Exploring Kootenay Lake

Mommy mallard complained about the injustice of my two recent treatments of merganser families (1, 2). Why would I have featured those (clearly lesser) beings, while neglecting her own worthies? Ok, here is mommy mallard and her eight progeny.

Interactions among wildlife are plentiful and make for interesting viewing. Many of these involve predators and prey, but other forms of competition and cooperation are observed.

Having recently shown merganser competition, it was now fun to watch as a family of Common Mergansers ignored a passing Spotted Sandpiper. Neither species saw the other as a threat.

Loons thrive on Kootenay Lake, but you will look in vain for a nest here.

Loons are clumsy on land—they are looney—and they cannot move their nests as the water level changes, so to nest adjacent to the water, they must find a lake where the water level does not change much through the spring. This is not Kootenay Lake, where the lake level might change by three metres during the breeding season.

Yet, on some of the smaller alpine lakes in the vicinity, loons will nest. Last year, some Canada Day loons were seen with a chick on one of these little lakes. The same thing will probably be seen this year, for today, on that lake there was a loon seen sitting on her nest at the water’s edge.

The merganser’s warning: don’t accept a ride from a stranger.

This posting reads a bit like an animal story written for children: heavy on lessons of human behaviour; skimpy on knowledge of animal behaviour. Certainly, the captions represent my interpretation, but the event was witnessed by three people and two cameras. Further, the pictures are presented in the order they were taken.

Mommy merganser has taken her eight chicks out to expose them to the delights and dangers of the pond.

As is often the case, some chicks hitch a ride on mommy’s back.

Danger approaches from out on the pond: another female merganser. It is unclear why mommy should see this as a threat, but the approaching female has no chicks of her own and may well want to adopt some of mommy’s.

Certainly, mommy merganser is not going to even allow the possibility. She attacks with great vigour. She drives off the other female, and has to do so twice.

Returning to her own brood, one can almost hear her say: “I have just protected you from being kidnapped.

The family retires to a safe place: “Remember, you can accept a ride from me, but never from a stranger.”