

Same shot with high saturation and low gamma applied

Clinton Schoolkids Release Coho in Byrne Creek

Kids from Clinton Elementary in southeast Burnaby helped streamkeepers, DFO community advisors, and City of Burnaby staff release coho smolts (yearlings) into Byrne Creek this morning. Clinton School has been involved in several Byrne Creek activities this year - - good on them!

Thank you DFO for bringing these young coho all the way from the Bell-Irving Hatchery at Kanaka Creek. All life in Byrne Creek was wiped out in March when someone unthinkingly poured a cleanser down a street drain, so we're rebuilding the creek from scratch, yet again.

Here are a few photos of today's uplifting event.

Setting the scene: the gorgeous lower reaches of the ravine park

Maurice of the DFO chats with the kids

Yep, that's how big the coho will be when they
come back to spawn in a year or two :-)
Maurice is passionate about his calling,
and we streamkeepers and kids love his style!

The kids' eyes light up as they see the fish they will release

There they go - thanks Clinton kids!

Giving a few confused laggards a gentle poke to move them on

Beautiful young smolts acclimatize to their new, temporary
home before they head out to the ocean soon.

Hope to see at least a few of you back spawning in our creek in
a year and half, when you're nearly as long as my arm!

CBC: Burtynsky's Oil images win photo book prize

"In 1997, I had what I refer to as my oil epiphany," Burtynsky said in a statement accompanying the book and exhibits.

"It occurred to me that the vast, human-altered landscapes that I pursued and photographed for over 20 years were only made possible by the discovery of oil and the mechanical advantage of the internal combustion engine. It was then that I began the oil project.

"Over the next 10 years I researched and photographed the largest oil fields I could find. I went on to make images of refineries, freeway interchanges, automobile plants and the scrap industry that results from the recycling of cars. Then I began to look at the culture of oil, the motor culture, where masses of people congregate around vehicles, with vehicle events as the main attraction."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2010/04/30/burtynsky-oil-photo-award.html#ixzz0mpghwHoJ

Photographer vs Volunteer

I was asked to photographically document a community cleanup the other day - an event that I was also involved in coordinating and actually getting out and working on.

Now that I am reviewing the photos, I have quickly realized that by splitting my attention among so many roles, the photography suffered. I was rushing here, rushing there, trying to cover all the bases, both event coordination and photography. It simply can't be done!

While I'm not a professional photographer, I am pretty good, but the photos I got of the event were not that great. I also did not get the accompanying information that is required for publication: names, permissions, etc.

Why? I was distracted. As I said, I was also an event coordinator, a volunteer organizer, and supposedly a garbage collector. Part of the time I was pitching in on the ground, part of the time I was coordinating various groups, part of the time . . .  I was taking photos, as requested.

You simply can't do it all. To take good photos you have to be in the zone. The viewfinder has to be your only focus.

Corona, Birds on Boundary Bay

Spent a lovely Sunday afternoon down in Tsawassen on Boundary Bay.

Driftwood on the beach

An amazing corona around the sun

Yumi examining the wee creatures

Blackbird taking off

A wren of some sort - marsh?

Heron in flight

These birds are so cool. They seem to come from another
era, with their ungainly flight and raucous vocalizations.
But they are very efficient stalkers and killers, as they have
to be to survive.

When I startle a heron, I often feel a "velociraptor" chill down
my spine, and I'm happy that in this stage or our evolutions, I'm
a lot bigger than they are  :-).

Clinton School Releases ‘Salmon in the Classroom’ Fry in Byrne

Clinton Elementary School kids in SE Burnaby released their "Salmonids in the Classroom" chum fry into Byrne Creek today. My wife Yumi and I accompanied them, representing the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers. It was a gorgeous Earth Day!

Thank you to teacher Elaine Jaltema who had the kids very well organized. She also had a slew of additional science and observation activities lined up, so the kids were testing water temperature, pH, etc.

Getting everyone organized up near Ron McLean Park before
heading down into the ravine

Kids release the chum fry they raised in their classroom

A budding scientist records data

Chum Fry Released in Burnaby South Slope Creeks

Kids from Suncrest Elementary helped Kaymar Creek Streamkeepers, the City of Burnaby, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans release chum fry (babies) in to Kaymar Creek in southwest Burnaby this morning, followed by a release with kids from Nelson Elementary into Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby.

DFO Community Advisor Maurice Coulter-Boisvert speaks to kids

Kids release fry into Kaymar Creek

Maurice speaks to kids at Byrne Creek. These fry will
help repopulate the creek after someone poured a
cleanser down a street drain on March 4, killing all
aquatic life

Holding a bag of chum fry

DFO, City of Burnaby staff and streamkeepers fill bags of fish

Bon voyage! With luck a few of these chum will survive
their trip down Byrne Creek to the Fraser River, down
the Fraser to the Pacific Ocean, and will return to spawn
in the creek in a few years.

Byrne Creek Bee, Bugs, Turtles

A creek patrol along Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby this afternoon turned into a fotofest of wildlife. Yumi and I were happy to see a small school of chum salmon fry that had been released into the creek by schoolkids a few days earlier. We also saw at least a dozen trout in pools, and a lamprey, so the creek is slowly coming back to life and being repopulated after a toxin poured down a drain wiped out the creek at the beginning of March.

The single red-eared slider turtle that's been hanging around the pond in the habitat for a couple of years now has been joined by another one. While we love wildlife, and have a turtle pet of our own, this species is not native to BC. It appears the second one is also a slider, though it was so covered with baked on mud that it was hard to tell. Please, don't dump your pets into the wild!

A red-eared slider basking near a Byrne Creek pond

Unfortunately, it's now got a buddy! While the red marks are
hard to see in this photo, magnification does reveal some
bronzing under the baked on mud.

A couple of ladybugs with different patterns

The first millipede we've seen this spring

Fraser Foreshore Wildlife

An amble along the waterfront in Burnaby's Fraser Foreshore Park from the parking lot at the bottom of Byrne Road to Byrne Creek and back produced a few wildlife shots.

An inquisitive chickadee

A statuesque heron

A startled garter snake that slithered into a pond

An enlargement - you can see how it flattens its body to
propel itself in the water at amazing speed

Starting them Young

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers had our booth set up at Choices in the Park for the store's Earth Day celebration this afternoon. There was a by-donation BBQ, with proceeds generously being donated to care for Byrne Creek. Thanks!

We offered a tour of the creek, but the only takers on the cloudy, drizzly day were half-a-dozen 4-6 year olds from a nearby daycare and their parents, so the pace was slow. But  I was amazed by the kids - over the course of 2 - 1/2 hours they trundled through the entire ravine loop with nary a complaint, asking lots of questions along the way, and it seemed that all involved really enjoyed the tour.

The daycare teacher was great -- she encouraged the kids to try climbing a low tree (one at a time with helping hands nearby), get their fingers dirty looking at rocks and plants, etc. She was determined to be raising a bunch of nature-loving future streamkeepers!

Dew Blesses Morning Blossoms

More cherry blossom photos and a few tulips from our balcony this lovely morning.

Burnaby Mountain – Kamui Mintara

We hadn't been up Burnaby Mountain in months and hoped the cherry trees would be in bloom, but most of the blossoms were gone already. I made up for the loss with a few shots of the "Kamui Mintara" poles carved by Ainu from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Burnaby has a sister city relationship with Kushiro, Japan.

Cherry Blossoms Arrive on Balcony

Get ready for a barrage of cherry blossom photos as the tree next to our balcony comes into bloom!

Every year it's an adventure in striving for vision and beauty, while reminding me of our transient, impermanent, nature -- blossoms and people alike.

For the technically inclined, all shots taken with a Nikon D300, handheld at ISO 400, with an 18-200mm AF-S Nikkor 3.5~5.6 G ED VR zoom, and an ancient 55mm Micro-Nikkor-PC 3.5 macro lens that I bought some 30+ years ago. I kept the ISO at 400 even on the bright, sunny day, to allow for fast shutter speeds at small apertures for decent depth of field and motion control in the breeze.

Note: These photos are not enhanced in any way besides some judicious cropping. I am slowly coming to terms with digital "manipulation" - in its basic forms of image enhancement, I do not see it as being any different from the burning and dodging of traditional darkroom work - I just haven't had time to learn it yet!

Kitchen Kraziness, or a Theory on Multiple Injuries

OK, so a few days ago I get a nasty steam burn in the kitchen, and then a day later I manage to nearly take the tip off a finger on the same hand while chopping walnuts. Yoi. I had that god-awful slow-motion feeling of knowing what was going to happen, yet I couldn't stop the knife hand, or move the  target hand in time. I'm getting a bit paranoid about doing anything in the kitchen and I sure hope bad luck doesn't really come in threes! This photo is after several days of healing, and there's quite a ways to go yet. . .

I have this theory about injuries - - if you have one, you're more likely to get another one, for a couple of reasons.

One is that the first injury throws you off balance. It's like when you smash a toe, you start walking funny to compensate, and the next thing you know you've screwed up your lower back.

