Exploring Kootenay Lake

The male Black-chinned Hummingbird was still hanging around a bit earlier this week. It has stayed longer than usual, possibly due to the frequent smoke in the air.

In addition there are female Rufous Hummingbirds and female Black-chinned Hummingbirds around for they are still raising their chicks.

The male Black-chinned Hummingbird was still here on August 5th.

A female Black-chinned Hummingbird has spread its tail.

Similarly a female Rufous Hummingbird has spread it tail.

It is a bit surprizing to see the spots on the rufous females neck light up.

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 happened anywhere in the Central Kootenay. Range maps show a very small breeding population in extreme southern Alberta and that is it for all of Canada.

The three ibises seemed to ignore humans, although whether that is their nature, or because they are young, or because we were quiet and distant isn’t clear. Rather, they spent their time feeding, using their long beaks to probe the bottom of the lagoon.

At one point, all three gathered on the far side of the lagoon.

But, most of the time, two stuck together as they probed the bottom with their bills. The third ibis generally wandered about the lagoon on its own. It is seen below, flying.

If getting decent pictures of an exceeding rare bird were not enough, consider the likelihood of also getting a close shot of one of them lifting off.

In fact, the unusualness of this demanded another view slightly later in the flight. 

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 them. Amazingly, in one day, I watched two local Eastern Kingbird nests where the adults were very busy feeding their chicks.

An Eastern Kingbird feeds one of its four chicks. The nest has been built on a cylindrical TV transmission device on a line between utility poles. This was probably a good choice for the bird’s protection from predators.

Here, a parent is giving them a dragonfly.

A half kilometre away was another Eastern Kingbird nest with four smaller chicks.

Both parents were involved in feeding them. The mother was panting in the day’s heat.

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 a huge task for their parents. 

At this time of year, both parents are often involved in feeding their chicks. This is a full-time job involving finding food, flying it to the nest, feeding the chicks, and removing the faecal sacs. This is done repeatedly throughout daylight hours.

I have watched a number of nests, but this posting is about a Tree Swallow couple and their cavity nest. (Tree Swallows seem to favour cavity nests previously made by humans or flickers.) This posting shows three pictures of swallow parents both coming and going adjacent to the nest cavity.

One of the parents typically sits at the cavity opening while the other hunts for food, in this case grubs or insects. When the other parent is seen approaching, the watching parent flies off to hunt, and the process is reversed. They cross the picture space near the cavity in a small fraction of a second, usually on their own. Very occasionally they both appear in the same shot. It is these pictures that I have shown. 

The male Tree Swallow approaches with food in his mouth for the chicks in the cavity nest. Having fed the chicks with her offerings, the female leaves the nest to go hunting.

Here the female approaches with an insect dangling out of her mouth, while the male leaves to find more chick food.

Food brought t0 the chicks is not always evident as it is may be inside the adult’s mouth.

Frequently, one or the other will leave the cavity nest with a faecal sac. This is carried far away from the nest and dropped where it will not attract predators to the nest.

A couple of days ago, we first saw a chick at the nest opening. I looked forward to the chicks sticking their heads out and begging on subsequent days.

One of the chicks appeared at the nest hole merely to wonder at the strange world outside. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

Early the next morning, there were no chicks, no adults, and the cavity nest had been attacked. The likely culprit was a racoon. It has the power and dexterity to rip open the cavity nest. Undoubtedly the chicks, which could not yet fly, were eaten. The parents flew off. Some detached feathers can be seen behind the broken side. Photo by Cynthia.

As a solace for the death of these chicks, here is a shot from another nest cavity of a parent placing food into the chick’s mouth. This chick apparently fledged and left.