Return of the Pinks

The pinks have returned for their spawning run up the Nile and other creeks up and down the coast. Some have paused to wait in the pool at the back of our lot, but not in the same numbers as last year. They wait for a rain to raise the water level and ease their journey up the creek to side channels where they can spawn and will eventually die, their deteriorating bodies providing nourishment for all manner of aquatic life and ultimately their hatching eggs. I took a few pictures one day when the sun was on the pool. It feels a little like watching fish in an aquarium.





This picture looks up the creek and shows the struggle facing the pinks as they fight their way against the current, rocks and other debris. Then there are the predators:
seals, whales and fishermen at the mouth of the creek and up the creek: bears, eagles, ravens, otters, sea gulls and even dogs We watched a Labrador Retriever escape her owner, plunge into the creek and chase the fish in all directions, some of them back downstream losing all the ground they had struggled so hard to make. Sad. The dog was eventually leashed quite a way downstream.

We are still in awe of this natural drama and Roy and I spend time every day, taking a coffee or lunch down to the creek to sit for a while and watch it play out.