Hoy Scott Watershed Society

Coquitlam R. Cleanup and hatchery update

2012-01-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

Please join others at Riverside Fly & Tackle for the Coquitlam R. clean-up February 5, 2012 10am-3pm (come out to help for whatever time you can spare - the more volunteers the better!). More details: http://rsfat.com/upcoming-events/

We ended up the season in December having filled 6 of 7 trays for over 30,000 green eggs. The first 2 trays of eggs are now eyed. The final brood stock report is still pending however the last 2 years for coho returns were much better than 2009 and 2008!

Trays #6, #7 now full too!

2011-12-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

We are now incubating over 34,000 eggs. Most recently, we'd harvested eggs from 2 females fertilized by 2 males. 1 more tray is free and we've now surpassed the green eggs harvested from last year.

Trays #4, #5 are now full

2011-12-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

Maurice had conducted an egg take today and had harvested 11,700 eggs which were split across the 2 trays. They were taken from 4f and 4m.

SNAP photos from Salmon Come Home

2011-12-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

SNAP Coquitlam has posted photos to the following site: http://www.snapcoquitlam.com/?option=com_sngevents&id%5B%5D=332440&utm_source=email&utm_medium=snapd

Tray #3 is now full

2011-12-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

Spawned 2F and 5M for ~ 5300 eggs. Expecting still more fish to come. There have been good #'s spotted in Hoy Creek.
Streamkeeper volunteers will be restore 3 sites along Hoy Creek trail north of the hatchery Friday, December 2.

We are now incubating coho eggs!

2011-11-10T20:58:00.000-08:00

Today, we'd harvested 6100 eggs from 3 females fertilized by 3 males. Hopefully this is a good sign of more broodstock arrival to come!

Coho continuing to show up at the fish trap

2011-11-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

After about a 10 day absence of coho at the trap, we have now had 5 show up in the trap including 1 female, 1 male and 3 coho jack males. They are arriving in quantity this year at about the same time as last year. Hopefully, this is a good sign of more fish to arrive in the coming few weeks! Hoping the forecasted rains early this coming week will bring more fish in.

The bridge south of the hatchery building has been showing plenty of chum. We'd spotted over 2 dozen chum in around the bridge area.

Chinook salmon having been showing up in Hoy Creek

2011-10-31T06:12:00.001-07:00

During the past week, we've had 2 female chinooks and 2 chinook jacks pass through our fish trap. There are good numbers of chum throughout the creek at present as well. This is a great time to be viewing the salmon. Best spots continue to be the many bridges that cross the stream along Hoy Creek trail.

Another female coho captured!

2011-10-26T20:29:00.001-07:00

That makes it 2. Also have another fish which maybe a coho jack male but we need some further confirmation of that id. Bottom line - our fish trap is working well and the coho have started to return!

First coho brood stock captured!

2011-10-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Coho have started to return to Hoy Creek. We now have a nice silver female. Hopefully there'll be more to join her soon!

Salmon Come Home

2011-10-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day yesterday! The weather was beautiful, the salmon in the creek and a crowd in excess of 1,000 people attending the 19th annual Salmon Come Home festival. Pictures are being compiled and will be posted in the coming week. Thanks to Caresse Selk for coordinating the event. Also thanks to the many volunteers both from our Society and the public as well as the many exhibitors that helped make the day such a success!

Coquitlam Now Photo Gallery
Tri-City News, Something fishy at Hoy Creek

Salmon are now in the creek!

2011-10-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Pink and chum salmon have been spotted in Hoy Creek. The water level is quite low however with the forecasted, weekend rains, this should bring more fish into the creek. Mid October through until early/November are prime viewing times for viewing salmon in the creek. Remember, when viewing the salmon, the best places are on the various bridges and railings along Hoy Creek trail.
Please:
- Stay out of the creek: salmon are spawning and the river bed in the creek may have eggs in them. Keep pets out of the creek as well.
- Stay on marked trails. Traffic out to the stream bed damages native plants and can further erode the habitat.
- If you do travel along the streambank to view salmon, be careful of undercut banks along the streambed. An undercut bank is eroded and may fall away if a person stands on top causing the bank to fall away and the person stepping on it into the creek!

