Exploring Kootenay Lake

Upland flowers

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Alistair

At this time of year, mountain meadows are awash with wildflowers. Here are four of the myriad species.

The pearly everlasting gains its name both from its appearance, and from the ease with which it can be dried for winter bouquets.

All parts of the Columbian monkshood are highly poisonous. Indeed, the genus name, aconitum, means without a struggle suggesting how its victim would expire.

The pink mountain heather is an evergreen shrub with a profusion of tiny flowers.

Bear grass is a majestic plant that grows from one to two metres in height and is festooned with hundreds of white to creamy flowers.

Posted in wildflowers | 7 Comments

Misplaced marmot

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Alistair

Today, I took pictures of two different species of marmot. However, that wasn’t the unusual aspect of the event. It was that they were both in the subalpine.

We are one of the few regions in the Province that is host to two species of marmot: The larger hoary marmot is found in the subalpine; The smaller yellow-bellied marmot is found at the valley bottoms. Presumably, this division is driven by competition for resources.

I had previously only ever seen the yellow-bellied marmot at altitudes not far above lake level, typically about 560 metres, So, why was today different?

A hoary marmot was seen today at an altitude of about 1900 metres, which is typical.

A yellow-bellied marmot was seen today at an altitude of about 1660 metres, over a 1000 metres above its typical local range, and within the range of hoary marmots. Why?

Posted in mammals | 1 Comment

Wasp mating ball

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Alistair

And now for something completely different.
catchphrase from Monty Python’s Flying Circus

The observations made little sense to me. Why did a small group of sand wasps wrap themselves into in a ball? As far as I know, this isn’t a regular activity for either social or solitary wasps.

First, here is a picture of the event. A second image will follow a found explanation.

Sand wasps (Genus: Bembix) flew in and wrapped themselves into a ball.

Sand wasps in the genus, Bembix, are solitary, and non-aggressive:

• Solitary This means that they don’t live in a hive where a queen wasp is the only one that mates and produces offspring. Solitary females each mate and produce their own young.

• Non-aggressive As they have no need to defend a hive, they lack aggression. One can stand in the middle of a swirling population of dozens of sand wasps, and they go about their activities while ignoring the human in their midst.

In the early summer, sand wasps emerge from their long, shallow, natal tunnels in the sand. They mate, and then the females lay eggs in new tunnels. Into these tunnels are dragged all manner of flies and other bugs that have been paralyzed with a sting. These serve as food for the wasp grubs. Grubs, that by the next summer will emerge as a fresh batch of sand wasps.

Now, let’s return to the mating stage. Males patrol the area looking to mate with a freshly emerged virgin. She then flies up and they mate on the wing. It seems that the mating on the wing does not always go as planned and the two of them sometimes plunge to the ground. At this point, a number of others join in and make a frenetic mating ball.

A mating ball of sand wasps

The explanation of this event is found on the blog of Bug Eric.

Posted in bugs | 4 Comments

Indian pipe

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Alistair

The season of indian pipe is upon us again. That it has appeared this early in the summer may be a result of our recent rain and cloud.

Although it looks like a fungus, indian pipe is indeed a plant, but one that lacks chlorophyll and so cannot manufacture its own carbohydrates. Rather, it obtains carbohydrates from another plant (such as a tree) through a fungal intermediary. This tactic enables it to compete successfully on the dark forest floor where little sunlight penetrates.

Indian pipe has started pushing its way above ground. Soon, its white flowers will attract bees.

Posted in wildflowers | 1 Comment

Finn’s view

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Alistair

Two days ago, I noted that during a walk in the woods, my daughter, Cynthia, managed nicer images than I did.

Recently, my grandson, Finn, also spent a week with me. During our walks, he did likewise. He is faster on the draw, and more patient in observing than I am. Here are four of Finn’s shots.

A European Skipper sits in a world awash with ocher.

A white-tailed buck in velvet peeks out from the security of tall grass.

An Eastern Kingbird goes after a bug in the grass.

His most dramatic shot is of squabbling Tree Swallows.

Finn Grathwol’s images are used with permission.

Posted in birds, bugs, mammals | 6 Comments

Chipping Sparrow feeding

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Alistair

I have reached the enviable situation where my descendants are besting my photographic efforts.

