diff --git a/google/cloud/spanner_v1/database.py b/google/cloud/spanner_v1/database.py
index bb279611a6..38ac469fe3 100644
--- a/google/cloud/spanner_v1/database.py
+++ b/google/cloud/spanner_v1/database.py
@@ -695,10 +695,16 @@ def execute_partitioned_dml(
             )
 
         def execute_pdml():
-            def do_execute_pdml(session):
+            def do_execute_pdml(session, span):
+                if span:
+                    span.add_event("Starting BeginTransaction")
                 txn = api.begin_transaction(
                     session=session.name, options=txn_options, metadata=metadata
                 )
+                if span:
+                    span.add_event(
+                        "Completed BeginTransaction", {"transaction.id": txn.id}
+                    )
 
                 txn_selector = TransactionSelector(id=txn.id)
 
@@ -735,9 +741,9 @@ def do_execute_pdml(session):
                 "CloudSpanner.execute_partitioned_pdml",
                 None,
                 observability_options=observability_options,
-            ):
+            ) as span:
                 with SessionCheckout(self._pool) as session:
-                    return do_execute_pdml(session)
+                    return do_execute_pdml(session, span)
 
         return _retry_on_aborted(execute_pdml, DEFAULT_RETRY_BACKOFF)()