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

2011-09-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

30 people including Society volunteers (Linda, Tasha, Dhanvir, Omar and Rodney), Audrey, Mohan as well Mike Nutter, Dawn Beavon and staff from Hatch (www.hatch.ca) executed a Shoreline cleanup in conjunction with National Shoreline Cleanup week on the Hoy Creek trails. In total, the group recovered 199 lbs of garbage from the trails surrounding the creek.

Congratulations to all those participating and special thanks to Mike and Dawn for initiating and planning this event!

Maple Creek fish kill

2011-08-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Maple creek had a fish kill on Wednesday August 10.2011

Club President Sandy Budd and Charter Member Connie Boulos discovered the 300 dead coho and promptly reported it to Fisheries and Oceans Canada Observe, Record and Report Line 604 666-3500

Sandy, always handy with her camera took pictures to back up her report to DFO

Fisheries Officers have contacted the group and are investigating.

This is a great time to remind people that everything that goes on the road or down the stormdrain goes directly, unfiltered, into the creek. This includes everything from the soap you wash your car or house with to the toxic soup that results from s house fire, so be thoughtful and consider the unintended impacts of your home and vehicle maintenance.

Watershed Plan

2011-08-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

The City's Engineering Committee; has finally finished their draft report: Scott Creek Integrated Watershed Management Plan,(SCIWMP); it will go to council, and then a date will be set (apparently in the Fall) for the general public to have their say at a public meeting. Tri-City News article: City has plans to help Scott Creek watershed

Download the April, 2010, Draft report as a PDF (76MB) from Google docs.

The City is also providing me with a hard-copy for our files; and two copies have been sent to the local libraries; after I asked them kindly.

Fish weight sample planned for August 1

2011-07-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hatchery volunteers will be conducting a weight sample of the Coho fry August 1 at 8am.

Weed Pull - Friday, July 1

2011-07-01T20:03:00.001-07:00

Happy Canada Day!

Earl, Meris, Tasha and Rodney spent an hour trimming the Japanese knotweed to maintain the sites in and around the hatchery area. The group will be continuning this maintenance work throughout the year.

Weed Pull - Saturday, June 11th

2011-06-15T08:21:00.001-07:00

Linda, Earl, Rodney and Eileen were out on Saturday and were maintaining the sites north of the hatchery along the Hoy Creek trail. The group had continued to pull out blackberry from the sites initiated earlier in the year. The group also pulled policeman's helmet. The group will be considering further weed pulls through the summer with more info to be posted with the latest being a further weed pull in September.

Rearing Pond

2011-06-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Five bags of cement and a sheet of plywood later, the Rearing pond, has some of its numerous leaks patched, somewhere in the future this pond will be properly fixed. We now have an estimated 6,000 fry in the pond, and they are looking very healthy, and happy to have so much space to explore.
The Outside Pond, I have rebuilt the weirs, using plywood, somewhere in the future this area will also need a more permanent fix, to slow the leaks down, and make maintenance a lot easier.
I lowered the Outside Pond weirs, by one-inch, and shoveled out some of the sludge, and piled it up in an area with a major leak; it appears to have worked ! So far. The sun screens are installed, so the fish will not need to go shopping for some sunscreen.

Robins nest

2011-06-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Occasionally a robin nests on top of one of the outside lights; I first noticed this years nest in the middle of May; now they are hatched, and the mother is busy feeding them, they are growing fast!

May 16: four nice eggs

The mother

June 8: Four hungry mouths to feed

Good luck ! Something to really "Tweet" about.

Other streamkeepers

2011-06-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

A fellow streamkeeping volunteer; Robert "Bob" Bridgeman, of the
Friends of Mount Douglas Park Society,
being interviewed: Part I --- Part II (Youtube videos)
Bob has been active in streamkeeping for many years.

Fry deposited to Upper Hoy and Upper Scott Creeks

2011-06-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, our friends Scott and Maurice with DFO released 16,500 fry to a total of 8 locations (4 on Upper Hoy Creek and 4 on Upper Scott Creek). The remaining 6,000 fry will continue to be reared by hatchery volunteers through to the smolt stage with planned reelased to the wild in May 2012.

