Category Archives: birds

Seeing the unfamiliar

  While rummaging through a bookstore nearly a half century ago, I discovered an interesting paperback. It was an English edition of the 1937 Dutch book by Marcel Minnaert: Light and Colour in the Open Air. I read it, reread it, and … Continue reading

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Riveting orange

  This is the time of year to see juvenile ospreys around the Lake. They have left the nest, but migration is still a few weeks off. These birds will not return for two or three years when, as adults, … Continue reading

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Kokanee keep coming

  The Kootenay Lake naturalist’s year is marked by many events: irruptive finches in the winter, migrating swans in the spring, the return of humming birds and ospreys, the freshet, pollinating insects, the arrival of black bears in the valleys … Continue reading

Posted in birds, fish | 6 Comments

Opreys two

  Usually, the only time I see two adult ospreys together is at a nest, either building or tending. It was unusual to see these two sitting together on a snag away from the nest. Maybe the chicks have just … Continue reading

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Two kings feasting

  Two kings were feasting in a park: a kingfisher and a kingbird. The high water has left the grassy area on the southwest side of Kokanee Creek Park closer to being a marsh than a meadow. The water has attracted … Continue reading

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Osprey, fish, crow

  An osprey cannot eat a fish when it is flying; the bird must first land. Even if it is taking the fish back to its chicks in a nest, the osprey will often stop off for a snack first. … Continue reading

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Flycatcher family

  Human parents easily relate to the frenetic activity of bird parents as they attend to their chicks. The next generation is relentlessly demanding. Recently, I showed family pictures of White-breasted Nuthatches, Killdeer and Robin, Common Loons, Canada Geese, Bank Swallows, … Continue reading

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Hitchhiking fish

  Fish: Oh, oh…, the view is sooo lovely from up here. Thank you for showing it to me. Now, if you will kindly just drop me off in the Lake. Right down there will do just fine. No, no, … Continue reading

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Flicker chicks feed

  Of all the local woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker is the one I see most often. The male flicker’s springtime hammering is intended to impress the females. His successful wooing has resulted in chicks to feed. Among bird species there … Continue reading

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Finn’s water birds

Guest posting Finn is my seven-year-old grandson. I played consultant, but Finn took and edited his own pictures using his own equipment. I helped post them. Alistair   While visiting at Kootenay Lake, I get to wander around with Granddad as … Continue reading

Posted in birds, weather | 14 Comments