Another is a strange law of attraction. I recall seeing some comedy show about this, perhaps an episode of Seinfeld in which a driver (Kramer?) kept hitting any object that he was distracted into looking at. To get back to the smashed toe example, once you've smashed it, even though you start being hypersensitive and careful with it, it seems that the chances that you'll stub it again before it's fully healed rise dramatically.

Nasty Burn Nearly Painless

I got a steam burn in the kitchen yesterday. I immediately ran cold water on it, then held an ice compress on it for five to ten minutes. I then coated it with Polysporin, and my wife taped a light piece of gauze over it. This morning, she covered it with a thin slice of aloe, again under a light piece of gauze. By the end of the day, the aloe was completely dry, all the juice having been absorbed by the skin. There's now a nasty looking blister about 2-3cm in diameter, but what amazes me is that I've had almost zero pain by following this treatment. Now that the blister has been open to the air for about an hour, I'm starting to feel a bit of discomfort, so maybe I'll slap some aloe back on for the night.

Scotch Broom-Climbing Snails

Continuing the theme of climbing snails (see entry below), today we spotted lots of snails way up in Scotch Broom bushes along Southridge Dr. in southeast Burnaby. Dunno what all these snails are doing way up in trees and bushes, but they sure come in a fascinating variety of colours and patterns.

Tree-Climbing Snails

On our way home from a ravine loop late this afternoon, my wife and I ran across scads of snails. Climbing trees. We'd never observed this before.

Large ones, baby ones, different colours and designs, and on different types of trees:

Above is one of the babies. The rest are all the usual size.

Blossoms, Clouds in South Burnaby

Golden Ears Park, Alouette Lake

A jaunt to Golden Ears Provincial Park proved relaxing and refreshing even on a rainy day.

Alouette Lake wreathed in clouds.

Salmonberry blossoms graced with raindrops.

The refreshing scent of lush evergreens in the mist.

Robson Square, Sledge Hockey, Dal Richards

Well, even the 2010 Paralympics are winding down, but there is still fun to be found in downtown Vancouver. The Vancouver Art Gallery features free admission, so we checked out the Leonardo da Vinci display and the BC Pavilion. Then it was off to Robson Square to check out the big screen and catch some tunes. We lucked into Dal Richards, Vancouver's famous sax playing, singing band leader, who's in his nineties! Wonderful show.

The art gallery with the Olympic Clock at 0:00.

Dal Richards & His Orchestra, with sledge hockey on the big screen.

Spring Flowers, Foliage

A few shots taken near our place today.

Sample Density of Fish Killed in Byrne Creek

Sometimes it takes death to reveal how much life there is.

Would you believe that on average there was a dead fish less than every 2 meters along a sampled section of Byrne Creek the morning after someone poured a toxin down a street drain in the upper watershed on March 4, 2010? Most people never see fish in the creek - it takes patience, stealth, and knowing where to look to spot them when they are alive. My wife and I counted 231 dead trout, coho smolts (yearlings) and coho fry (this spring's babies) in an approximately 400-meter section of the creek. For those interested, here's the breakdown:

182 - Small cutthroat trout (say less than 15cm)
20  - Medium cutthroat trout (say 15-20cm)
1   - Large cutthroat trout (over 20cm)
Total 203 cutthroat trout

16 small-to-medium dead fish visible inside the culvert, too dark to ID
1 - large trout, very dark, no cutthroat markings on chin, near footbridge

8  - Coho smolts
3  - Coho fry
Total 11 coho salmon

Grand total dead fish in that stretch: 231

And that's likely lower than the actual number due to several factors: dead fish get wedged under rocks and drop deep in pools, the tiny fry are difficult to spot at all and we know that before the kill there were schools of dozens in the area sampled. In addition, opportunistic predation starts almost immediately after the toxin is quickly flushed down the creek: we found several fish partially eaten, and only strings of guts and bits of flesh too small to ID here and there.

The coho were found around T518 to T516 (lower end of the lower ravine). The coho fry were found in the vicinity of T517 where we photographed live ones a few days ago... See the entry below "Video of 2010 Salmon Fry in Byrne Creek."

The above photo shows dead fish ranging from coho fry at the bottom left,
a coho smolt a the bottom right, and an adult trout above. There was a
surprise to come, as you'll see in the next photo. . .

The big trout had a fry in its mouth. It's not hard to imagine what
happened - it spotted a little fish in distress from the chemical,
thought it an easy meal, and then before it could even finish
swallowing its target, the bigger fish also died.

Fish Kill in Burnaby’s Byrne Creek March 4, 2010

A chemical entered Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby in the mid-to-late afternoon today, killing fish. Someone called Environment Canada [CORRECT: in fact the City of Burnaby received the call from the BC provincial enviro ministry after a youth called the Provincial Emergency Program], who then called the City, and streamkeepers also noticed the kill around the same time. City staff took samples and worked on tracing the source, which likely came from a storm drain, while streamkeepers took photos for documentation and sampled pH in the creek at several points. Both City staff and streamkeepers plan to follow up tomorrow. Here are some photos:

The fish ladder at the pond west of Griffiths Dr.
Water is covered with foam and slick to the touch.
There was an ammonia smell coming out of the pipe.

Dead fish on bottom of pool.

Dead cutthroat with hazy water visible. That's a size 12 boot
toe beside it for comparison.

Just a few days ago, streamkeepers were excited to see baby salmon
fry popping out of the gravel. We are concerned that they may also have
been affected.

I find it hard to believe that after decades of education efforts, such
kills still happen.

Please, folks, remember that all drains on roads and parking lots lead to fish habitat!

Video of 2010 Salmon Fry in Byrne Creek

I shot this video at 640 X 480 resolution with my Canon SD780 digital still camera handheld with the zoom at max. I processed the file in Windows Live Movie Maker, a free download. Not bad for such a cheap, on-the-fly setup :-).

It's always great to know that at least some of the few salmon that managed to return to this urban creek in southeast Burnaby last autumn successfully spawned, and that their eggs survived through the winter.

Dirty Discharge Passes Through Byrne Creek

At 4:00 p.m. today I noticed that the pond near Choices in the Park just west of the Edmonds Skytrain Station in SE Burnaby was a murky grey-green colour. Not good. Something likely had been dumped in the creek through a drain on a street or in a parking lot. I phoned it in to Environmental Services at the City, and was told it had already been reported and that staff were checking the situation.

This is the pond at 4:00 p.m.

And here it is at 5:00 p.m. The creek flow had cleared
out the "slug" of dirty water.

Didn't have time to check downstream for the possible
impact on fish. Hope to do a creek walk tomorrow.

The concrete structure at the bottom of the photos is a fish ladder to enable fish to get up to the culvert that was put in when the trail was built across the creek.

Dawn, Dusk on BC Ferries

The 7:00 am BC Ferries run from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, and the return 5:00 pm run produced some moody sunrise and sunset photos today.

The dawn run:

And coming home at dusk:

Fun and Games at Richmond OZone, 2010 Olympic Flame

After a beautiful morning in Byrne Creek Ravine doing streamkeeper activities, Yumi and I headed out to the Richmond OZone for 2010 Olympic-related festivities, and ended the day with an evening downtown on the packed streets of Vancouver.

Cherry trees starting to bud in the park next door.

Yumi checking pH in Byrne Creek.

OK, on to Winter Olympic 2010 Festivities!

Flags festoon a mall in Richmond.

There were delays on the Skytrain, so it took awhile to get down
to Richmond, but it was worth it.

Salmon says "O Canada," but I think it would be saying "Oh! Bear!"

Light standard with OZone banner.

Yumi with Year of Rooster lantern at OZone

Paul with Year of Boar lantern at OZone.

I refuse to call it Year of Pig! :-)

Yumi and some kids get their photo taken
with a Japanese super-fan.

Japanese team works on ice sculpture.
I yelled "Ganbare Nihon" at them and got
a happy look of surprise back :-).

The main stage at the OZone. We flaked out on the ground
and listened to some bands.

Outdoor skating oval at the OZone.

OZone banner in Richmond City Hall. There was a cool
display of ice skates through history, and a progression
of Canadian ice-skating uniforms.

The only downer was grabbing a 591ml bottle of Diet Coke
at the lunch stand, only to be charged $3.50 for it.
Highway robbery!

A view of the banners from outside as dusk fell.

The big screen at Richmond City Hall.

Evening falls at the OZone, time to head downtown!

The Birks Building at night.

The famous clock.

Huge Olympics projection on The Bay, with London Drugs in foreground.

Lanterns on Granville.

More illumination on Granville.

The street was full of happy people,
and every block had a different genre
of street music. Yowza!

Robson Square, the epicentre of the action.

Robson Square with the BC Pavilion (Art Gallery) in background.

The Zipline over Robson Square. If you look closely,
those ghostly shapes are lucky riders who made it
past the 4- to 6-hour wait!

And here it is folks, the 2010 Olympic Flame!

And, more importantly :-), moi and my
better half in front of it.

Waaaayyy in front of it :-). At this point in this very
full day, my back was giving out, and there was no way
I was going to stand hours in line to get any closer!

Heading home on the Skytrain at Waterfront Station.
It was packed, but kudos to Translink, police and volunteers
for keeping things moving smoothly. Well done!

