Category Archives: birds

I will get you

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Alistair

  Just know this: I will get you. Juvie Bald Eagle

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Two birds

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Alistair

  Often if one tries to approach a bird, it leaves. I have never been able to get close to a kingfisher, and rarely to a grouse. So, it was a delight to have each of them approach me. Not … Continue reading →

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Pileated eats berries

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Alistair

  It is fall and the Pileated Woodpecker has decided to feed on elderberries.

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47 eagles

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Alistair

  Forty seven, that is the number of Bald Eagles seen on the roughly forty kilometre drive along the Lardeau River from Meadow Creek to Trout Lake. On earlier autumnal drives there, the count has ranged from as few as … Continue reading →

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Moulting loon

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Alistair

  At this time of the year, the loon moults from its striking breeding plumage into its inconspicuous wintertime look. The first two pictures were posted earlier and are reproduced here to illustrate the two states; the last picture was taken … Continue reading →

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Coming and going

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Alistair

  For bird watchers, September is a month to see interesting transitions: some local nesters head south for the winter; some northerly nesters arrive. The overlap presents some rich viewing of those coming and those going. The most striking departure … Continue reading →

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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

Gulls like fish

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Alistair

  Gulls are versatile eaters. Yet around here, their fish-eating antics are the most fun to watch. The first picture was taken two years ago; the rest are recent. Only once have I seen a gull pluck a fish from … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, fish | 1 Comment

Caption contest

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Alistair

  The principals in this drama are an Osprey, a Ring-billed Gull and a Largescale Sucker (presumably in a non-speaking role). Cleverness First, Slydog’s winning caption (below) depends upon an implied sarcastic remark by Gull. Second, it uses a known but … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, fish | 27 Comments

Seen gronking

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Alistair

  I have heard them; I have seen them; but, this was the first time I watched as a heron called. The Great Blue Heron is usually quiet, but when it speaks it does so with a loud low-pitched GRONK—a … Continue reading →

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