Exploring Kootenay Lake

Cormorants are uncommon here. Monday was the first time I saw their breeding plumages. 

The Double-crested Cormorant is named for its breeding plumage: two tufts of feathers on its head. The eponymous crests might be either white or black. The crests last only a couple of months, primarily during the time spent around the nest. Probably the only place cormorants breed around here is at the south end of the Lake.

A Double-crested Cormorant shows its eponymous white crests.

Hidden behind an old piling, a second cormorant with black crests went unnoticed at first.

When flying, the cormorant flattens its crests (as does the Great Horned Owl). The two cormorants seemed to have a combative relationship. The white-crested bird kept trying to intimidate the black-crested one. It is unclear why the rant.

During the time I watched, the flyby happened three times.

When landing on water, the cormorant drags its spread tail in the water as a brake.
“I’m outta here. It’s time to go fishing.” 

No sighting on the Lake quite matches that of a hunting party of Common Mergansers. They spread out in a phalanx as they hunt for fish, often with their heads down as they course across the water scouring the depths. No other local wildlife hunts in this cooperative manner.

Common Mergansers scour the shallows for prey.

We are having a transition to spring. Two days ago, a posting (still here) showed two birds that spring will send on their way. But yesterday, a friend spotted a Bald Eagle nesting on the north side of the West Arm, and I saw this one on the south side.  

Bald Eagles start their seasonal nesting in March.

Are we experiencing winter or signs of spring? Some wildlife still consider it to be winter.

Pygmy Owls are altitudinal migrants: cold months are spent at the valley bottoms; warm months, high in the mountains. This one is still in the valley. It is picking out its lunch as it watches a smorgasbord of delicious little birds flitting about below.

Trumpeter Swans are latitudinal migrants. Here are four of twenty Trumpeter Swans seen in the last two days. Apparently, there isn’t enough open water to our north for them to head there yet.

Redheads are not common around the Lake, but there is something about a cold winter that draws them to the Nelson waterfront. About four dozen have been hanging around there for a while.

The duck is named for the striking red head of the male; the female (left) has better camouflage.

They are often seen with bills tucked into their feathers. It is, after all, cold.

Buddies. 

“Oh, it is good to be me.” 

In an adjacent bay, seemingly segregated by colour, are some Greater Scaups with greenish heads.

This winter started with visiting irruptive birds: Irruptive meets invasive (2017/11/20); Irruptive winter? (2017/12/4). The earliest arrivals were Common Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks. Many irruptives are still here.

An irruptive is an arctic species that may or may not search for food locally in any particular year. Sometimes they appear; sometimes they do not.

Now, three months after these early winter observations, the area still boasts irruptive species.

Sometimes the Pine Grosbeak arrives in great numbers, but this year brought only a few. This female is feeding on waxberries.

Not seen early in the winter, Bohemian Waxwings have now arrived in numbers.

The Bohemian Waxwing is a beautiful bird with a crest and a yellow tipped tail.

This Bald Eagle was hunting a duck. This was not a good day to be that duck.

In the last two days, many swans have been reported along the West Arm of Kootenay Lake, and along the lower Kootenay River. Judging by the ones I have seen, they are Trumpeters.

They stopped by to feed on their way to the Arctic where they will breed this coming spring. 

There were eleven swans in this group.

They fed. 

They preened on the border ice and then stood around lollygagging.  

Having preened, some of the swans settled their feathers by flapping their wings.