2,000^th posting

This is the 2,000^th posting to this blog site, Exploring Kootenay Lake.

For this occasion, I am showing some of my favourite pictures, by year, from the last 500 postings. After all, you already can see some of my favourites from the first 1,500^th postings, which was made five and a half years ago on 2019 April 10. However, the present posting includes some images from later in 2019.

As before, my favourites tend to involve the interaction of two or more individuals or a less common natural phenomenon. Included are photographs from other close family members that also appeared on the blog.

2019
Great-Horned-Owl chicks are still in their natal down.

Female Spotted Sandpipers are the sexual aggressors; males are not. Here, two females are battling for territorial rights.

A father Pileated Woodpecker (left) is instructing his son (right) on how to find food.

2020
A mother yellow-bellied marmot is suckling her pup.

A feisty Rufous Hummingbird battles another (unseen) rufous for access to food.

A dipper parent brings grubs for its chicks.

An adult Osprey brings a fish to its three excited chicks. Photo by Finn Grathwol.

Two robber flies mate.

2021
Male and female clearwing moths mate on the wing.

Bald Eagle chicks sit in a nest with their parent.

As testosterone rises in the fall, a young white-tailed deer jousts with his father. 

A mother elk suckles her young. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

2022
Cynthia Fraser caught this shot of a battle between an osprey (top) and an eagle (bottom).

A very wide-angled lens captures a cloud bow and its reflection. Photo by (son) Alistair.

In one of the last meals before migration, an osprey father brings a fish for his family.

2023
A bobcat stops by to scrounge at a bird feeder, but encounters humans.

A female grizzly bear with exotropic eyes swallows a fish.

This (somewhat confusing) picture shows a white-tailed deer mother suckling her fawn.

A weasel has killed an injured robin and then jumps off a deck to eat it below. 

2024
Swans mate far to the north, but courting sometimes happens here. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

This mating of male and female Tree Swallows lasted about one second.

A momentary scene of a wing’s underside looks like a headdress on a flicker.

A blue heron lacks teeth so it swallowed the mallard chick whole.

A locally rarely seen ibis takes to the air.

A black bear picks a Kokanee salmon from a local creek.

The Long-billed Dowitcher migrates the long distance between the Arctic Ocean and Mexico twice a year. On its way, it occasionally stops by here to feast.

This is an aurora borealis on October 10. The existence of all life on Earth is a consequence of the appearance of auroras. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

A Ring-billed Gull manipulates a small fish before swallowing it.