Brunette River

A trip to the pseudo-marsh

We just had one of those fun atmospheric rivers come through the area, and they always live up to the name, dumping huge amounts of water before moving on.

This afternoon I made a trip with my camera to Lower Hume Park and found the field to be squishy, muddy, and very marsh-like. There were ducks.

And seagulls and crows. And up top, some golden-crowned sparrows and several elusive juncos. The light was not great, but I got a few decent shots (I’ll post more later). Here’s a crow I shot on the way back home:

As the crow perches.

And a shot of the still very high Brunette River:

Whoever is in that tent is pushing their luck.

A few shots after the Friday, November 10, 2023 windstorm

We had a windstorm blow through the area (as windstorms do) on the night of November 10th, a few days ago as I write this.

I went birding the next day and captured a few shots of the destruction while walking down the Brunette River trail.

First, the pretty. The wind yoinked a bunch of leaves off the trees, making the trail resplendent in fall colours:

A jogger in red heads down the yellow leaf road

And the destruction. This was the largest piece of debris on the river trail I saw, and definitely not something you would want clobbering you on the head at 70-90 km/h:

This was right near the entrance off North Road, so I saw the worst right up front

This rare non-run day shot from the top of the Cariboo Dam shows that the morning after the storm was actually pretty decent:

All quiet now, save for the mad dashing of squirrels gathering food for winter

Birding (mini), November 5, 2023: A quick trip along the river

Where: Lower Hume Park (New Westminster), Brunette River Conservation Area (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy, 12°C

The Outing

I didn’t want to spend all day cooped up inside and the weather was better than expected, so with the usual Saturday birding cancelled, I decided to head out for a mini-birding trip along the Brunette River today. My unofficial goal was to shoot a heron.

And I did!

I also shot fall scenery, some mallards, crows and a surprise hooded merganser.

I almost shot a black squirrel, but the light was very bad. The light in general was very bad, so the photos are a bit grainy. I might try fiddling with settings more, because it’s probably going to be a long, grainy winter.

In all, a quick outing, but with better-than-expected results in the bird department.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • None!

Waterfowl:

  • Great blue heron
  • Hooded merganser
  • Mallard

Common:

  • American crow
  • Seagull (seen but not captured)

Raptors:

  • None!

Non-birds:

  • Black squirrel

Walk 101: Put one foot ahead of the other and repeat

Reflections in the pond, Brunette River trail

I would normally run on a Friday but due to the Xtreme™ run on Wednesday, I decided to alter my run schedule and give myself a little more time off before running again, as my knees are feeling the effects of the 7.5 km run. They’re not exploding or anything, I am just being cautious. I am tentatively planning on running on Sunday, which gives me three days of non-running.

Today I walked to the lake and back. The weather was sunny and pleasantly warm. Curiously, my pace on the return route was a fair bit faster, with two km coming in under the 9-minute mark. I have no real explanation for this.

But it was nice, and I was listening to Hall & Oates, who are collectively probably 300 years old now. But they rocked my socks between 1980-84, and they still rock them even today (except for “Open All Night” which has perhaps the most cringeworthy lyrics ever in a Hall & Oates song).

Rather than split the walk in two, I’ve just smooshed in both sets of stats below.

Stats:

Walk 101
Average pace: 9:24/km and 9:06/km
Location: Brunette River trail/Burnaby Lake
Distance: 4.03 and 4.03 km
Time: 37:53 and 36:38
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21 °C
Humidity: 57%
Wind: light
BPM: 107 and 109
Weight: 167.1 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 754.44 km

Brunette River, October 5, 2023

A few shots around the Brunette River, taken in late afternoon light at Lower Hume Park.

Mirror-like reflections and an apparently abandoned beaver dam
Looking to the north, fall colours coming in

And a bonus heron. It left before I could get a closer shot, alas.