Fry deposited to Pinnacle Pond

2011-05-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

10,000 fry (avg weight .94g) were deposited to Pinnacle Pond on May 19th. The total fry remaining is 19,405. The plan is for 6,700 to be deposited to each of Upper Hoy Creek and Upper Scott Creek in the coming weeks with the remaining 6,000 to be reared to smolt stage in our pond.

Society Meeting for May

2011-05-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 18, 7pm - Coquitlam Public Library, City Center location by Coquitlam City Hall. We will be meeting at the library in one of the internal meeting rooms. Check with library staff if you're unsure of the room location.

Hoy Creek Weed Pull - May 14th

2011-05-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

The rain mostly held off and we had a nice turnout of about 13 Society members, students (both current and alumni from Pinetree and Charles Best) and teachers (Pinetree and Scott Creek), supported by Shannon from the City of Coquitlam. We'll post some pictures of the event soon but I can say the group had worked really hard to maintain and begin work removing Himalayan Blackberry at 3 sites along Hoy Creek. This work has set us up nicely to reintroduce native plant species in the Autumn of 2011! Nice work everyone!

Hoy Creek Weed Pull Saturday May 14th 9:30am - 12:30pm

2011-05-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you that may be able to join up, we'll be meeting at the hatchery at 9:30am and be working in and around the hatchery at a weed pull event. We will have hatchery volunteers, Pinetree High school students and the City of Coquitlam "Bad Seed" staff on site helping with the weed pull. Our focus will be on invasive plant removal to certain specific areas in the watershed with the intent on re-planting these areas with native plants late this year.

Salmon Leave Home - May 1st

2011-04-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Come out and join us to release our salmon to the creek! Public event held at the hatchery is from 11am - 2pm.

Trays #6 and #7 have been ponded

2011-04-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

The capilano trough is filling up fast! Only one more tray of fry to be ponded in the coming days.

April 16 - blackberry weed pull

2011-04-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

Linda, Len, Earl and Rodney had a good day Saturday removing himalyan blackberry from around the Hoy Creek trail by the hatchery. The group removed blackberry from a site that was planted with reintroduced native plants 18 months ago as well as started work on a new site. Future weed pulls will focus on maintaining these sites and reintroducing native plants species.

Trays #3, #4, #5 now ponded

2011-04-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

The capilano trough is quickly filling! An estimated 20,450 were added from the trays with an average weight of, 0.74gm. For the first number of weeks, we will be keeping the fry from these trays separated from the fry from Tray #2 until these younger fry get adjusted and start putting on some weight!

Tray #2 ponded

2011-03-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Niall ponded Tray #2 today and the fry are now in the capilano trough in the North section closest to the sand filter at the far door. A total of 7290 fry were ponded. Water temperature is 7.5C.

March 26,2011 weed pull

2011-03-27T00:10:00.000-07:00

A success! The students were ruthless in removing the alien plants from Hoy Creek's riparian area.

Successful weed pull

2011-03-26T22:17:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Kelsey for coordinating the Glen Eagle Talons as well as teacher "Q" for helping with the weed pull today. We'd taken advantage of the good weather and pulled a bunch of English Ivy from the Hoy Creek area. Looking good! Pics to come!

Tray #2 ready to pond....

2011-03-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

The capilano trough is being readied to move the fry from Tray #2. Our plan is to move the fry over tomorrow.

Separately, all of the remaining eggs have now hatched.

Weed Pull Notice: Saturday, March 26th, 9am - 1pm

2011-03-18T09:28:00.001-07:00

Everyone is welcome! We will be working to remove English Ivy from adjacent to Hoy Creek along the Hoy Creek trail between Guildford and Johnson. Meet at the Hoy Creek trail head at the start time. The session will go from 9am - 1pm.
This weed pull is coordinated between the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society, Glen Eagle school and the City of Coquitlam.

Invasive Removal Session - March 12th summary

2011-03-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Society volunteers Linda, Chris, Earl, Eileen, Rodney and Shannon from the City for the work yesterday at the weed pull. The group worked on the lamium site behind Walton school which had been started with invasive plant removal ~ 1.5 yrs before by the Society and Pinetree students. The group had removed 12 bags of lamium and 2 bags of English ivy. Further work is needed in future sessions to remove the remaining lamium. Once completed, we can work to re-plant the site.

