Exploring Kootenay Lake

Around here, the Killdeer is a migrant. It is usually here in the spring and summer. Indeed, there have been a few observations of it here for nearly a month, but, to my knowledge, these are the first pictures of its 2025 return.

A shore bird, the Killdeer blends in nicely on a beach. Indeed, I heard it chirping some time before I found it.

There were two foraging near the water. They were probably mates.

The Killdeer would fly from place to place as it looked for food.

Here is a close shot of one of them chirping.

Turkey Vultures are migrants that come here to breed from mid-March to mid-September, having wintered well to our south. 

For years, I only saw them soaring as they scanned the ground for carrion to eat. Certainly, they did find carrion, but I never found them when they were on the ground eating it. In fact, it was years before I even saw some alight in a tree.

But, that all changed this morning.

This morning, I again saw a Turkey Vulture soaring.

But, for the first time, I saw a Turkey Vulture on the ground.

From there, it approached the carcass, of what I assume had been a deer.

And set to eating it, a first for me.

It appears that April 12 was the day that Ospreys arrived at Kootenay Lake this year. Here are shots of a pair that turned up at Harrop. Osprey were apparently also seen around Nelson.

One male Osprey sits on a sign at the Harrop waterfront.

A female Osprey sits on a tree at Harrop, midday on April 12. Photo by Cynthia.

I have had little success in photographing the Violet-green Swallow, a western bird that comes here from Mexico in the breeding season. But they are rather fast flyers. Last weekend when they first arrived I watched some courting, but alas, after many shots, my pictures were just poor. So, to show one flying, I have resorted to an older picture.

And what is the occasion that prompted this? After a short session this morning, I came home with many bad pictures, but one lucky one: Violet-green Swallows mating midair. 

Here is a Violet-green Swallow flying from three years ago.

Here are a couple of Violet-green Swallows mating. Although they are in front of a shed where they have decided to nest, they are mating midair and in free fall in front of the wall. This emphasizes two things: they sometimes mate in flight; mating is very brief.

This is the time that the Mountain Bluebirds come through this region. There have been a few observations so far and here are some pictures we got yesterday.

A male Mountain Bluebird sits on a bush watching for insects and grubs to eat from the grasslands.

A female Mountain Bluebird also scans the ground for insects and grubs. Photo by Dorothy Fraser.

Having spotted something, tbe bluebird flies after it.

Another male Mountain Bluebird scans the grasslands. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

Recently, I have been watching Wild Turkeys. It is now mating season. Mind you, the mating itself seems to be a rather rare, albeit necessary, event.

Wild Turkeys have only crossed into Canada in a few places, but one of them is where I live. They resulted from turkeys having been seeded in eastern Washington and northern Idaho in the 1960s to provide targets for hunters. Eventually, some of them wandered up to southeastern B.C. Numbers increased and now they are described as naturalized here.

From years of casual observation, I know males are in their breeding plumage at this time of year, but until some turkeys moved into my neighbourhood, I never saw them mate.

For much of March, some males spend the early part of the day displaying their mating plumage and trying to seek the company of any interested female. Most times it is a lopsided encounter because a female only expresses interest during her rather short oestrous period. But now and then…

Two Wild Turkeys mate. The male is atop the female, but her tail is up and his is down so their cloaca kiss and sperm is passed.

I don’t know why wild turkeys very occasionally flap their wings when standing on the ground. Swans often do so on water to straighten out their wing feathers, but this does not appear to be the case for turkeys. When turkeys flap, it is very quick, often less than a second — maybe they are just stretching. If the bird isn’t already in the camera’s focus, the flap is likely missed.

This first picture shows two female Wild Turkeys, and one is standing tall and flapping wings. Indeed, the first time I saw turkeys wing flapping, it was by a female. Although this is the mating season for them, the females apparently are not yet in oestrus. So as they wander about, they have only food on their minds, not mating. They thus have more time for standing tall and spreading wings than do the males, who are thinking of other things.

This older male is in his mating display. His tail is up and his wings are almost touching the ground. His one concern at this time seems to be seeking the interest of a female. (If he gets hungry, he drops his display.) So, at first, I had not expected him to add spread wings  to his display. Yet, by happenstance, I saw it once, but at that time, he was largely behind a tree. So, the hunt was on to take a good picture of the male display plus raised wings.

And this is it: a male Wild Turkey in display, yet standing tall and flapping wings. Grand!