New Fry in Byrne Creek, Signs of Spring

Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby, BC, is sporting new babies! I spotted two salmon fry in pools in the creek today - not many, but it's a start. There were also lots of other signs of spring.

Hard to ID for sure, but it may be a coho, judging by
orange-ish colour.

This backlit strider was making explosive flashes of light
on the water with every step.

Robins, Fruit at Stewart Heritage Farm

Though it was overcast, I checked out the Stewart Heritage Farm in south Surrey today - it's a great place for birding and nature photos.

Cattails in a marsh

Last autumn's apples

An inquisitive robin.

Who gets a worm!

I got some good shots of waxwings eating berries at the farm last October.

Vancouver 2010 Games Valentine’s Day Photos

Valentine's Day was sunny and clear, a wonderful day to spend checking out 2010 Olympic pavilions in Vancouver.

Russian Sochi pavilion (Science World)

Fun photo at Saskatchewan House

Athlete's Village

Police diver patrol

First CF Card – 16MB

I found this CF card today - it's the first one I ever had. It was included with our first digital camera, a Kodak DC4800 that we bought back in March 2001, during a trip to Japan. The purchase was spurred by my father-in-law, who insisted we ought to get a digital camera while we were visiting, and who provided some cash to back up his idea :-).

To think that this card would hold just two RAW photo files from my Nikon D300!

I remember when Yumi and I bought the DC4800 in Shinjuku, Tokyo, at a store that no longer exists, we "splurged" on an additional 128MB CF card and a PC Card reader so we could plug CF cards into our notebook computer. Don't recall now how much all that cost, but I think the 3.1MP point-and-shoot, the extra card, and the reader totalled over C$600.

Sunset Near Byrne Ravine Park

Late this afternoon I got out for a loop of Byrne Creek Ravine Park in SE Burnaby, and got a few sunset shots on my way back up the hill.

The view down the hill over the Green development.

Along Byrne Park Drive.

Olympics? Bah, Humbug… Er, Dang But I’m Smiling

I have counted myself among Vancouver 2010 sceptics, but darn it if I don't feel a spring in my step and a smile twitching on my face. We headed downtown today to check out the street scene, see if any pavilions were open, and had a great time. The only pavilion we entered was Northern House, and it was fun. While we don't have tickets to any events - damn hard to find and expensive - I will certainly be checking out more pavilions and other free stuff.

Yumi owns the podium!

Paul goes snowboarding. OK, if I look stupid, I admit I've
never been on a board in my life!

The outdoor skating rink at Robson Square.

With inukshuk at Northern House.

Yumi with muskox.

The "video postcard" at Northern House was a great hit.
You can select videos of northern scenes and activities
and have yourself superimposed upon them.

Feeding an eagle a bit of Japanese crepe on Robson St.

Eagles, Crows on Marine Way

While my wife was picking up some cat food I got some shots of eagles and crows near Marine Way in Burnaby. At one point there were six bald eagles soaring overhead, with some sort of hawk or harrier joining in for a moment. There were also several crows patrolling the parking lot.

Warmest January on Record in Vancouver, Eh?

Well, look what I found outside our door today:

I also did a quick patrol for salmon fry in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby. Didn't see any yet, but back in 2005 we spotted fry on Feb. 8, so with this year's warm winter they ought to be popping out of the gravel soon!

Dell U2410 Monitor

Received the 24" Dell U2410 LCD monitor today that I got for around 33% off the regular price - about C$500 compared to C$750. My first impressions? This is one bright, sharp, gorgeous screen. It's clearly head and shoulders over the 20" Dell 2007FP that I have it paired with on my desk, and it leaves the old 19" Benq FP931 that it replaced in the dust.

The 24" screen with its native 1920 X1200 resolution is impressive, but it's the underlying technology that really makes it shine. It's an IPS monitor, designed for high-end graphics work, and it's colour-calibrated at the factory with sRGB and Adobe RGB presets. No matter how much I fiddle with the settings on the Dell 2007FP, I can't get it to match the U2410's fidelity and clarity. I'm just eyeballing the two screens side by side, but I suspect that even with colour-calibration gear, it would be tough to get the 2007FP looking as good as the U2410.

I'm look forward to developing photos on the new screen, along with having significantly more space for document editing and desktop publishing work.

Cleaning Bird Boxes at Burnaby Lake

A call for volunteers appeared in the local papers to help clean out bird boxes at Burnaby Lake Regional Park for the spring nesting season, so Yumi and I drove over this Saturday morning to check out what the Burnaby Lake Park Association was up to.

Led by the irrepressibly passionate and knowledgeable Joe Sadowski, the 30-40 folks who showed up were divided into three or four teams and spread out to do some housecleaning. Despite the overcast, drizzly conditions, people's spirits ran high.

And a lovely Wood Duck couple, perhaps looking to move
in to the newly cleaned housing :-)

Rainbow on Vancouver’s North Shore

On the way home from shopping on the north shore, we saw this rainbow. I grabbed a few quick shots from the side of the road near the Cargill grain terminal with my pocket camera, but unfortunately the rainbow began to dissipate before I could find another vantage point. It must have looked magnificent from further south, say Burnaby Mountain!

Frosty Ramble 'Round Deer Lake

Combating the seasonal overeating, Yumi and I trundled all the way to Deer Lake and back, doing the route in a bit less than three hours. It was a frosty, cloudy day, but I worked up a good sweat, fell on my butt on the icy Sperling stairs, and got a few decent shots, too.

View from the canoe dock

Frosty mooring cleat

Yumi testing the ice near the beach

Frozen cattails near the beach

Foggy view of Metrotown from the north shore of the lake

Spotted this little furball sneaking through tunnels of grass
near the trail - a vole?

Frozen dew

We were surprised to see a salmon carcass in
Buckingham Creek near the beach parking lot.
We've never seen salmon in the Deer Lake area.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get at it to ID it.

Foggy New Westminster Quay, Boardwalk

A stroll along the quay and boardwalk in New Westminster on a socked in, foggy afternoon produced some moody photographs.

Christmas Jaunt up the Sea to Sky, Squamish, Brackendale

A Christmas daytrip up the Sea-to-Sky highway to Squamish and Brackendale resulted in some nice shots, though there were few eagles to be seen.

Stonework pattern on washroom at Shannon Falls

Spawning salmon, green water, stones make for an impressionistic shot
near the Tenderfoot Hatchery

Great Blue Heron watches salmon near the Tenderfoot Hatchery

An American Dipper keeps a sharp eye out for wayward salmon eggs

Lots of people at the Eagle Run at Brackendale, but few eagles

Squamish River with mountain background

Heading back home we stop at Porteau Cove - Yumi against the sunset

Moon at bottom with Porteau Cove pier structure

Rocks and ripples at the ocean's edge

Chains anchor the sunset

Bench and rails frame the setting sun

Trees, sunset along the Sea-to-Sky highway

The sun dips in to the sea beyond the mountains

Byrne Creek Ravine Sunset on Christmas Eve

We did a quick loop of Byrne Creek Ravine Park in SE Burnaby late this afternoon as the sun was going down.

Foggy, Icy Rice Lake in North Vancouver

The Rice Lake trail in North Vancouver is a short, flat walk that's refreshing even on a rainy day.

Birds at Blustery Boundary Bay

It was just above zero Celsius and the wind was a'blowin' as Yumi and I checked out the bird action on Boundary Bay around the south end of 72nd St. in Delta, BC, this afternoon. We saw lots of Northern Harriers, Gulls of several kinds, Northern Flickers, Robins, Herons, lots of waterfowl, etc.

This bold Great Blue Heron was blithely hanging around the side
of the road about a hundred meters north of the end of the road.

Mt. Baker in Washington State visible to the southeast
across Boundary Bay.

There were lots of raptors, mostly Harriers.
Now that I'm looking at this photo, is it a Harrier?
We definitely saw Harriers, but dunno about this one. . .
Another photographer said he'd seen a short-eared owl.

I believe this is a female Downy Woodpecker.

A Northern Flicker of the "red-shafted race."

There were lots of American Robins eating berries.

Fur Ball Reveals Vertebrae, Claw

A ramble along Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby is always stimulating and refreshing, and if you keep your eyes open, you can spot all sorts of interesting evidence of the animals that live in the ravine. I'd love to spend a few days in the ravine with some First Nations elders, and plant and animal biologists, to really learn what to look for and how to interpret it.

While on spawner patrol, Yumi found a fur ball. Something had regurgitated it - a coyote? Spreading it apart with the tip of a walking stick, we could see vertebrae and a claw inside, but we don't have the knowledge to ID what beast ended up in the stomach of another one!

Claw at top left, vertebrae scattered near middle.

OK, if you'd like something more pleasant to look at to end this post, here's a raindrop sloughing off a berry :-).

Coho Spawning in Byrne Creek

The day was dark and gloomy following a week of rain, but my wife Yumi and I decided to check out Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby for spawning salmon. We volunteer with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, and spawner returns have been low this year, but we're always hoping.