Separtely, we've been told that there is another weed pull scheduled for March 26th which will involve Glen Eagle students. The weed pull is planned to target English Ivy adjacent to Hoy Creek along the Hoy Creek trail between Guildford and Johnson. More to come!

Invasive plant removal planned for Saturday, March 12th 9:30am

2011-02-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

For hatchery volunteers and the public, we have planned an invasive removal session. Provided the temperature is warm enough (above freezing please!) we should be able to get to some lamium and possible english ivy removal. The forecast is looking like a bit of rain but not freezing. We'll work rain or shine! Meet at the hatchery building at 9:30am and we'll focus on maintaining some previous sites we've worked on as well as a possible new site removing english ivy.

Trays #3, #4, #5 have now hatched too!

2011-02-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

The fry in Tray #2 are still doing well and still really active and absorbing their yolk sacks.

Tray #2 has hatched...

2011-02-11T12:24:00.001-08:00

The eggs in tray #2 have hatched over a course of 3 days back around Feb 5th at ATU 523.

Trays 6-8 were shocked and enumerated as follows:

#6: 2793
#7: 7468
#8: 2361

Total eyed eggs (when adding trays #2-#5): 33,073

Current ATU to Feb 8:
2: 542
3-5: 450
6: 386
7: 316
8: 295

Thanks to the hard work of Niall and our DFO community advisors, the sand filter looks to be installed in the capilano trough area. The trough isn't yet in operation but given the eggs that have hatched, once the alevins emerge, they'll have their new home setup soon!

Fish weigh - January 30, 2011

2011-01-30T18:24:00.001-08:00

We'd conducted a monthly fish weigh today. The fish are looking good and are growing nicely. The average size across 5 samples of a total of 645 fish was 14.5 grams. Overall, the fish were a bit sluggish with the colder water temperatures and a bit spooky with the clear water conditions.

Incubation update as of January 17th, 2011

2011-01-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

Tray #2 ATU: 411
Tray #3-#5 ATU: 319
Tray #6 ATU: 201
Tray #7 ATU: 185
Tray #8 ATU: 166

Tray #2 is developing nicely with the little fish eyes peering back out at you through the egg casing!

Tray's #3-#5 were shocked with actual egg counts as follows (original estimate had 5300 eggs in each tray):
#3: 4218
#4: 3890
#5: 4321

Correction on Tray #8

2010-12-17T19:19:00.001-08:00

Had to revise the count on Tray #8 as follows:
Egg take: Dec 16th - 3300 eggs
Total green eggs: 39,343

Tray #2 was shocked with dead eggs picked and all eggs accounted for a revised total of 8,010 eggs in the tray.

What's in the heath trays?

2010-12-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the current status of the incubating eggs rearing in the heath trays at the hatchery as of yesterday, December 12th.

We have 7 trays filled at present - the incubator is full!

Tray #2 (taken Nov 4): 8686 eggs; ATU: 232
Trays #3, #4, #5 (Nov 16): 5300 eggs each; ATU: 141
Tray #6 (Dec 8) : 3721; ATU: 26
Tray #7 (Dec 10): 8400; ATU: 15
Tray #8 (Dec 2): 10, 506; ATU: 51
Total eggs: 47,213

ATU's are Accumulated Thermal Units and are used to track the development of the eggs. In general, the colder the water, the slower the development; warmer the water, the faster the development hence tracking by ATU. For each species of fish, the ATU's help determine at what stage of development the eggs are currently at. In short, once the eggs are fertilized, you take the daily temperature of the water and keep adding them together for a running total of the ATU's for the eggs. You then compare the ATU's to a table listing the species and stage of development. For example for Coho:

Eyed: 220 ATU
Hatch: 400-500 ATU
Emergence: 700-800 ATU

So in the case of Tray #2, these eggs are just entering the eyed stage.

Incubation trays are full!

2010-12-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

As of Friday, December 10th, we had filled the last remaining heath tray with eggs taken from brood stock captured at our fish trap. This past season we were able to fill our 8 trays for a total of over 50,000 eggs. We will continue operating the trap to capture data regarding returning Coho numbers however all trapped fish will now be released to travel further upstream in the watershed.

Adult coho still returning...

