Category Archives: commentary

1,500^th posting

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Alistair

This is the fifteen-hundredth posting to the blog, Exploring Kootenay Lake. The oldest was a decade ago in December, 2009. The blog is merely a notebook to which I regularly record delight with my surroundings. Yet, as these notes … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary, fish, mammals, weather | 23 Comments

Lake ullage

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Alistair

Kootenay Lake is at the lowest level I have seen it in the last couple of decades. The low water of March and April is, of course, an annual spring feature, which occurs when there is a reduced inflow … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary, weather | 1 Comment

Dock 'n' duck

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Alistair

Dock 'n' duck is an odd title for a posting that only shows a picture of a circling eagle. However, this is the second time this year that I watched an interesting behaviour whereby a duck — earlier a … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary | 1 Comment

Great War, R.I.P.

Posted on November 11, 2018 by Alistair

Today, November 11, 2018, marks the centennial of the end of the Great War (1914-1918), a horrendous conflict that erupted accidentally. Requiescant in pace. Ancestral military service: In addition to my grandfather’s service during the Great War, my father, … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, history | 12 Comments

Underwater spring

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Alistair

Video: It is rare that I think that a posting would have been improved by the inclusion of a video clip. I am usually more concerned with stopping motion than showing it. However today, a movie clip would have … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, scenes, weather | 1 Comment

Perplexing sky

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Alistair

Down here on the surface of the earth, we are used to judging distance with the help of contrast: distant objects have a lower contrast than those in the foreground. This insight works for solid objects with sharp boundaries. … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, weather | Comments Off

Ecotone walk

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Alistair

I could have merely spoken of a walk along the beach, but, I wanted to emphasize something subtly different than such a stroll. An ecotone is a place where ecologies are in tension (in Greek, the word is tonos). It describes … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary, fish, mammals | 3 Comments

Swallow’s saga

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Alistair

Tree Swallows often nest in the cavities that Northern Flickers have carved in the pilings of docks. A person commits an offence if the person … possesses, takes, injures, molests or destroys a bird or its egg. … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary | 10 Comments

Species diversity

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Alistair

A year ago on Canada Day, I posted a collection of my favourite images from the previous decade, and said: “My two-dozen mute portraits offer peeks into the charm and beauty of life in Canada.” Commenting on it, Carlo … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary, mammals | 15 Comments

Dead Duck Day

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Alistair

A month ago, I posted a story, Mallard’s #metoo, about the gang rape of a mommy mallard. At the time, I did not relate my observations to a TED Talk, How a dead duck changed my life, I had … Continue reading →