About

Not thinking of Burnaby as a place to enjoy nature? Think again. We’ve got a fantastic supply right here in our city. While Burnaby may boast/host Metrotown, BC’s largest shopping mall (Yaawn!), we seem to me to be a bit too quiet about the marvellous natural areas we have in the city.

So Burnaby Outdoors is not about shopping, nor restaurants, nor politics for that matter. It is of course, all about nature in Burnaby – where to look, what to look for, and I hope a place to learn something about the nature in our city. It will be a little random, a bit idiosyncratic, and occasionally opinionated, somewhat like its author. But no credit cards, or money in the bank is required to enjoy it. This is all about the free stuff all around us!

My starting place for looking at nature is birds. Birds get me ‘out there’, but then inevitably I notice more than the birds. I see the trees, the plants, the insects, the amphibians, and the weather. Who could miss that? Looking at one aspect of nature, other things are always grabbing my attention. I guess I’m easily distracted, but that does appear to come with some real side benefits.

Your interest might start with plants, or butterflies, or dragonflies, or just enjoying a walk in the park. You may start in your own backyard (lots of nature there), or in one of Burnaby’s fantastic parks, many of which are surprisingly wild for being in the city, and are great places to view wildlife.

Click on any of the pictures here, and a larger version will pop up in a new page. Close the page and you return to the blog. Try it on the Deer Lake picture below.

In Burnaby Outdoors I’ll suggest some things to look at, and to look for, when outside. There will be a seasonal rhythm to the posts. Most of our ducks return in the fall and spend the winter. I’ll write about them when they’re here. Spring and summer are great times for butterflies and moths. Chickadees, on the other hand, are here year-round. My hope is to slowly build up a series of guides, and commentaries about our natural areas.

Sometimes I’ll give specific directions to particularly interesting things: such as our rapidly growing heronry; or the truly impressive crow roost along Still Creek, but at other times I’ll give much more general suggestion to look out for, say woodpeckers in our forests. (See my first post to the blog) You’ll find a lot here about birds, my passion, and a lot about Deer Lake Park, because it’s my “home patch”. I live close by. My focus will be on what I see, but when you’re out there you’ll notice many other things. Welcome to the easily distracted club.

Please join me as I take a somewhat meandering journey to look around at what we’ve got on the wilder side here in our city.

George Clulow

If you want to contact me, just use the comment box on any page. What’s written there comes to me first before going public.

About the pictures and text. I have taken most pictures posted here, in and around Burnaby. I  wrote the text. Feel free to use anything here for your own, personal purposes, but if published or sent elsewhere, please credit the source, or better yet, send people here to read and see them for themselves. If you do want to use anything from the site for other than your personal purposes, please ask me. It’s the proper and polite thing to do.

Thanks.