It's tough to see fish when the water is high and dirty, and the light is low, but to our surprise we ran across a pair of coho spawning. In fact, the poor conditions likely worked in our favor, for on a bright day with clear water, the notoriously shy coho would have quickly spooked and hidden themselves. While we never saw them that clearly, it was still a thrill when we'd catch a flash of these magnificently muscular fish, with their scarlet-streaked copper-green sides.

A swirl of dark green, brown-gold and red as one of the coho moves up the creek. They had chosen to spawn just above a fast riffle, and moved up and down, battling the current.

The female flips sideways and carves the gravel with her tail to dig a nest for her eggs called a redd.

Deer, Faun, Waskesiu Summer 2009

Ran across this photo from my summer trip to Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and am posting it now to relieve some of the Wet West Coast early winter rain blues.

Taken early one morning near the golf course in Prince Albert National Park.

Bird’s Nest, Spider, Claw Marks Along Byrne Creek

Today on a patrol of Byrne Creek my wife and I found one dead chum salmon, one live chum guarding a nest of eggs (redd), and three coho salmon, in addition to lots of cutthroat trout that gather this time of year hoping to snag a wayward salmon egg. Nature being unemotional and efficient, we've observed cutthroat poking female salmon in their bellies, hoping to pop eggs out.

Today Yumi found a nest on the ground. It looked like it had never been completed. We also ran across what I believe is an orb weaver spider. It was on the cycling/walking path on Southridge Drive, so Yumi shepherded it off into the grass, as she is wont to do with any sort of animal that she feels is in danger.

We also observed plenty of claw marks and tracks at various places along the creek as opportunists of all species gather to meet the returning salmon. That's why salmon are so crucial to the entire west coast environment - they are a key part of the food chain for all sorts of birds and beasts, in addition to fertilizing the forests.

Byrne Creek Paw Prints, Paint & Mushrooms

I ran across lots of tracks along Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby on a patrol looking for spawning salmon today. Dead spawners attract all sorts of hungry animals from skunks to raccoons to coyotes. I've even seen squirrels checking out carcasses - why not? A cousin of mine calls them "rats with bushy tails" :-). Someone also thoughtfully left a bunch of paint cans along the fence at the spawning habitat!

Prints leading toward the creek

Close-up

A rain-filled mushroom

Poster reminding people and dogs to stay out
of the creek during spawning season

What's with the paint cans? Someone even took the
time to nicely line them up, so why not the time to
take them to a recycling centre?

Face to Face with Coyote on Byrne Creek

I had a meeting at the Stream of Dreams office just off Byrne Road south of Marine Way in SE Burnaby this morning, so I dropped into the Byrne Creek artificial spawning habitat for a few minutes on the way back up the hill to check if the chum salmon I had seen on a spawner patrol the previous day were still around.

As I broke out of the path into the habitat and onto the vehicle access road, a coyote came scooting out of the bush just a few meters in front of me, trotted a short way down the road, and stopped.

A large coyote.

It was the biggest I've seen in some time. It looked at least the match of a mid-sized German Shepherd, and had thick, sleek fur, so it appeared well fed... (the above photo was snapped on the quick draw with a tiny pocket camera and enlarged dramatically, so the quality is middling. . .)

It stopped and stared at me, and I stared at it while regretting not having the long walking pole that I usually carry. It flinched first, and began loping down the chain-link fence looking for a way out, and finally wriggled under it.

Before I proceeded further, I got my knife out and then slowly walked in, making plenty of noise. (During spawning season I carry a sheath knife in my pack to process dead salmon with -- streamkeepers have permission from the Department of Fisheries to cut open carcasses to determine sex and to check if fish have spawned before they died).  The creek was still running high and dirty from the morning rain so I didn't bother searching very hard because water visibility was very poor. I have to admit I was also on edge moving through the bush, because the coyote was likely in the habitat because it was attracted to dead salmon.

Sure enough, on my way out, I found the remains of a chum the coyote had been eating on the bank at the southwest end of the overflow pond, near where I first flushed it out.

There wasn't much left, just head bones, and about five inches of body. I didn't linger, not wanting to be between a coyote and its lunch :-) . I did see salmon eggs that had spilled into the water, so it was likely an unspawned female chum.

I found the experience exhilarating, and it left me tingling all over. It's amazing how the sight of a predator sharpens your senses when you're alone in the bush -- even in an urban park.  Thank you, coyote, for that moment of clarity, focus, and connection to nature.

Silverdale Creek Wetlands

On the way home from Harrison Lake we took the slower route 7, and at one point before Mission saw trails and what looked like a spawning channel to the north of the road. We found an access road, and discovered the Silverdale Creek Wetlands. We'd heard about the project, so we set out to explore. There were "Mother Bear with Cub" warning signs all over, so we kept our eyes peeled, proceeded slowly, and made plenty of noise!

It was a beautiful area, with ponds, marshes, and a spawning channel. We found only one dead spawner in the wetland area, but saw several more dead, and one live one swimming upstream, from the bridge over the creek near the entrance.

Look closely - there, in the middle foreground, it's
a huge concrete salmon. Steamkeepers around the
lower mainland have been sharing the mold for
these beauties

Despite it being November, there were still lots of dragonflies about

Lots of bird boxes of various sizes adorn many erected perch "trees"

The only spawner we saw in the habitat

The same spawner can be seen in the foreground

And a close-up of a second concrete salmon in the habitat

Harrison Lake Colors, Aerobatics Flight

On the pretext of looking for spawning salmon in Fraser Valley creeks and rivers, Yumi and I took a day trip all the way up the valley to Harrison Lake. While we didn't see many fish, it was a gorgeous day. As we were strolling around the beach at the lake, a formation of aerobatics planes zoomed overhead.

Kayakers head out on Harrison Lake

The dock near the hot-spring hotel

Along the trail to the original hot springs pool

Heading back toward the beach area

A sudden roar, and this formation unexpectedly flew overhead

A slightly tighter shot as I banged away while zooming in

Breaking into the blue

Heading back from a loop over the lake

Salmon Pumpkin for Halloween

My wife Yumi carved this salmon pumpkin for Halloween to celebrate the return of spawning chum and coho to Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, just behind our place.

Later: She also made a cat pumpkin.

Spawning Salmon Return to Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers spotted six chum salmon in Byrne Creek this afternoon, and several of them were already digging redds, or nests, for their eggs. It was a wonderful sight to see!

Byrne is an urban creek in southeast Burnaby, and salmon numbers have been declining for the last several years.

I took the above video using the video function on my Canon S5IS camera, which tops out at 640 X 480 at 30 fps. I then used MS Movie Maker, which came free with the Windows XP operating system, to do so some rudimentary editing, titling, etc. It's a far cry from a real camcorder and more powerful software, but it's still fun to play with.

My Digital Photo Stats Over 8 Years

My Nikon D300 DSLR "rolled over" yesterday: the photo counter hit 9,999 and started fresh. I began using it in August 2008. My Canon S5IS superzoom rolled over on Sept. 19 this year, a bit over two years after I bought it in July 2007.

My first digital camera was a Kodak DC4800 with which I shot the first photo on March 30, 2001. That camera still works but has been retired. It was followed by a shirt-pocket-size Canon SD400 that died in February this year, being replaced with a tiny Canon SD780 for everyday carrying around. I took the SD400 nearly everywhere in pockets, belt packs and briefcases, and it did yeoman's work for about three-and-a-half years before succumbing to the regular battering with a dead LCD screen.

The D300 and S5IS 10,000-shot milestones got me thinking about my digital photo statistics, so I did some poking around my hard drive.

As of today, I have 45,330 files in 960 folders under the My Photos directory, totaling 221GB. That includes perhaps a hundred photos scanned from film pictures, and a few dozen short movie files shot using the movie function on my Canons. I have no idea how many rolls of film I've shot since I began taking pictures some 40 years ago, and that's another project - to scan the better slides and negatives into digital files. . .

That means that since I shifted to digital photography, I've been keeping about 5,330 photos/year. As I explain in the next paragraph, that means I've been shooting about 6,500-7,000 photos/year. Not bad for an amateur, eh?

When I transfer digital photos from my various cameras to my computer, I immediately cull the worst of the lot - the badly underexposed or overexposed, the out of focus, the motion blurred, etc. I also usually zap severely unflattering shots of people, near duplicates of the same scene, and so on. I figure that I trash 15-20% this way. But I need to do more.

While my photos are fairly well organized in chronological folders and topic folders, I've never used a tagging/archiving program to keep track of them, and with 45,000+ images that needs to change. Since I returned to SLR shooting last year after about a 15-year hiatus, I've also gotten more serious about my photography again, and need to keep better track of my better work.

I've started using Nikon Capture NX2 and Adobe Bridge CS4 to do some basic tagging over the last few months, and am investigating digital asset management options such as MS Expression Media, ACDSEE Pro 3, etc.

As time allows, I aim to go back and do more culling, while adding metadata to my old photos. I ought to be able to cut at least 10-20% of that 45,000. And more importantly, tag the best 0.1 - 0.5% (1 - 5 out of a thousand??) that may be worthy of printing for display, or attempting to sell.

It will be interesting to revisit this topic once this gargantuan project is done, and see how the numbers turned out.

