Four curious birds

The weather has turned cold and the temperature is expected to drop further. Yet, as the wind is gentle; walks are pleasant. What might one see along the lakeshore? My curiosity was peaked by the four birds shown here.

The first is curious for being unexpected: Black-billed Magpies along the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. These birds prefer open country with thickets and scattered trees, a description that does not fit the heavily forested West Arm. Certainly, it characterizes the Creston Flats (south end of the Main Lake), where I saw my last magpie. Yesterday, there were five of these frenetic birds roaming around Harrop; I only managed a modest shot of one of them. Yet, it is enough to show that the birds I saw were magpies.

Not far from the magpies was a solitary Bald Eagle. This was to be expected because a perennially active eagle’s nest was nearby, and the nesting season is approaching. The curious thing is that the nest has abruptly vanished! What happened to it? What will happen to the eagles? This story is unfolding.

Another curious observation for this time of year on the West Arm was a Red-tailed Hawk. It just seems to have turned up a month, or so, early.

This morning’s observation of a Northern Pygmy Owl is curious primarily because such sightings have become strangely tedious. The odd thing is that most winters I would get to see only one or two; this winter, I and others are seeing them with startling regularity. These birds don’t migrate from afar; they descend from the mountains. Why have so many of them visited the valleys this year?