Category Archives: commentary

Local Nature Tasting

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Alistair

  This posting is shamelessly promotional. At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5th, I shall give a presentation at the Visitors’ Centre of Kokanee Creek Park (BC Parks’ map, Google’s map). Part of a weekly series, Science in the Park, my … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary | 3 Comments

One hundred thousand

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Alistair

  This month marks an anniversary of sorts.  This blog about Kootenay Lake and its surroundings is about four years old. Since that time, there have been just under seven-hundred postings. To these, readers have added about 1600 welcome comments. Spammers have now … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, wildflowers | 11 Comments

Kill, pose, limn

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Alistair

  I was perusing a digital copy of John Fannin’s Checklist of the birds of British Columbia (1891), when I ran across an illustration of a Merlin (well, it was often called a Pigeon Hawk, at that time).   The … Continue reading →

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Otter haven

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Alistair

  I see river otters a few times a year, but only when they are wandering. This week, I saw them at home.  Tracks across the ice, local piles of snow, and openings in the ice, all hinted at a … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, mammals | 6 Comments

John Ross Matheson

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Alistair

  John Ross Matheson, the man Prime Minister Lester Pearson said was most responsible for Canada’s flag, has died at the age of 96. It is impressive that a man who, half a century ago, played such a prominent role … Continue reading →

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Spatially challenged

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Alistair

  An interesting wildlife story on the CBC website demonstrates how geographically challenged are some CBC reporters. The headline reads: We know we are in trouble immediately when the subtitle speaks of the “West Kootenays”. Alas, there is no such … Continue reading →

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Desecration

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Alistair

  Kootenay Lake is home to a impressively large number of pictographs. As I noted in a posting a year and a half ago: pictographs are at once art and narrative. Our pictographs are certainly the cultural heritage of First Nations, … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, history | 23 Comments

Unfriendly pilings

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Alistair

  Birds like wooden pilings. Pilings are the heavy beams driven vertically into the lake bottom to anchor docks (among other things). Traditionally, a log was used for a piling; it provided birds with a natural offshore perch safe from … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary | 5 Comments

Flying-duck travails

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Alistair

  Pictures extend moments. Yet, for the moment to be extended, the picture must first be taken and sometimes that is difficult. Such is the case with small rapidly moving birds and bugs. It is no accident that most of … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, commentary | 2 Comments

Trompe-l’oeil

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Alistair

  Kate Bridger is a local artist and author. Her recent article in the Nelson Star discussed trompe-l’oeil—the ancient art of painting a building with such realism that the eye is tricked into believing the structure has three-dimensional features that it does … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary | 3 Comments