2010-12-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

With the recent rain fall, there are still more adult coho salmon returning to Hoy Creek. With each heavy rainfall, we've had more adults being brought in (e.g. 28 during the heavy rainfall last week). We have received a good level of returns to our fish trap relative to recent years. Over this past weekend, I found a good spot to view some of the adults which is on the Hoy Creek trail on the section between Guildford and Johnston.

Hatchery update

2010-11-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

We now have 24 586 coho eggs incubating; We started with 8686 on November 4, and added 15,900 today,November 16. The fish trap caught 14 coho over the weekend, five females and seven males we kept, releasing the remaining. We will release five of the remaining males on November 16, keeping back two males, in case we capture more girls.

Unfertilized Coho salmon eggs

Female,"Does" Coho salmon

Of these eggs we can only grow 12-14,000 to pre-smolt stage, because that is the capacity of the rearing pond. So the remaining will be released as fry into Scott Creek, in May of the coming year.

More eggs!

2010-11-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

The rains of a couple of days ago have brought many more coho to the trap area. As a result, we now have three more trays, with 5300 eggs in each. 24 586 eggs in total.

When Scott and Maurice went to the trap today, they found 14 coho, they released a nice female, and two males. They harvested the 15900 eggs from 5 females, using sperm from 7 males, which are now in the Capilano trough, 5 of which will be released tomorrow. Three more trays to fill. But we now have enough for the hatchery pond (12,000 to 14,000 maximum). And the others will mostly be released into Scott Creek, with some into Hoy Creek. So we can now be selective with the fish trapping, and release more to carry on with their more natural scheme of life.

These appear to be the best returns to our creek over the past number of years. Certainly the best trapping year of at least the last few. There`s still more days in the season but with the amount of eggs taken thus far, there`s certainly less pressure to continue capturing brood stock!

Another female.....

2010-11-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

We've captured another female over the last day and are currently holding her and 2 males (including 1 jack) at the hatchery. Hopefully, the upcoming rains forecasted can bring in more broodstock!

Now incubating eggs!

2010-11-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Success! We have caught two male and two female Coho this past Thursday. Their fertilized eggs are now safely dividing their cells inside the Incubation room. We have 8686 eggs in one tray, hopefully this year we can fill them all!

"Nevergreen Line"

2010-10-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project Station Area Design Consultation

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is inviting stakeholders and the public to participate in the Station Area Design Consultation for the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project. The Evergreen Line is a new rapid transit line that will connect Coquitlam to Vancouver via Port Moody and Burnaby.

There are two ways you can submit feedback on the Station Area Design Consultation online:

participate in the Evergreen Line Online Forum

complete the online feedback form.

Environmental events in the coming months

2010-09-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

Salmon Come Home, at the hatchery, beside Hoy Creek.
Sunday, October 24, 2010 11 to 3 p.m.

Hyde Creek Salmon Festival
Sunday, November 14, 2010 Salmon Spawning in Hyde Creek
11am to 3 pm ,sponsored by the City of Port Coquitlam, and the Hyde Creek Watershed society

Pastel drawing, by Patricia Gaspar

2010-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Patricia Gaspar, created this drawing for the society.
Now framed and proudly hanging on the wall in the office.

Patricia is an artist, who has a website patricialovesart, with some of her artistic endeavors in it.

Detail

The picture frame is slightly cropped in this picture

Walton Forest Work Party

2010-08-29T18:53:00.001-07:00

Big thanks to everyone who had come out and participated in the Bad Seed invasive plant removal work party! I'd say it was a success as volunteers worked hard removing blackberry and lamium and have now setup a few sites nicely for some reintroduction of native plant species to the areas focused on at Dupont, Walton and Walton/Durant sites. And what a nice treat to be visited by the 4 deer passing by down Walton while we worked!
Must have been just under twenty souls, who joined us in the battle this past Saturday, 28, Aug.

Before. Removing Blackberry and Lamium, along Walton

After. Removing Blackberry and Lamium, along Walton.

Extensive Lamium patch along Walton

Removing Blackberries along Dupont Drive

Bad Seed tent, with city staff providing snacks and refreshments.

A over-exposed picture of three of the deer that walked by us, while we were removing the invasive plants. Two bucks and two does, were part of the group.

