Bursts of speed

It's crazy how well salmon can thrash through shallow water. Sometimes they have to thrash over 12 feet of water so shallow their bellies are raking the riverbed.

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.

Freedom of mind patterns...

The morning a hawk ate a sparrow on my fence:

Turns out this young Cooper's Hawk is built for agile maneuvers and has been known to grab small birds off backyards feeders. Unfortunately I didn't see it strike, but I noticed the commotion and grapped my camera in time to see a few snack bites. I was stoked.

-Why is that ferry cruisin down Number 8 Road?

...Oh that's right, the Fraser River's over there.

-So why is there a Ferry in the Fraser River?
...Hmm, good question.

Riding at 8 Road

Two more Wood Ducks and a Song Sparrow

A pair of the always photogenic Wood Ducks

Fall at Burnaby Lake

I found this pumpkin on the tracks and thought it needed a good pose.

A few from the last time I was in the sweet sweet place of Tofino

"Fake it to make it"

Apparently this applies to laughter as well:



...one image that always makes me laugh is this one:


That was in BC's coastal mountains north of Pemberton. We had stopped for lunch during our hike and built a makeshift bench on the edge of the steep decline where Chris continually threw rocks down. For the record, all facial reactions are real.

Wacky Mystery Bug

This slick little guy has perplexed me for a while now; he somehow has managed to elude BC's Book of Garden Bugs and I've yet to discover his identity. He lived on the leaves of the Moonshadows (a sunflower variation) I grew and has little wings tucked under his back... if you know what he is I'd be curious to know!

"Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts."

*quote by French moralist Marquis De Vauvenargues

Just relax and chill.

Some of Burnaby Lake's amazing waterfowl

Yup, some ducks even chill in trees! I'd never heard of this till I encountered the the most beautiful of all ducks: the Wood Duck.



I'm still not sure what type of Sandpipers these are, but the bathing one in the foreground has sure nailed his 'bathing backroll'.


And this relaxed male is a Green-Winged Teal... He looks kinda creepy cause I caught him drifting off for a late afternoon nap.