The salmon are back in Surrey!!

When the Sockeye returned to Adams River in numbers not seen in 100 years I had to go check Tynehead Park to see if any salmon had made it there yet. There where none. But this was last week. This week they are plentiful, and after speaking with a parks official I discovered it is not sockeye but rather Chum and Herring that made a return to Surrey's Serpentine River.

In the past I have seen Salmon swimming upstream and spawning, but I had never seen their capabilities in navigating a trying section or overcoming small waterfalls. Well, yesterday I did, and it was truly amazing if not inspiring. Unfortunately is was raining (which explained why there was so many yesterday) so I could not take many photos or set up the tripod; nonetheless I captured a few images worth posting:


This old girl is over two feet long and was desperately trying to get the drive needed to overcome rocks twice her size.




It was intense as she pushed and thrashed in minimal water while surly not getting the oxygen needed, only to be defeated due to her decision to enter such a shallow part of the stream.



Here she rests in exhaustion before moving on to the deeper parts. To her dismay, the deeper parts are at most a few more inches. She's lucky if she finds an area where water can completely fill her gills. The hell she is going through for the sake of propagating her genes is beyond remarkable.