Category Archives: birds

  It seems that you are never too young to start a career of colliding with windows. Following a resounding thunk, this juvenile robin sat motionless on a porch roof below the offending window. After about ten minutes, it flew off. 

  A bird’s deployment of alulae is a remarkably transient event. If you blink, you will probably miss it, for each event lasts less than half a second. Yet, it is fun to spot these bits of aerodynamic wizardry which perform the … Continue reading →

  I don’t suppose that any local birder would doubt that Wood Ducks breed around the Lake. Yet, they are remarkably secretive about doing so. Frequently seen are the chicks of Mallards, Common Mergansers and Canada Geese, but not Wood Ducks. At … Continue reading →

  For a week I have been visited by sapsuckers.  Early one morning a week ago, I first heard and then spotted two sapsuckers on a utility pole, but managed a picture of only one of them before they both … Continue reading →

  The Grey-crowned Rosy Finch is not a bird that is often seen, at least not by valley dwellers. It breeds high in the mountains, usually in the vicinity of permanent snowfields. So it was that on hike up to the Kokanee … Continue reading →

  This catch up of recent birds is presented in the order they were taken.  A Cedar Waxwing at Kokanee Creek Park A Tree Swallow brings an insect to its chick in a nest cavity.  A Spotted Sandpiper chick is … Continue reading →

  Loons do not nest on Kootenay Lake because the springtime changes in water level are so large that a shoreline nest would be flooded. Yet, they do nest nearby on small lakes higher in the mountains, which is where I saw one … Continue reading →

  Bird chicks seem to like to be looked after by their parents long after such care is needed. Last year, I posted pictures of osprey parents coaxing their chicks to go off on their own: It’s time you went. … Continue reading →

  ‘Tis the season to see chicks. Here are a few seen over this last week. Of the six pictures shown, three were taken by my visiting nine-year-old grandson, Finn. He took them all when nature watching on his own. Even after … Continue reading →

  This the sad story of two horny Spotted Sandpipers and one thuggish Tree Swallow.  “Hey you idiot, you are at the wrong end. And get your feet outta my face.”   “OK, I’m ready. Now, go around to the back.” “Crumb, … Continue reading →