Waxwing Chows Down Berries

It was a great day to wander the Stewart Heritage Farm in South Surrey this afternoon. I'll add more photos tomorrow, but I wanted to post this series of a waxwing selecting and downing a berry before I went to bed:

Checking things out.

Going. . .

Going. . .

Gone!

All shots handheld with Nikon D300 and Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm zoom at 300mm (450mm effective), ISO 800, 1/320, f7.1

More Autumn Colours Around Byrne Creek

A ramble from Ron McLean Park in SE Burnaby down the ravine trail to Byrne Creek.

Autumn Colours Advance on Byrne Creek

The recent rains in the lower mainland of BC have cast a chill upon the land, yet warmed my heart with excitement. Salmon will return to Byrne Creek soon.

It's a bit early, the first spawners are usually spotted in this urban creek in southeast Burnaby around mid-October, but the fish follow the rain, so you never know - and I couldn't wait to start looking.

I didn't find any salmon today, but the rain had begun washing the vibrant greens into reds, yellows, golds, and browns.

Burnaby Artists Studio Tour, Deer Lake Ramble

My wife Yumi and I spent a couple of hours today visiting Burnaby artists in their homes and studios on the Studio Tour 2009.

We started with James Koll, who lives nearby. We've bought a couple of his watercolours and a print, and he's becoming one of our favourite local artists for his lifelike renditions of landscapes. After visiting James, we hit a few other artists, and then ended up at the Shadbolt Centre at Deer Lake. After checking out the displays at the various galleries in the area, we took a slow ramble along the boardwalk at Deer Lake, where I enjoyed taking photos of the wildlife.

On the way home, we ended up raiding an ATM and going back to James Koll's to buy another watercolour -- "Still Creek Near the Lake." We volunteer as streamkeepers in Burnaby, so we have a close connection to the scenes Koll paints of waterways and parks around the city.

Here are few photos from today's walk:

The lawn below the Shadbolt Centre in Burnaby

Lilly pads in Deer Lake

Mallard framed by trees

A frog soaking up the sun

Great Blue Heron

Whack! The heron strikes

Success - a fish to swallow

No time to digest, on the hunt again

Plethora of Petals, Plants at New Westminster Quay

The boardwalk along the Fraser River in New Westminster has an amazing collection of flowers and plants. I spent a couple of hours blissfully lost in photographing the array on a lazy Labour Day. Here's a photographic ode to the end of summer:

All shots hand-held with Nikon D300 and AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm VR ED zoom at ISOs ranging between 200-400. The camera was on the "Vivid" setting. Not sure how that happened, I usually have it set on "Standard," but for the most part it worked well, with only a few shots badly over-saturated. These are all from Large/Fine JPEG files. I have the raw NEF files as well, but have yet to try playing with post-processing them.

Chris Isaak at the PNE

It was a great show yesterday. Isaak is a consummate performer with great original tunes and crowd-pleasing chatter.

Concert shots were hand-held at ISO 3200 with my Nikon D300, with the 18-200 VR lens.

Silty Discharge Hits Byrne Creek

A "slug" of silty water hit Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby overnight or early this morning. As no dead fish have been spotted, it appears it was not toxic; however, any discharge into street drains is illegal, and City of Burnaby staff are checking for the source.

As streamkeepers repeat again, and again, all drains on streets and in parking lots lead to fish habitat.

Water in the sediment pond in the spawning habitat was still opaque many hours after the discharge, though the water running into the pond (at the lower end of the photo) is clear.

Water discharging downstream of the artificial spawning habitat was also still very murky early in the afternoon.

Foreshore Park Pond Provides Wildlife for Long Lens

I headed down to Burnaby's Foreshore Park over lunch today to do some shooting with my new AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm 4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR zoom lens. The pond near Nokia is a great place for dragonflies, damselflies, bees, tadpoles, frogs, and other wildlife.

First off, some bees on various flowers.

And a white butterfly/moth hiding in refracted light.

Next up several shots of dragonflies.

Some huge tadpoles, a couple of which were munching on a dead fish.

And some frogs. Close, hidden, and submarine surfacing :-).

And a lonely cattail among the reeds.

Cute Frogs, Ugly Trash in Deer Lake

We took some friends for a walk at Burnaby's beautiful Deer Lake this afternoon and were greeted by dozens of little frogs. Unfortunately, there were also some of those water bottles that supposedly rarely end up in the landfill because they are recycled. Hm. This doesn't look like a recycling centre to me!

There are at least four frogs hiding in this photo - the Dasani bottle is not so well camouflaged!

As the clouds rolled in over Metrotown up on the hill, we decided to call it a day.

Good Deal on Nikon Lens, Flash

I've had my eye on the Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 G IF-ED VRII lens for awhile now. While I'd really like the Nikkor 80-400, $1,700 or so vs $599 is a huge difference. The 70-300 would give me a 35mm equivalent of 105-450mm on my Nikon D300, a substantial stretch from my present 18-200 (35mm equivalent > 27-300mm)  glass, and great for wildlife photos. Today on my road trip I checked out the Future Shop in Medicine Hat and got a great deal.

I was also interested in getting a dedicated flash, the SB-600. I ended up walking out of the store with the 70-300 lens, the SB-600 flash, and a SB-400 demo flash thrown in for free! Plus no 5% PST in Alberta, so all told I saved over $200 compared to what the lens and two flash units would have cost me  back in BC.

Can't wait to start "shooting" birds and other wildlife with the longer lens, and learning how to use Nikon's Creative Lighting System.

Updated Nikon D300 Firmware

I'm still exploring the capabilities of my Nikon D300 DSLR little by little though I've had it for nearly a year. Lots of menu items to tinker with, settings to try.

I was cruising Nikon's website awhile back, updating some of the software that came with the camera, and was a bit surprised to find a firmware update for the camera. Then on second thought it made perfect sense -- digital cameras are to a great extent computers with dedicated processors and software programs.

The update provided a number of potential improvements, and I finally got around to installing it today. I had a moment of trepidation fooling with "the guts" of this expensive machine, but then again, I've updated BIOSes on computers that cost just as much. There were two files to update, and one worked fine, but the camera didn't want to recognize the other one. I finally got it to load by deleting the second file, leaving only the one choice on the CF card.

So I now have version 1.10 of both "A" and "B" firmware files on board.

If you have a DSLR, it might be an idea to check your maker's website for similar updates.

Bugs, Mink on Deer Lake Canoeing Afternoon

We got the canoe out for an afternoon on Burnaby's Deer Lake. It was a great day and we did three or four circuits of the small lake, often stopping in the lily pads to check out the wildlife. We saw lots of dragonflies, damselflies, moths, fish, waterfowl, and even a young mink bopping along the shore.

Metrotown towers to the southwest.

A flotilla of Canada Geese.

A dead stickleback?

Sure looks like a mink -- I had to severely crop this photo taken from a distance with my teeny Canon SD780IS - wish I'd had my S5IS or my DSLR!

Canada Day at Queen's Park, New Westminster

This year we attended Canada Day festivities at Queen's Park in neighbouring New Westminster. That's where an aunt lives, so we decided to try her 'hood. It was a great location -- bandstand surrounded by trees and greenery, and great acts.

The crowd taking in the entertainment.

The bandstand.

The Blue Meanies put on a rockin' good show.

Celebratory balloons.

Power outage in New Westminster.

The only negative to the day was a blown transformer on the street that my aunt lives on, which knocked the power out for a good part of the day. I did not know that New Westminster has its own power company!

Pre-Canada Day BBQ at White Rock

Had a great BBQ near Crescent Beach in White Rock, BC, with good friends this evening. A bit windy, but gorgeous. Nice way to get an early start on the Canada Day holiday tomorrow!

Duffey Lake Road Trip

A day trip up the coast from Vancouver past Squamish and Whistler and then along the Duffey Lake Road to Lillooet and Lytton had us up at 5:00 on Sunday morning. It turned out to be a great day, sunny, and not too hot. We stopped at several places along the way for short walks/hikes including Brandywine Falls, Nairn Falls, Duffey Lake, Seton Lake and Lytton.

Brandywine Creek

Brandywine Falls

View south to Daisy Lake from Brandywine

Yumi on the trail to Nairn Falls

Nairn Falls

Nairn Falls

Nairn Falls

Young black bear on Duffey Lake Road

Duffey Lake

Duffey Lake

Yumi at Duffey Lake

Seton Lake

Seton Lake

Seton Lake

Road toward Lillooet

Seton spawning channel

We came across a nonchalant herd of mountain goats between Lillooet and Lytton

The silty Fraser River

The clear Thompson River flows into the silty Fraser at Lytton

A crow harasses an osprey above the river lookout at Lytton

Sea, Sky, Clouds at Porteau Cove

Porteau Cove is one of my favourite spots to stop on the Sea To Sky highway from Vanvouver to Squamish and Whistler. With the sea, the mountains and the sky, there are always photo opportunities.

Balcony Berries, Baby Spiders

A few shots of baby spiders on our balcony - so cool, but I gotta admit they make my scalp crawl when they crawl :-). The raspberries and strawberries are on their way.

