I was sitting by my doorway when some yard birds asked if I would help them with their passport photos. These are notoriously head-on shots without a smile.
Black-capped Chickadee: “I don’t like it; you made me look like an egg with feet.”
Steller’s Jay: “I never cross the border, so why, when close, do I get bills for use of another country’s data plan?”
Red-breasted Nuthatch: “I must fly to live, but I fear that my black bandit mask might get me on a no-fly list.”
I saw my first swans of the year this morning: two Trumpeters. Mind you, I discovered later that I had not been the first to spot them, but that did not diminish the delight in seeing them once again.
Both Trumpeter and Tundra Swans migrate through our region in the spring and sometimes in the fall. Many people watch for their passage.
Two pictures of this morning’s Trumpeter Swans are below.
There are ponds and marshes on the west side of Kokanee Creek Park. They offer a superb area for observing birds and dragonflies. While wandering through them, I never gave much thought to how they might have formed. That is until Derek Kite pointed out the obvious in his comment to my recent posting, bank slump. They are earlier channels of the ever-changing creek, albeit now modified by beaver dams.
A shot of the ponds and marshes shows how they trace older paths of the creek.
A view from a greater height shows the present path of the creek in the background. In a few years, it will break through at a bend and provide even more ponds for the birds.
Wood Ducks go unreported around Kootenay Lake in the winter months of December, January, and February. Occasionally one has been seen in the larger region in February, but that is rare. So, I hadn’t expected to see a female along the shore this morning. When I showed the picture to Derek Kite, he said, “I wonder if it is the same one I saw this January. Maybe we have had a Wood Duck here all winter.”
A Wood Duck stands in the snow in Derek Kite’s picture of January 11th.
This is possibly the same duck, now seen on February 13th.
Derek Kite’s picture is used with permission.
Note: the text originally called the predator a Cooper’s Hawk, but it was pointed out that it looks more like a Northern Goshawk, so the text was amended.
Dan Reibin watched the drama unfold in the rain: An juvenile Northern Goshawk captured and ate a female Mallard Duck (three pictures, below).
Dan Reibin’s pictures are used with permission.
Winter drives some of the herbivorous shield bugs to seek the warmth of homes. Most often seen is the Western Conifer Seed Bug. It is merely an aesthetic nuisance as it lethargically crawls across the floor. It can be picked up by its antennae and thrown outdoors. Although a stinkbug, it only offers a mild scent of cedar. 
A Consperse Stink Bug was new to me. It is one of the native shield or stink bugs of western North America. As I did not know if its defences were pungent or mild, I ushered it outdoors with utmost care.
January ends with three shots of birds, none of which deserved a posting of its own, but which form a nice group.
What I thought was a flicker couple checking out possible springtime nesting cavities, turned out to be two males.
Normally, I prefer a more natural setting, but kestrels often alight on power wires, so I had to make do.
The best shot was of a Downy Woodpecker going from tree to tree as it looked for something to eat.
Nothing else on the Lake looks similar to a fleet of Common Mergansers in hunting formation.
The birds spread apart as they race across the water; their heads are down as they scour the shallows for fish. The sight is reminiscent of a fleet of frigates searching the depths for U-boats.
This has been a good season for hanging out with Bighorn Sheep. In October there were three postings (portraits, wooing, mating), followed by another in December (roadside sheep). Now, this one.
What is interesting to me is that the October, December, and January postings are of three different local herds, not a revisiting of the same group of animals.
About two dozen bighorns were milling around: males, females, juveniles.
“The two of us are alone together in a crowd.”
It takes a herd to raise a lamb.
Bank slump
Creeks are brimming with water after days of warm rain and snowmelt. A few have burst banks while others merely cut into a bank that will give way on another occasion.
When a creek takes a serpentine course, the outside of the bend erodes and that material is transported to the inside of the bend or forms islands in the middle.
Near the top right of this picture, Kokanee Creek flows into Kootenay Lake. Slightly upstream (on a line from the lower left to the middle) is a long bank that is collapsing as it is undercut by the creek. After awhile the undercut topsoil slumps into the creek. Ultimately, the creek will break right through and reach the lake along a new path.
Despite both the physical evidence of bank slump, and Park signs that warn people to stay clear of the edge, visitors often stand on spots about to collapse.