This is the summertime, and I am being visited by family, some of whom choose to wander the woods with me. The striking thing is that when we go out, these family members frequently succeed in capturing more interesting scenes than I do. There will be other such postings.

The three images below, were captured by my daughter, Cynthia, — alas, I missed the shots. She recorded a Chipping Sparrow feeding an insect to its just fledged chick.

The adult Chipping Sparrow is on the left passing a winged insect to its chick.

“Yummy, that is good.”

“But, it is not enough. What else are you going to get for me.”

Cynthia Fraser’s images are used with permission.

Posted in birds | 3 Comments

Belated chicks

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Alistair

Mallard chicks, still in their natal down, were first seen in mid-May. Since then, the chicks seen have been juveniles, smaller than adults, but long out of their natal down and all looking like the female duck.

It came as a surprise yesterday, over a month and a half after seeing the first ones, to see fresh mallard chicks in their natal down. That strikes me as a rather long period over which hatching has occurred.

These mallard chicks, swimming along a creek this week, have been long out of their natal down.

Last evening, I watched some tiny chicks that looked as if they had just hatched.

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Unrequited yellowthroat

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Alistair

The Common Yellowthroat is a warm-season warbler that is found in our patchy fields and wetlands. It feeds and breeds locally.

I encountered a canoodling couple in some wetlands. Each hung around the other bearing a grub to offer a potential mate. Yellowthroat protocol requires that the male follows the female until she flutters her wings as a signal that she’s ready to mate. Yet, while each bird paid close attention to the other, she never gave the signal.

Each Common Yellowthroat (female on wire, male flying up) brings a grub to offer the other.

The two of them seem to compare their grub offerings, but to no effect.

They got together at various places along the wires of a fence.

But, she ultimately took her grubs and went off on her own.

And he abandoned the quest — for now.

Posted in birds | 5 Comments

Canada’s diversity

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Alistair

Today, July 1^st, marks Canada Day and the country’s 152^nd birthday.

Canadians value and celebrate diversity — by which they mean cultural diversity. However, some feel that the preservation of our species diversity merits a similar attention.

This selection of images, taken from the blog since last year’s celebration, was chosen more for variety than drama.

I start and finish with an uncharismatic phylum: arthropods. This deer fly is laying eggs.

A Northern Flicker father feeds ant’s eggs to his chicks.

Turkey Vultures warm their wings in the morning sunlight, while eyeing tasty Kokanee spawning in the creek below.

An Osprey struggles to lift a large Kokanee from the Lake.

An elk browses in the woods.

If you are a small bird and you see this Merlin out of the corner of your eye, you are toast.

Not all natural delights are wildlife species. This is a circumzenithal arc.

A long-tailed weasel hunts.

Succeeding in shooting a snipe in flight qualifies me as a sniper.

A pika chows down on leaves.

Two Double-crested Cormorants comment on the flyby of a third.

A Rough-legged Hawk speculates on the edibility of my camera.

A bee-mimic fly visits a flower.

A raven flies off with a Cassin’s Finch

A Western Bluebird couple looks out from a nesting box.

This striped skunk is probably out in the daylight because it is looking for a mate.

A Bohemian Waxwing flies by.

A mule deer stots

Migrating Trumpeter Swans have been feeding in the shallows of the Lake.

These Western Toads are in amplexus.

A diving muskrat looks as if it is kissing the water.

Two Great Horned Owlets, still in down, size up their new world.

I close this collection with two more arthropods: a crab spider consuming a flying ant.

Posted in birds, bugs, commentary, fish, herptiles, mammals, weather | 7 Comments

June goulash

Posted on June 29, 2019 by Alistair

This is a collection of images from June, none of which has had a posting of its own.

The Cedar Waxwing breeds around here in the summer.

This Eastern Kingbird feels the need to express its opinion.

A Cedar Waxwing flies across a field of flowers.

There have been thunderstorms of late. When precipitation falls from the thunderstorm anvil into the clear air below, it sometimes drags large pendulous pockets of air down with it. These dark pendulous blobs are called mamma.

A Black-billed Magpie, here caught in flight, is common in some parts of BC, but not here.

Black-billed Magpies mate for life. During their courtship they use a tail-spreading display. The female, the smaller of the two, initiates the interaction by begging for food.