Category Archives: birds

Wildlife mating

  For many years I presented wildlife talks for the summer speaker’s series in the Nature Centre of Kokanee Creek Park. Then, for several years we had a pandemic, so I did not present. This year I am again presenting, … Continue reading

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Heron & mallard

  This morning, a heron swallowed a baby mallard. Now, I have got to admit that the Great Blue Herons I have watched will eat just about anything they can swallow whole. And this is what it did to the … Continue reading

Posted in birds, fish, mammals | 2 Comments

July goulash

  This is a collection of pictures, mainly from this July, that didn’t have their own postings. The first shot is from late June and shows a Common Startling trying to feed its chick an earth worm. Photo by Cynthia … Continue reading

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Ibis

  Three ibises have visited a lagoon on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. They appear to all be juvenile White-faced Ibises. Now, this is exceedingly rare. There appear to be only two times before that a similar visit has … Continue reading

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Scraggly eagle & ghost

  The only similarity to these two things is that each is scraggly. The first two pictures are of a juvenile Bald Eagle (likely in its second year). It is under-going a moult of its body feathers, which are replaced … Continue reading

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Kingbird chicks

  The kingbird is a large summer flycatcher. It is actually two birds: eastern and western. I have seen the less common western feeding its chicks, but until a few days ago, had not seen the more common eastern feeding … Continue reading

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Coming and going

  Birds breed in the spring, and then, in the early summer, they raise their chicks. The chicks must go from eggs, to hatchlings, to fledglings, to independent birds during the season. It is a big task for them, but … Continue reading

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Horned Grebe

  Kootenay Lake has Horned Grebes, but the area is just south of the breeding region, so the bird almost always appears in its non-breeding plumage. It is correspondingly rare to see one in its breeding plumage and yesterday was … Continue reading

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Sapsuckers nesting

  The drilled rows of holes in a tree are the work of the Red-naped Sapsucker, a western woodpecker. I start with an old picture of the sapsucker and the drilled holes. Yet, it isn’t frequently that one sees one … Continue reading

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Headdress

  Around sunset last night, I was watching an adult male Northern Flicker stare out of a nest cavity where it had presumably brought food for a yet-to-appear chick. As it flew off, I pressed the camera button. The momentary … Continue reading

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