Manning Park, Princeton, Coquihalla Trip Yields Bluebirds, Jays

A daytrip east from Vancouver to Manning Park, Princeton, north on the 5A and back to the coast on the Coquihalla yielded some nice photographs.

Similkameen River near Manning Park Lodge.

Yumi snaps a photo of friendly ground squirrel at Lighting Lake.

Sure are cute!

Clark's Nutcracker at Lightning Lake day use area.

Taking a break at Allison Lake.

Heading north up Highway 5A.

A gorgeous mountain bluebird.

Bluebird in flight.

Bluebird perched.

Steller's Jay at Britton Creek rest area.

Canoing Fraser River at SEP 2009 Workshop

About 70 streamkeepers signed up for a canoe trip down the Fraser River to cap the SEP 2009 (BC Streamkeeper) Workshop, out of around 300 people attending. It was a gorgeous day for a paddle and we had a great time. We put in near the Mission bridge, and took out up Kanaka Creek, with a stop for lunch along the way.

The putting-in point near the Mission bridge.

Me in front, with my wife Yumi behind me, and Naomi from Campbell River.

Heading downstream.

Catching up in a bit of friendly competition...

Cool water, blue skies - a gorgeous day for a paddle.

Working up a sweat!

Looking east down one of most productive salmon rivers in the world, with Mt. Baker barely visible on the horizon.

Heading up Kanaka Creek to the landing site.

It was a great day with a fantastic outing with wonderful people. Thanks to all of the organizers and sponsors!

Cates Park, North Vancouver

We finished off our Mother's Day perambulations with a picnic followed by a trail and beach walk in Cates Park in North Vancouver.

There's not much left of the Dollar Mill except for the base of the burner.

There was quite a collection of rock-balancing sculptures - one toppled with a clatter just as I took a photo, giving me a start.

There were many starfish.

Mt. Seymour, North Van

There was still plenty of snow on Mt. Seymour in North Vancouver, but the lift was shut down.

Yumi in front of the skyline.

Paul feeling brisk in his hiking shorts and sandals.

Motorcyclist in green zapped by the sun!

Flowers, Buds, North Vancouver

Poking around near North Vancouver cemetery:

Spring Has Sprung Along Byrne Creek

More signs that spring is really here.

These are the same trilliums that I photographed on April 5. You can see how the pure white has shaded into pinks and purples.

Note: All of these shots, and the garter snake, were taken with my new ultra-compact Canon SD780IS that I first wrote about here. Still getting to know the little gizmo, but it's producing nice photos.

Morning Sunlight on Balcony Cherry Blossoms

The morning sun danced in changing patterns over the thickening cherry blossoms on the tree by our balcony. As I read the paper by the window, I kept jumping up and going out to take more photos as the light changed.

Burnaby Mountain Cherry Blossoms

It's been a strange year for cherry blossoms with the cold winter and spring, but there were some nice views on Burnaby Mountain.

Canon SD780IS

I bought a Canon SD780IS ultra-compact digital camera today on sale at NCIX in Burnaby. I like having a pocket camera in addition to my Canon S5IS superzoom and my Nikon DSLR -- something that I can carry all the time without it getting in the way.

I wrote about my previous ultra-compact, the Canon SD400, here, and about how it finally died with a psychedelic screen of death here.

There have been significant advances in technology in the over three years between the SD400 and the SD780IS. The resolution has increased from 5MP to 12MP, but that's rather bogus on such a tiny sensor -- I've got the SD780IS set at 8MP, which will be plenty. The 780 has a larger LCD screen: 2.5" vs 2" -- many newer cameras have 3" screens, but that takes you out of the ultra-compact category. The "brains" of the camera have improved significantly as well with the Digic 4 processor, adding features such as face recognition, contrast correction, less shutter lag, 720P HD movie capture, etc. Other useful features include image stabilization, which the SD400 lacked, plus a higher ISO range.

The SD780IS is about the same size as the tiny SD400, and is even thinner. Here's a shot of the two side by side. I like the black finish on the 780 -- it's a bit classier and more unobtrusive than the silver SD400:

A few shots taken with the SD780IS. Tomorrow I'll take it for a walk along the creek and to a social event.

Choco the cat: not bad for such strong backlight with no fill-flash or exposure compensation.

Macro shot of sunflower seed sprouting on our balcony.

Yumi snapped a couple of shots of me in my office -- with flash...

... and without flash

Coho Fry Identified in Byrne Creek

Yumi managed to net a couple of fry in Byrne Creek today. To the best of our knowledge they are coho: sickle-shaped dorsal and anal fins with leading white/black rays, distinct parr marks, orange-tinged caudal, anal and adipose fins...

Definitely not chum, and do not have the white dorsal tip of cutthroat fry, and dorsal/anal fins definitely sickle-shaped, which cuts do not have...

NOTE: It is illegal to net fry and streamkeepers do so with the permission of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for ID purposes only. Fry are returned unharmed to the creek.

Spring in Southeast Burnaby

Here are a few more spring photos from around Ron McLean Park in southeast Burnaby:

Red-Tailed Hawk in Byrne Creek Ravine

Nice to see a red-tailed hawk in Burnaby's Byrne Creek ravine today.

Great to See Bees A-Buzzin'

White Rock Beach Walk

A beautiful sunny day found us strolling along the beach at White Rock.

Surf scoters

Snowy Rice Lake

Rice Lake on Vancouver's north shore was still covered with ice and snow on the last weekend of March. It was a bright day, and we enjoyed the short ramble through the woods.

It's an easy trail through the wonderful forest.

A reflecting pool in the woods.

Yumi checking annual rings on a stump.

Leaf embedded in the icy lake.

New growth pushes up through last autumn's dead leaves.

Tiny shoots sprout from a mossy log.

Pockets of snow in the forest.

Salmonid Fry Spotted in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I saw salmonid fry in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby, BC, today. After checking ID books against the photos we took, they appear to be chum salmon fry.

It's always exciting to see fry in this urban creek, and know that the few salmon that came back the previous autumn were successful in spawning and creating a new generation.

Rainy Byrne Creek

I had to get outside despite the rain and shake my afternoon drowsiness. Byrne Creek was running high and dirty, but there were some beautiful scenes. I saw some varied thrushes -- a male and a female hanging out together -- on the ravine path, and some red-winged blackbirds at the overflow pond. Unfortunately my bird photos were all blurry today because of the low light in the woods. My Canon S5IS does not perform that well in such conditions and I didn't want to carry my DSLR in the rain.

Byrne Creek with high, dirty flow in the rain.

A mossy tree - I didn't realize there were raindrops on the lens until I viewed the photos at home!

Signs of Spring at New Westminster Quay

A stroll along the New Westminster Quay revealed a few signs of spring on a lovely day.

Canon SD400 Psychedelic Screen of Death

Walking through the park this morning I came across some lovely frost on grass and leaves. I pulled out my omni-present Canon SD400 teeny weeny digital camera, only to find the LCD screen had died -- now all it shows is a psychedelic pattern.

Sigh. It was a great little camera. It was extremely portable and easy to use, with good quality. The only drawbacks were the lack of an image stabilizer and poor performance in low light. I carried it around in shirt pockets, coat pockets, belt packs, and briefcases for years, so I certainly got my money's worth out of it.

I think I'll go Canon again for an ultra-portable camera, though Olympus has some interesting models that are shock and water resistant...

Byrne Creek Fry Search

Fry have been found already in some Burnaby creeks, so Yumi and I checked out parts of Byrne Creek today. While we didn't spot any baby salmon yet, it was a lovely day to be down by the gurgling waters.

Yumi checking the creek for fry.

Some lovely fungus growing on a fallen tree.

Death scene. Feathers trailing down a tall cedar and spread on the ground...

There were over a dozen bald eagles soaring above the ravine.

I wonder if the above feathers were remnants of an eagle lunch...

Lonely Tree Perseveres in Stark Prairie Beauty

Months have gone by since my BC, AB, SK, MB road trip last autumn and I have yet to post any photos on my blog.

Here's a lonely, yet uplifiting tree in southern Saskatchewan to get things going.

Birding Bonanza at Reifel Sanctuary

Yumi and I spent three hours ambling around the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC this morning. We had a great time, and I took 572 shots with my Nikon D300... Yikes! When I got home I winnowed that down by about half.

Got some good shots of lots of different species of birds, and today was a sandhill crane special -- to our surprise they were even eating out of people's hands! Not sure if it's such a great idea to get them that acclimatized to humans...

Ocean view from the sanctuary.

Walking along one of the dikes.

Swans in foreground against the north shore mountains.

The first of several shots of sandhill cranes.

You can see grains of wheat in this one's beak.

Head closeup with eyelid open... next shot same bird, eyelid closed.

Eyelid closed.

Eagle.

Cooper's Hawk (?) hunting the marsh.

Female mallard walking on ice.

Male mallard.

Female mallard eating grain.

American coot.

I believe this is a ring-necked duck.

Northern pintail.

Red-winged blackbirds mobbing a feeder.

A closer look at a blackbird.

This towhee appeared to be injured or ill.

What's a bunch of birds without a pigeon?

Yumi tempting chickadees with sunflower seeds and chopped walnuts.