Walton Forest work party

2010-07-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Volunteers!

Join us at Walton Forest for a summer “BAD SEED” work party.

What: Invasive Plant Removal
When: Saturday August 28th, 10 am – 2 pm
Where: Meet on Dupont Place Cul-de-sac off Erskine Street
Why: In 2006, Walton Forest was designated as a park in response to strong public interest and initiative from Friends of Walton Forest. Work parties took place in 2008 to remove invasive plants and further invasive plant management and restoration are continuing throughout 2010.

Refreshments and snacks, as well as gloves and tools will be provided just bring yourself and maybe a friend.

Please RSVP to Dana Slocum who is the; Environmental Stewardship Volunteer Coordinator; City of Coquitlam - Parks and Open Spaces Services. By August 23rd.

See You there..

Our whistling streamkeeper

2010-07-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

Interesting article written by, Eileen Holland a HSWS volunteer.
Another gifted volunteer, I wonder what secrets our other volunteers have?
hmmm......Inquiring minds need to know.

Whistling Have you ever noticed? Women don't do it.
By Eileen Holland

[ The Landowner Magazine, June/July 2010, Page 38. ]

Men whistle. The boy walking across the schoolyard whistles through the space in his teeth, the teenager as he slathers peanut butter across his bread. The dad pulling his children up the sidewalk in a wagon whistles, the granddad as he walks along the pier.

As a youth, my father built crystal radios and performed science experiments in a shack out on the lawn. As my grandfather had a penchant for whistling while gardening. Dad couldn't help but develop the same proclivity. During my childhood, Dad kept his transistor radio at arm's length to get his daily dose of whistle-able tunes. The distant sound of my father whistling in the basement or garden was soothing.

But women don't whistle. Or they don't admit to it. I drive a Jimmy, live in a bedroom community; walk and weight train with my girlfriends, volunteer locally and work part-time to stay involved in my career while spending much quality family time at home.
I appear every bit the mild-mannered, politically correct suburban homemaker.

But get me alone and this girl's whistling up a storm. Is it inherited? Is it the love of music? Or am I a backwoods babe in an urban setting?

My sister works at a different office several times a year. Every time she does, she is thrown for a loop when she hears whistling, turns around, and discovers the whistlers a woman. It's not what we expect is it?

The only whistling women I ever see these days are hockey and soccer moms. You can bet their dads taught them to whistle. My father offered my siblings and me $5.00 if we learned to whistle with our fingers.

We hiked a lot, so he felt we could signal rescuers by whistling if we ever got lost. My younger brother and I learned first, driven by the lure of easy money. My kid sister learned eight years later, receiving $10.00 -- inflation. Ironically, the only one who never learned the art was my older brother; Occupation? Forester!

I don't remember when I started whistling on a daily basis. It was a natural progression given the whistling-oriented environment I grew up in. I love to sing, but whistling is a quieter, more personal occupation. It is done with no aim but to satisfy a certain joie de vivre, but it overtakes the soul when all is well in life.

Whatever is on the radio, whatever pops into my mind from days gone by, whatever is new and unique and ear catching, it twitters its way out of me at a merry rate. We're talking everything from decades-old easy-listening favourites to classical, bluegrass, Celtic, new country, pop and rock.
One minute it's Beethoven's Ode to joy, the next it's Petula Clark's Don't sleep in the subway darling, then on to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Can't Stop, with the Kings of Leon's, Use Somebody as the grand finale. I have survived whistling Queen's, Bohemian Rhapsody from beginning to end, although I had to lie down on the chesterfield for a rest afterward.
The sorry truth, though, is that I seldom whistle anywhere except at home.

It's like I’m harbouring this socially unacceptable secret; I am a closet female whistler.

Occasionally, when I am feeling exceptionally cherry, I whistle in the garden (after checking for eavesdropping neighbours), in the car (except at stop lights), on a mountain (way the heck and gone up a trail), or in an elevator (empty). But if someone comes upon me seconds after I’ve finished, I cast a guilty glance in their direction.

A couple of times, I’ve accidentally started whistling in a public place.
While pondering the selection of penne or spaccatella noodles at the grocery store, a placid fortysomething woman pushing a shopping cart around a corner caught this fiftysomething woman unawares right in the middle of my whistled rendition of U2's It's a Beautiful Day.

