Category Archives: birds

  Of the four species of grebes that frequent Kootenay Lake, the Pied-billed Grebe is the smallest and least often seen. So, when one is spotted, it is worth watching: Will its underwater foraging produce anything of interest? Thursday’s Pied-billed Grebe … Continue reading →

  The Pine Grosbeak is an irruptive species: some years it is here in abundance; other years it is absent. This year it is here. It is easy to spot when it is feasting on rowan berries (mountain ash).  It … Continue reading →

  2014 brought this blog a plethora of satisfying bird images. The selected dozen appear chronologically. A male Mountain Bluebird looks at the camera and fluffs its feathers.  A male Wild Turkey displays his finery for the girls. A Bald Eagle took a few … Continue reading →

  Most loons have left the Lake for the Coast by mid-fall. A few stragglers can sometimes be seen in the winter, but I had not seen one previously. (All my earlier loon pictures were taken from April to October.) In its nonbreeding plumage, … Continue reading →

  The male Common Goldeneye Duck is in his breeding plumage from October to June. That presumably means that he is prepared to breed, not that he is about to breed. So, I thought nothing of it when three strapping … Continue reading →

  I usually oblige my camera when it asks to be taken for a walk. Unfortunately, my camera does not always reciprocate my kindness by fetching an interesting variety of subjects. On recent jaunts, it has retrieved only birds, but at least it was fetching fetching birds. A … Continue reading →

  The feisty Pygmy Owl is with us year round, but is only seen in the valley bottoms during the winter. Apparently the recent cold was enough to drive it off the mountainsides for one visited my yard on Wednesday.  … Continue reading →