A chickadee lands on Yumi's hand.

And one snags a sunflower seed.

Here's a little cutie... I'm still terrible at IDing these small ones...

And a closing shot of the lovely surroundings.

Cool NFB Streaming Video Website

The National Film Board has a new streaming video website to which they've posted many NFB films from over the decades.

You can search by category. For example, under "environment", I found this 1975 salmon migration and spawning documentary.

You can also search by keyword, and a few that I found useful as a streamkeeper are "salmon," "fish," "fishing," and "fisheries."

Once you're watching a film, lists of related films pop up.

Very cool! Potentially hugely time-wasting, er, I mean educational.

Yikes! As I watch the above salmon movie, it's bringing up issues that we're still nattering about nearly 35 years later...

You could spend hours deconstructing these films. For example, in the 1949 film Red Runs the Fraser, there was no mention that the slides that blocked fish passage in the Fraser River at Hell's Gate were caused by railway construction.

Byrne Creek Patrol Jan. 18, 2009

Yumi and I walked the ravine portion of Byrne Creek this afternoon for the first time in over a week. As we suspected, there was some significant erosion following the melting of the heavy snow we've had over the last few weeks.

Heading down the stairs into the ravine.

Tree fallen into creek at eroded bank.

A closer view.

Wild looking fungus on a fallen log.

Misty Burnaby Lake Wildfowl

Following the wildlife tree workshop, Yumi and I spent some time on Piper Spit enjoying the spooky view of Burnaby Lake in the mist, and the variety of ducks and geese.

Eagle in the mist.

Photographer on the spit in the mist.

Another view...

A kaleidoscope of ducks and geese.

A stylish wood duck couple.

Yumi and Canada Goose ogle each other.

From the end of the spit the shore was barely visible in the mist.

Testing Photo Posting With ScribeFire

Let's try posting a photo with ScribeFire. I'm having some trouble doing this....



OK, that finally seemed to work after I configured the FTP settings to my blog...

Except I don't see any way to add a border to the photo without going into editing the tag manually...

ScribeFire also seems to be doing something strange with paragraphs -- rather than using "p" tags it's using double "br" tags...

Snow Falling on Byrne Creek

It's still snowing in Burnaby, making for an enchanting walk around Byrne Creek this afternoon.

Heron in the snowy creek.

Yumi on the creek trail.

Paul on the creek trail.

Paul and Yumi on the footbridge.

Eagles on Squamish, Cheakamus Rivers

Thousands of eagles gather every winter along the Squamish, Cheakamus and Mamquam rivers in the vicinity of Squamish and Brackendale, BC. This year's count was way down, and there were few to be seen at Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park. Yumi and I got up close to some of these magnificent raptors near the Tenderfoot Hatchery.

Along the Squamish River.

A kingfisher along the road to the hatchery.

Bald eagle surveying the countryside.

Entrance to the hatchery.

This eagle was ringed by photographers but took the paparazzi in stride.

Yumi getting closer to the blase bird in the photo above.

Raptor working on what appeared to be a coho salmon carcass.

Large salmon carcass framed by chain-link fence.

There were at least six sated eagles resting in this tree.

Snow Sledding in Ron McLean Park

With work off at noon on Dec. 24, Yumi decided she wanted to try tobogganing in Ron McLean Park. The catch was we have no sled or toboggan, but we had a coated sheet of cardboard in the garage, and a piece of rope and a couple of holes later -- voila!

The snow was coming down hard, and it was already knee-deep in the park.

Yumi getting set on her "sled."

Heading down the modest hill.

And slogging back up the hill...

With my bad back, I took photos, and gave Yumi pushes to boost her speed... No bouncing around for me!

As people got home from work, more families joined in the fun.

Heading home into our townhouse complex.

Snow Accumulates in Burnaby

The snow kept coming overnight and there was a fresh accumulation of ten to 15cm this morning, so I went out at 6:45 a.m. to shovel. I cleared the path in front of our section of townhouse units, and the trail to the back gate, but the road can wait for the contractor to show up with his truck! I wonder if people who need to drive to work are making it out...

Yumi heading off to work.

You can see the accumulation on our balcony.

The total must be up to around 25-35cm by now with the previous snow. Not much for my Saskatchewan roots, or up the valley toward the mountains, or in the interior, but it's enough to cause huge problems here.

Choco, our indoor cat, was amused for about 30 seconds...

Snow doughnut, with icing sugar piling up beneath the hole :-).

The sun comes up, highlighting the snow.

Clearing Snow in Burnaby

It's snowing again in Burnaby, BC, so it looks like we may have a White Christmas if it doesn't melt. The forecast is for cold weather for a few more days...

Paul with the shovel.

Yumi following up with the broom.

Snowy Deer Lake Walk

Deer Lake in Burnaby was covered with ice and snow this weekend. Yumi and I walked the completed trail that now goes all the way around the lake. It was -8C to -10C and I was happy to find that my Nikon DSLR stood up fine to the cold for the hour-long ramble.

Gulls on the swings at the beach.

Yumi with ducks congregating in the only open water near the beach.

A gateway to the new "official" trail on the south shore.

Yumi edging her way onto the ice. More adventurous, or foolhardy, souls were skating on the lake despite the warning signs saying not to.

Deer Lake has numerous streams running into it that can undermine the ice, and temperatures rarely get cold enough, long enough, for safe skating. Thereby the prohibition...

Me bundled up on the shore.

The Shadbolt Centre across the frozen lake.

Puffed up against the cold.

Circling the west end of the lake on the boardwalk.

A hardy heron.

A semi-frozen stream enters the lake.

Snow Scenes Around Byrne Creek

It was fun crunching through the recent snow taking photos along Byrne Creek this afternoon.

It's actually a heron, but I like to call this "Two Cranes" :-)

Female Chum Awaits Death in Byrne Creek

This female chum salmon was quietly awaiting death in a calm pool in Byrne Creek this morning. Her spawning mission accomplished, her life's purpose was done. In her deteriorating state she appeared to have gone blind, as she didn't react to my looming shape, but when I stepped in the water she sensed the movement, her shallow breathing accelerated, and she stirred her body -- battered from digging a nest for her eggs in the gravel. I snapped a quick photo and left her in peace.

Chum Spawn in Byrne Creek

Chum salmon have been returning to Burnaby's Byrne Creek over the last couple of weeks. You can check out the website for updated information on numbers as streamkeepers monitor the run.

I took a video of a few spawners today and posted it on You Tube -- my first YT contribution. The quality is not the greatest as I shot it with a digital camera, not a video camera, and I'm still experimenting with editing and processing techniques.

Calgary to Waterton to Lethbridge

I left my cousin's place on an acreage west of Calgary this morning and zipped into the city to drop off a package for a friend. Mission accomplished, I backtracked west on the No. 1 -- and ran into a near whiteout of a snowstorm! Groan. Just what I needed after two days of rain.

I persevered, heading south down the 22, and within half an hour the skies cleared, the sun came out, and I enjoyed a wonderful drive through the beautiful, rolling, ranch country with the mountains to the west. As I cruised south, view upon view pulled me to the side of the road to shoot photos. The silvers, yellows, browns and golds of the autumn landscape were amazing, with the blue, purple and gray backdrop of the distant mountains, and the white clouds scudding across the vast, azure, western sky!

When I hit the No. 3, I backtracked west to visit the Frank Slide, then it was east again on the No. 3 and then south on the No. 6 to Waterton National Park.

I arrived in Waterton to find the village literally boarded up for the season and just a few hardy tourists wandering around. The townsite was full of deer. The countryside was gorgeous and I took a pile of photos. I had not visited Waterton in over 30 years, and the short sojurn today sparked weak memories, at best. But I vowed to bring my wife Yumi to Waterton in the spring, or next autumn, to make fresh memories together.

I left Waterton reluctantly, as fragile fragments of camping in the park as a kid with my family began to form and tease over the intervening decades... Were we driving the Rambler? Did we have that huge, heavy, yellow and brown canvas tent?

It was time to head onward into the future again...

I took the No. 5 north and east to Lethbridge. I ran into another line of windmills, about 20 or so, not as many as the dozens along the No. 3... I wonder how much of Alberta's electricity comes from the wind?

Today made up for the last two days of non-stop rain. I loved cruising along the nearly deserted roads at 10 - 20kph below the limit and pulling over whenever I felt like it to drink in the views and frame a few shots.

Sorry, the photos will have to wait until I get home in about ten days -- I don't have the gear and software to get them onto this ancient notebook computer that I'm using....

Pitt, Hayward Lakes

The Thanksgiving long weekend provided an opportunity to get out of town a bit and take some photos.

Pitt Lake

Pitt-Addington reserve dike trail.

Trail near Hayward Lake.

Autumn Signs Along Byrne Creek

A ramble down the Byrne Creek ravine revealed signs of autumn, though a holdout garter snake proved it wasn't too cold yet.

An empty bench in Ron McLean Park invites contemplation of changing colours.

The return of an American Dipper to the creek is a sure sign of the impending arrival of spawning salmon.

These bouncy little birds love to dive under the water for salmon eggs.

