Exploring Kootenay Lake

Why a Red-tailed Hawk would choose to attack a sub-adult Bald Eagle is a mystery. The fight would be uneven as the eagle is four times the weight of the hawk. Nevertheless, the hawk repeatedly dived at the eagle. 

The eagle’s final defence is shown as a composite of four images. Each shot contains a pair of birds. The hawk descends on the diagonal from upper left to lower right.

1. The hawk dives on the eagle.
2. The eagle begins a loop.
3. Now flying upside down, the eagle displays its claws.
4. The eagle completes its loop and, with claws extended, approaches the hawk from above.

The hawk left with dispatch.

                       one                                     two                                     three                              four

The vast majority of detailed pictures of birds show them as stationary: perched in a tree, standing on ground, floating on water. Less often does one see a detailed picture of a bird in flight. This might seem odd given that the defining characteristic of (local) birds is flight. If it is a bird, it flies. Why not show this?

Unfortunately, getting such a shot is not easy. Merely framing a rapidly moving bird in the viewfinder is the initial problem. Then getting it in focus and freezing the motion of its wings compounds the difficulty. The problem is similar (maybe harder) than that faced by sports photographers.

Most of my bird-shooting friends have greater success than I do, but I continue to work at the skill. Here are four of my practice shots of flying raptors from last week.

A male Kestrel flies by.

A Red-tailed Hawk has dived from a perch.

A Rough-legged Hawk wings across the sky.

The plumage of this sub-adult Bald Eagle indicates that it was hatched in 2011.

I am one of those who is unfamiliar with breeds of domestic ducks. So, when a giant Mallard turned up amongst a flock of familiar Mallards, it was worth recording.

It seems now that the giant is a Rouen Duck, a domesticated mallard that has been bred for its weight. This one has gone native.

The Rouen Duck dwarfs the Mallards it now accompanies in the wild.

If it didn’t look like its ancestral species, one might have guessed this was a goose.

Although the Red-winged Blackbird is abundant through much of North America, it is not all that common around Kootenay Lake. The fields and marshes this bird prefers are in short supply around the heavily forested lakeshore—except, at the south end of the Main Lake where large flocks were seen this week. 

A flock of Red-winged Blackbirds forages in a field. They are readily identified by their coloured epaulettes. 

The males like to perch on poles and reeds and display their red and yellow epaulettes. That this male is immature is evident from the orange edges on its otherwise black feathers.

The female Red-winged Blackbird not only has better camouflage colours, but attempts to stay hidden.   

The raucous posturing of the males makes them an inviting subject for photographers.

Dabbling mallards stick their tails in the air as
their bills sweep the shallows for things to eat.

Waterfowl adopt one of two different foraging techniques: diving or dabbling. 

Divers, such as loons, grebes, mergansers, might be seen anywhere on the Lake, but are often found far from shore.

Dabblers, such as mallards, geese, and swans, generally forage in the shallows close to shore so their bills can sweep the bottom for things to eat. Little pits are left where the bills have probed. These pits are revealed during the low water of late winter and early spring.

Dabble pits are revealed during low water.

This morning, a Great Blue Heron flew by.