Exploring Kootenay Lake

Bald Eagles can be bullies.

Group effort: Of the seven pictures that accompany this posting, three were taken by Cynthia Fraser using a wider angle lens so as to capture the two eagles together (no. 3, 4, & 6).

Except when dealing with their mate or chicks, Bald Eagles will steal food from other creatures and other eagles. They will harass and attack other eagles which have made a kill in an attempt to acquire it. Apparently the adult success rate from theft is higher than that from hunting.

A juvenile Bald Eagle was sitting on a ponderosa pine enjoying what was left of a raven. I did not see it make the kill, or even know if it had made the kill. All I know is that it was finishing off a carcass.

After a while it left. Maybe it was spooked by my watching it from a distance — maybe not. It flew to another tree nearby, but, unfortunately, that tree already had a hungry adult eagle atop it.

Quickly, that eagle descended on the juvenile in an attempt to take from it whatever food it had.

The juvenile reacted quickly. In perhaps a tenth of second, it pushed itself and its food backwards causing the adult aiming for it to miss it completely.

In a picture taken perhaps a hundredth of a second after the previous one, the juvenile has pushed itself back off the tree branch and the adult sweeps by grabbing at the empty air where the food had been.

The juvenile then righted itself using its wings while the adult continued on its way empty-clawed.

The juvenile then feasted on the remaining portion of the raven unmolested. 

When I was a child here, there were no turkeys to be found locally. Wild Turkeys were introduced in the states to the south of us to appease hunters. Some subsequently wandered across the border and have become a staple, so much so that there are few jaunts about the valley where they go unobserved. As a present fixture, they are hardly worth picturing. Hardly, except when….

For a short time in the spring, the males are dressed in their grandest finery. It is then that they mate.

A female Wild Turkey is presented with a problem: which one to pick?

I watched two Red-tailed Hawks soaring together for about 10 minutes.

Undoubtedly a mating pair, the soaring Red-tailed Hawks were in the same thermal but were rarely close enough to be captured in the same picture. Yet, now and then….

This picture, below, is a composite. It shows the two apparently mated Red-tailed Hawks. Such hawks have an extremely variable plumage, and some of this variation can be seen in the couple shown here. The named feature, the red tail, is most evident on the dorsal surface where it appears brick red, but it is somewhat visible as a pink on the ventral surface, as seen here. However the red tail is not visible on immature birds. 

The feature that uniquely identifies the Red-tailed Hawk is the dark patagial mark on the underwing. This is the dark line on the leading edge of the first half of the forewing (between the body and the wrist position). Now, it is not possible in these views to distinguish the sex of the bird, but as the female is usually larger, I guess that she is the left bird.

The variation in plumage is easily seen on the wing’s ventral coverts and the belly band. Both birds (particularly the left) are undergoing moulting with flight feathers missing about half way along the wing and on the left side of each there is a feather that appears to be upside down.

In the past couple of days, I have watched flying birds. It is striking how those that travel in flocks follow different rules when it comes to synchronizing their wings. Small birds seem to ignore synchronization, big birds often adhere to it.

Smaller birds may fly in a flock, but any matching of wings seems to be merely by chance. Incidentally, these are Bohemian Waxwings. Notice that there is no hint of a crest on the head, which is collapsed when flying (see A crest would be a drag).

These are Trumpeter Swans. Five of them are flying together and matching their wings.

Six Trumpeter Swans first swam by and then took to the air.

It isn’t unusual to see a few Trumpeters at this time of year, in the water and usually feeding in the shallows. It is more unusual to see them run across the water and take to the air.

The adult Trumpeter is the heaviest bird in North America with a length of about 2 metres and a weight of about 12 kilograms. To fly it must run across the water to pick up speed for about 100 metres. It is rarely done.

After swimming much of the way, the lead swan chose to fly the rest. The rest followed.

The lead swan is running across the water and the other five are following.
 

Here the middle four have finally taken to the air.

Maybe I am not all that observant, but I rarely see a Ruffed Grouse in display. Although it presumably happens a few times a year, I have seen it only about once every four years.

A display involves a male with a spread ruff around the neck and a spread tail. It is usually used to persuade a female, but not always. These pictures show three at four year intervals.

The first sighting did not involve a female. It was in October (2014) and as far as I could tell, was an exercise in displaying dominance among younger males.

The second display was in late March (2018) and there was a female being enticed.

The third display was this morning (mid-February 2022) and a female was seen there during the day. (It may have been a practice in that it is a month and a half earlier than the previous shot taken in late March.) There was a spread tail, but it was substantially hidden by trees. However, it does look a little different: the ruff completely enclosed the head, and it was of a substantially lighter hue.

A week ago, I posted pictures of a winter visitor to the valley bottom: a Pygmy Owl. Given its preferences, this owl would prefer to go after irruptive birds. This week many irruptive birds, Bohemian Waxwings, arrived about a hundred metres from where the Pygmy Owl had been. The owl’s timing was a bit off.

When irrupting, Bohemian Waxwings travel in great numbers, a few hundred together. They find a staging tree next to a berry tree. From there, they travel in smaller numbers to feed on the berries. 

A view of a quarter to a third of the birds await their turn in a staging tree.

A small group flies from the staging tree to feed on rowan berries (mountain ash).

The waxwings are voracious. Two of them have berries in their throats.

As the rowan berries hang below the twigs, the birds often often grab them upside down.

Here, one bird grabs a berry and another is about to.

Repositioning the berry.

Having swallowed a berry, a waxwing flies back to the staging tree.

Pictures two and three courtesy Cynthia Fraser.

The Northern Pygmy Owl is an inconspicuous little owl — at least it is for much of the year. It resides in the uplands where its small size makes it difficult to be found amidst the vastness of all the foliage. 

For a few months in the winter, it might come to the valley bottom where it perches atop trees or on well exposed branches. The key word is might. Some winters it is evident, some it is not. Mind you, it is only about the size of one’s fist, but it is readily visible and not easily spooked by humans. 

This picture was purposely not cropped closely to show that despite its diminutive size, it is easily spotted among the bare branches. Further, it has no particular difficulty in being around people.

This rather odd picture needs an explanation. The pygmy owl has lowered its head as it looks for the antics of some tasty voles below. We see the top of its head and the two fake eyespots on the back of its head.

However, the pride of place goes to this larger-than-life shot of the pygmy owl scratching under its chin. Not only is its claw raised, but its eyes have been covered by the nictitating membrane, a translucent third eyelid present in some animals.