Category Archives: birds

This is a problem that only a birder could love: how to distinguish the female Barrow’s Goldeneye from the female Common Goldeneye. Both are ducks, and both look much the same. I was reminded of this problem during a lakeside … Continue reading →

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is over a century old. It was started by birders in reaction to the nineteenth century practice of hunters seeing how many birds could be shot in a day. Yesterday I, too, went out to … Continue reading →

Most herons I see around the West Kootenay are grey (despite the bird’s name of Great Blue Heron); a few are bluish grey. But, now and then there is a heron that looks really blue. I was reminded of this colour difference when … Continue reading →

The last three postings were products of a seasonal trip from Kootenay Lake to the Coast.  Delights such as the Snowy Owls and the Snow Geese merited a posting of their own. But, what else was seen? Herein lies the … Continue reading →

What’s a lad from the West Kootenay mountains (and used to seeing at most twenty birds at a time) to do when faced with the Coastal chaos of thousands and thousands of Snow Geese? Why, take pictures. According to the … Continue reading →

The Snowy Owl is a rare visitor to southern BC. But, now and then—maybe every four or five years—there is a shortage of lemmings to eat in the arctic and the owls fly farther south in search of food. I … Continue reading →

Ok, I admit it: there is no such species of bird as the Great Horned Heron. However, ornithologists have a habit of suggesting that a species is horned when it sports tufts of feathers on the head. They have done … Continue reading →