Not the best shot of a garter snake -- but I was happy to see they were still enjoying a bit of sun as the cold comes on...

Rivers Day 2008

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers had a booth up at Rivers Day on the BCIT campus in Burnaby today. It was a gorgeous day with lots to see and do.

Hanging a temporary Stream of Dreams mural for the event.

Byrne Creek display.

Rivers Day founder Mark Angelo and BC Environment Minister Barry Penner.

VIPs release cutthroat trout into Guichon Creek.

A curious ball of fluff watches the activities.

Mother Raccoon, Kit Killed on Burnaby's Southridge Dr.

A mother raccoon and a kit were killed by a vehicle on Southridge Dr. in southeast Burnaby recently. I came across their carcasses at the side of the road today. Thanks to the kind soul who moved them off the bloody pavement and placed them side by side on the grass.

It's high time people slowed down on Southridge -- the speed limit is 50kph but I'd say the average speed is around 70, with speeds of 80 and more not uncommon. It's a wide, four-lane road, but that is no excuse. When I drive the road I feel that I'm obstructing traffic if I'm moving at less than 60-65, and I am passed regularly at that speed. I often walk sections of the road and despite the wide sidewalks, find the roaring trucks, zooming cars, and screaming motorcycles intimidating at times. It would take only a split-second of distraction for a driver doing 70 or 80 to hop the curb and mow down a pedestrian.

I was going to use the headline "Mother, Child Killed on Southridge Speedway" but felt that would be too sensationalistic.

Yet it was a mother and her child...

But I guess we won't care until it is a Homo sapiens mother and child lying at the side of the road.

And perhaps not even then.

Life in the fast lane, eh?

Canoeing, Camping Lightning Lake

We finally got away for our first camping trip this year! I'm zonked so I'll add to this later, but here are a few photos....

Osprey on a perch.

Osprey in flight.

Loon in the morning mist.

The above shots were taken hand-held in a moving canoe at my Canon S5 IS's maximum telephoto of 432mm (35mm equivalent). Not bad, though I wouldn't want to blow them up to 8 X 10s :-). They were taken within about 30 minutes of each other, showing how fast the light can change in the morning in the mountains.

Byrne Creek Foliage

A refreshing walk along Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby...

Alternative Sidewalk in White Rock

I ran across a SEA (street edge alternative) street in White Rock today, but on taking a closer look, it appeared to be more of an alternative sidewalk. SEA streets do away with curbs and gutters, and replace them with vegetated swales to reduce the impact of rain into storm drain systems and filter out pollution. This street had small swales but it still had a curb... Hmm... There were openings cut into the curb here and there, with small guides to let street runoff in, but I don't think they would accomplish much.

As you can see, the regular storm drain is still in place, and the teeny street diversion would not move much water into the swale.

I'm not an engineer, and I'm scratching my head on this one :-). Most such projects attempt to capture the polluted water from streets... Not nearly as much pollution on the sidewalks...

Canoeing Deer Lake

We didn't get away this Labour Day weekend, but today we did at least get the canoe over to Deer Lake, just a ten-minute drive from our place in Burnaby. As we were paddling along something was bothering me, and it wasn't until we got to the far end that I figured it out -- we'd forgotten our life jackets! Dangerous and illegal....

We got back to the beach, and I zipped home to pick up the jackets. Then we did two more laps of the small lake -- I guess it was good we hadn't gone too far from home :-).

The lillies were covered with thousands of little insects.

Byrne Creek Sediment Pond Profiling

The sediment pond upstream of the Byrne Creek artificial spawning habitat is to be cleaned out next week, and streamkeepers decided to do a depth profile of the accumulated silt and gravel, so that we can learn how fast the pond fills after it's been cleaned.

Streamkeeper John W. told me about a method using a transverse line knotted at 1-meter intervals, from which a weighted line is dropped with tabs at 10cm intervals. The method worked like a charm; however, my wife Yumi had to go through some contortions to anchor the line on the side of the pond with a lot of growth next to it!

Yumi setting up the ropes.

Me checking out the drop line.

Streamkeeper John G. helps collect data.

Yumi burrowing through the bush.

Whistler, Lillooet, Lytton Loop

Itchy feet and an itchy trigger finger put me on the road today to get out into the mountains and shoot some photos. I went north up the 99 to Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, carried on past Duffey Lake and over to Lillooet. Then it was back south to Lytton, Hope, and home to Burnaby. It never ceases to amaze me how varied the landscape is in BC, and how quickly you can transition from one ecological zone to another. The weather also changes by the hour as you travel, and today I encountered everything from hot sun to torrential rain.

On the 99 north.

Near the Joffre Lakes parking lot.

Near the Joffre Lakes parking lot.

Cayoosh Creek.

Duffey Lake.

Setton Lake, just west of Lillooet.

I've stopped at this spot perhaps four or five times over the last ten years, and I have never seen this lake calm. Powerful winds funnel down between the mountains, raising whitecaps and making boats tied to the dock buck like broncos mad at being tethered.

Heading south on highway 12.

North of Lytton.

Spider Lunches On Fly

This spider had already wrapped up this fly on our balcony when I came across the scene. The spider withdrew at my presence, but when it figured I wasn't a threat, it descended back onto the fly to continue its lunch.

Taken with my new Nikon D300 with the 18-200 zoom at its maximum of 200mm. Shots taken at various ISOs from 200 - 800, resulting in exposures of around 1/250 at F stops of 6.3 - 9. The difference in background colours resulted from using the flash in some shots.

Nikon D300

I've added a Nikon D300 with a Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200mm zoom (27-300mm equivalent on a 35mm camera) to my arsenal. It was a major, and expensive, step to get back into SLR photography after over a decade of sticking to digital point-and-shoot cameras. The D300 is a big, heavy beast, but a DSLR has much greater potential creative control and image quality. It'll be fun going through the manual and playing around with all the menus and functions!

I have several old 35mm film Nikons and a bunch of Nikkor lenses that are basically worthless now -- no trade-in value at all, though I paid several thousand dollars for the gear (in mid-1970s to early 1980s dollars!). While these old, magnificent, optics can still be used on high-end digital Nikons like the D300, it's a bit of a hassle, and when you have a super-zoom that pretty much covers the range of four or five of the old lenses....

But I guess it all worked out -- though I've never been a professional photographer, I made enough money using that old equipment to pay for it, and I hope to do the same with the big investment in the D300 and lens...

The "worthless" collection...

The hefty new D300.

Byrne Creek Walk

I was pleased to see many fish in the sediment pond in the Byrne Creek spawning habitat today. They ranged in size from a few centimeters to around 25 cm, and were likely this year's coho and cutthroat fry, along with larger cutthroat trout.

A dragonfly on a blackberry.

I love seeing bees, particularly as they seem to be on the decline.

I've cropped the same shot very tight so you can see the pollen on its head.

A waxwing -- they look so cute, like little punk-rocker Robin Hoods :-).

Deer Lake Sunset From Baldwin House

The Stream of Dreams Murals Society rented the Baldwin House on Deer Lake to put up some out-of-town program teams that are attending a workshop this weekend.

We had a spectacular sunset from the Arthur Erickson-designed house overlooking the lake.

Remembrance Day Poppy Changes

Going through boxes of old stuff the other day I ran across a Canadian Remembrance Day poppy that must date from the early 1960s, judging by the rest of the mementos. I was surprised at how much smaller it was than recent poppies.

Streamkeepers Tackle Invasive Plants

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers tackled masses of invasive plants that had overwhelmed native plants and trees planted by the City of Burnaby on the sides of the access ramp to the creek off Southridge Dr. Unfortunately, the City has no invasive species plan or coordinator, or apparently any budget to maintain what it has planted.

Streamkeepers to the rescue!

Thirteen volunteers put in a total of 32.5 hours this morning unearthing conifers, ferns, salmonberry, and other native plants from the clutches of Himalayan Blackberry, Morning Glory, English Ivy, and Scotch Broom. We filled two heaping truckloads of invasive plants and took them to the City's recycling centre on Still Creek.

One of the areas we worked on. It was so overgrown that these conifers were not even visible. As we cut down 2-meter high blackberry we came across more stunted trees.

Hauling the invasive plants up the ramp.

Filling the truck.

New Edmonds Library Groundbreaking

The City of Burnaby held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new public library that is being built in the Edmonds area. The new library is part of the impressive revitalization of the Edmonds area that has been underway for several years now, and that will continue with many more projects including a new community centre and public swimming pool.

The Edmonds area was home to Burnaby's first City Hall, but has gone through a few challenging decades. The City, developers, businesses, the RCMP, and community groups have been doing a great job at turning things around.

L-R: Councillor Dan Johnston, Mayor Derek Corrigan, Library Board Chair Ruth Hardy.

Sorry, I didn't catch the name of the RCMP constable...

The Library Board in no particular order: Ruth Hardy (Chair), Gary Wong (Vice Chair), Andy Chiang, Iqbal Dhanani, Linda Eaves, Ernest Maitland, Karen Purdy, Mondee Redman.

L-R: MLA Harry Bloy, Councillors Garth Evans, Nick Volkow, Dan Johnston, Gary Begin.

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