There's something musically sacrilegious about stopping that song partway through. There's also the humiliation of being discovered enjoying myself so thoroughly while participating in a predominantly male pastime.
Then there's the innie and outie thing. The men in my family whistle by pushing air out through their lips. I whistle, as do the females in my family, by sucking air in. During my formative years, my brothers professed that I "did not know how to whistle."

They saw innie whistling as a feeble attempt to pull off a macho skill. They refused to accept that innies attain better pitch because of more delicate facial movements. As an adult, I assert that innie lips don't protrude as dramatically, making whistling not only more attractive, but less obvious. Come on, women! We've got female plumbers, corporation heads, and Iditarod winners.

How about it? You just put your lips together -- and whistle. ***

Some additional information about the art of whistling

Two famous male whistlers were; Ronnie Ronalde and Fred Lowery

Listing of eight cylinders that feature whistling, from the Cylinder preservation and digitization project, University of California, Santa Barbara.

And three from the; Syracuse University digital library

A whistling woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men. Old Irish proverb. ;)

Comedian Harmonists - Whistle While You Work (1937)

Many of us find that we sometimes have this jingle stuck in our heads,that we hum, sing or whistle along to ourselves.

Commonly known as: Earworms or stuck tune syndrome.

There is relief to be found at Maim that Tune, where you can get another tune to replace the one that is presently plaguing you. Enjoy!

Here are some search results from Openbook, which searches Facebook status updates, of people who do not have any security controls in place.
Search results for the term: "Whistling" by Women and by Men.
(Warning results can sometimes contain, crude language,images...)

Eileen also wrote another article,(PDF) in the same issue of "The Landowner magazine", highlighting our activities during Salmon Leave Home.

Next time you see Eileen, ask her about maps?

Bears in the Hoy Creek area....

2010-07-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Back during my last fish weigh on July 4th, I was no more than 7ft away from a black bear cub when counting fish! For those of you that know the layout of the rearing pond, the cub had popped out of the bush on the side opposite the door. Fortunately, I was in the confines of the rearing pond fence (Hopefully it would have withstood pressure if mama bear came out too!). Fortunately, as I went to go and close the rearing pond door, the cub went back in the bush. I'm guessing mother bear was there in the bush. The bush kept rustling for a good 10 minutes before silence. So, which way do I ride my bike back home.....

Our streamkeeper artist

2010-07-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

HSWS is proud of the diversity of the numerous volunteers who help to create a better environment for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Patricia Edith Gaspar Patterson, has been feeding the fish on Sundays, and has been a willing volunteer learning about the numerous aspects of the watershed.

Many would not know that she is also an accomplished artist, she recently created a website containing a small portion of her artwork.

Patricia creating a pastel and pencil drawing of the hatchery building.

Which she gave to the Society, prior to her return to Argentina, her home country.

Ride to conquer cancer 2010

2010-06-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society, member Rodney Lee participated and completed the Ride to Conquer Cancer 2010, From Vancouver to Seattle.

2252 riders were involved and raised $9.2 Million dollars. Way to go Rodney!
Some pictures will be posted on his Picassa page soon.

Chris Hamming - Coquitlam Environmental Achievement Award Winner

2010-06-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Chris Hamming, Hoy/Scott Watershed Society Volunteer & Membership Coordinator - Winner of the City of Coquitlam's Environmental Achievement Award for 2010 in the "Individual Adult" category.

Fry have been ponded...

2010-05-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

The rearing pond went through the annual pond clean out process Tuesday, May 11, 2010. In short, all of the floor boards are removed from the "settling" part of the pond and a vacuum truck sucks out all of the sediment. Throughout this process, a pump was operating to keep water flowing through the lower pond (receives outflow from the rearing pond). There's valuable inhabitants of the lower pond (not to mention some straggling smolts!) so keeping the lower pond filled is important! Once cleaned, the rearing pond gets refilled and readied for the new group of fry.
As of May 15, 2010, the fry in the Capilano trough were captured, placed in buckets and transported across to the rearing pond for release. They all now reside in their new home!

E-mail for more information, or phone: 604-927-6537

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