Exploring Kootenay Lake

I have gently poked fun at the Ruffed Grouse a few times because it always behaves as if it is well camouflaged in the brush. So, even when it is on snow or gravel, it walks very slowly feigning that its plumage is nothing but a shifting pattern of dappled sunlight in the undergrowth.

However, its unchanging behaviour is not its only ineptitude when it comes to camouflage. It also has its plumage to deal with. 

The Ruffed Grouse comes in a few different colour morphs (that is, colour forms), but the two primary ones are: grey (found primarily in the north), red (found primarily in the south). The grey seems to be best adapted to hiding in snow; the red seems best adapted to hiding in foliage.  We get both forms here. But, what is a red-morph Ruffed Grouse to do when it encounters snow? If a coyote appears, it has just lost the lottery. And what is a grey-morph Ruffed Grouse to do when it is amidst leaves. It is, alas, irreconcilably visible. 

The latter was the case this week when our local grey-morph Ruffed Grouse attempted to hide amidst the fall foliage — alas, it was starkly visible. It is interesting that the grouse has as much trouble adapting its plumage as it does adapting its behaviour.

A grey-morph grouse stands out amidst the fall foliage, but it will blend better come winter.

Leaving aside the flicker, which might be seen a few times a week, woodpeckers are spotted only once or twice a year. So, it was unexpected to see three different species of woodpeckers in one day. They are presented in the order seen.

This is a juvenile Pileated Woodpecker (dark eyes) that has been probing a utility pole for hibernating insects. The pileated is our largest woodpecker.

A female Northern Flicker was probing some wooden trim for insects.

There has been a woodpecker feeder on the house for nearly a decade. Its suet attracts jays, chickadees, and nuthatches, but the only woodpecker seen there had been a flicker. That was until yesterday, when our smallest woodpecker turned up: the Downy Woodpecker. The male stayed for some time and was back again this morning.

In late October and through November, swans begin to arrive during their migration south — first in dribs and drabs, then in larger flocks. This last weekend, I saw two families of swans about fifteen kilometres apart. This is one of them.

A family of Tundra Swans rests and feeds by the shore.

The Northern Shrike is a songbird that eats other songbirds.

Indeed, with its hooked bill, it is almost a wannabe raptor. Alas, it lacks a raptor’s talons and so must impale its prey on thorns as a way of holding them in place as it uses its hooked bill to tear them into bite-sized pieces. 

Having bred in the boreal forest well to our north, the Northern Shrike visits here only in the winter months, beginning in October. Mind you, as with predators everywhere, it isn’t a common find, but just an occasional one. So, I was delighted to encounter one in the grasslands of Kokanee Creek Park this morning. Curiously, this is where I have also seen Northern Shrikes other years. There it hunts small birds and ground-dwelling vertebrates from prominent perches. I also include a picture of a shrike taken a year and a half ago as it took a shrew from those grasslands.

It will also hang out adjacent to household bird feeders hoping to pick off tasty little birds. 

A newly arrived Northern Shrike watches for prey from a convenient thorn bush.

From a year and a half ago on the grasslands, a Northern Shrike captures a shrew.

A newly fledged Bald Eagle takes four or five years to become an adult with a dark body and white head and tail. During those first few years, it has a strikingly different look. 

Over the last weekend, I visited a river flowing into the Lake that is still replete with spawning Kokanee. It was attracting many hungry Bald Eagles that were perched on the trees along the shore while they watched for fish. Below are shots of two of the young eagles seen.

The fledgling Bald Eagle departs its nest looking dark —  plumage, eyes, bill — all dark. However, there may be flecks of white in the plumage. Further, the cere (fleshy area at the base of the bill), mouth gape, and feet are yellowish.

The transition to the look of an adult takes the better part of five years. This bird is probably in its third year. Eyes and bill are now mainly yellow, feet are a brighter yellow, and head and tail are nearly all white, but there is still white on the body and wings.