It is home to more than 200 species of birds, including the great blue heron, Greater Vancouver's largest population of bald eagles and the threatened greater sandhill crane. Thousands of waterfowl, including the trumpeter swan and other migratory birds, use the ponds in the bog as seasonal feeding grounds. Some 22 species of raptors live at the bog, which is home to 10 species of amphibians, six species of reptiles and up to 48 species of small mammals and several species of larger mammals. Mammals at the bog include the red fox, black tailed deer, black bear, porcupine, bobcat, beaver, snowshoe hare, spotted skunk, the northwestern jumping mouse and the rare southern red backed vole. But animal life is only part of Burns Bog's story.
Bogs are a type of wetlands where peat accumulates.
Over thousands of years, sphagnum mosses, leaves and roots accumulate faster than they can be decomposed, and peat forms. This peat supports unique plant communities able to thrive in waterlogged, acid and nutrient-poor conditions. Only 17 percent of Canada's original wetlands remain and B.C. contains one percent of the country's total wetlands. Sphagnum mosses form the base of Burns Bog and resemble a thick carpet in shades of green, red, and yellow. The moss is acidic, low in nutrients and holds water like a sponge.