Steam devils in April? This was unexpected. Although not an every-winter occurrence, my experience is that steam devils are seen over the Lake during a bitterly cold outbreak of brisk winds in midwinter. Yet, there they were on a sunny April morning.
Steam devils are whirlwinds of steam fog extending from the water surface upwards perhaps a hundred metres. They look rather like water spouts, but they are not. Water spouts grow down from a thunderstorm and lift a column of whirling water. Steam devils grow up from the surface and are filled with churning droplets of steam fog. Indeed the name devil comes from the Greek, to throw. Satan earned the name as a result of throwing slander; steam devils earn it by tossing droplets of steam fog.
Today’s events played out as follows: The night was clear and a cold katabatic wind flowed down a draw, out across a beach, and over the warmer water of the Lake. Once over the water, the low-vapour-pressure moisture in the katabatic wind mixed with the higher-vapour-pressure moisture just over the Lake. The resulting condensation produced small chaotic convective sprites of steam fog. That is usually where the matter rests.
Today however, the shallow katabatic wind flowed offshore at an angle to the beach: It moved faster over the smooth water than over the friction-slowing beach. This added a spin to the air, and that vortex became stretched by the rising convective towers of steam fog. The result was towering steam devils.
Sprites of steam fog are seen rising from the Lake. But, one that was spinning has been stretched by convection into a towering steam devil.
Steam devils are further sculpted by the horizontal wind and so bend and twist.
A steam devil can form a dramatic spinning tower of fog.
March goulash
This is a collection of images from March, each of which lacked a posting of its own.
Such observations of nature serve as a balm to my own increasing social isolation. These are creatures oblivious to our present angst. After all, nature doesn’t need people; it is people who need nature.
Yellow-bellied Marmots are impervious to issues of social distancing. Interactions just carry on.
A Red-tailed Hawk couple is seen on distant trees. The female (lower left) is 11% longer and so about 35% heavier than the male (upper right). This sexual size difference is typical for red tails.
Earlier, the female Red-tailed Hawk is seen with a small creature sticking out of the side of its bill.
Around here, the Northern Shrike is an uncommon bird of the cold weather. Yet, I see one most often in March and April. These are the shrikes passing through here as they migrate from south to north. Although the shrike is a songbird, it is a wannabe raptor. It has the raptor’s hooked bill, but lacks its grasping claws.
On adjacent days, I saw a juvenile Bald Eagle. Seen first hunting from the air, and next hunting from a perch, it is likely the same bird.
Is this the same bird as above? The colour here seems browner, but then the lighting is different.
Just as with the shrike, we are experiencing an uptick in sightings of Ring-necked Ducks (male left, female right) as they migrate north past our region. The duck is named for the rather faint ring around the base of its neck.
But, the Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck (female left, male right) will now be declining in number with the passing of the winter.
Here is yet another swan. However, this is the less common Tundra Swan, and it is flapping.
