It is certainly fun to spot a Cooper’s Hawk along the lakeshore, for I only get to see it about once a year. This is a raptor that mainly preys upon smaller birds.
Yet, there is something rather odd about my sightings: I have only ever seen immature Cooper’s Hawks. Where are the adults?
A immature Cooper’s Hawk sits atop a utility pole.
“Quit watching me while I practice my dance routines.”
Around mid-September adult ospreys migrate. They have nested, raised chicks, and sent them off on their own. Now is the time to head south for the winter. However, that requires building up fat reserves by feasting on fish. (Juvenile ospreys migrate separately a few weeks later.)
Earlier in the week, an adult osprey fed in the early morning light. It spent most of its time feeding on the piling with its wings folded. But, occasionally it raised its wings to adjust the position of its fish, and that made for a couple of dramatic shots.
The explanation for why a bird spreads its wings when flying is obvious: the spread wings aerodynamically support its weight.
However, when a bird is standing or floating on water, its wings are normally, but not always, folded. There seems to be a variety of reasons for a bird that isn’t flying to spread its wings: drying them, warming them, baking parasites, signalling, regaining lost balance, and preparing to fly.
Although this compilation makes it look as if these postures are frequent, they are not. Two of the images below are new, but previously posted images have been pressed into service to illustrate reasons that wings might be spread while a bird is standing or floating.
During flight, this heron’s spread wings aerodynamically support its weight. However, when a bird is perched, its weight is supported by its legs. What would prompt a perched bird to spread its wings?
Drying feathers
A compelling explanation for a bird having spread wings when perching is that it is drying its wings. This actually seems to be the case with this Bald Eagle, which had just been fishing for Kokanee in a stream. I have only seen an eagle adopt this pose twice, and on each occasion, the wings were only partially spread.
However, following a bath in the lake, this Bald Eagle stands in the shallows, spreads its wings, and shakes off the water.
Warming
Another circumstance occurs after a cool night when the bird warms its wings and body in the morning sunlight. This seems to be the explanation for Turkey Vultures exposing their spread wings to the rising sun.
Baking parasites
A curious case of spread wings is illustrated by this Great Blue Heron: it is exposing its spread wings to sunlight so as to bake the parasites in its wing feathers. Its extended neck, and panting, then cools the blood reaching its head so as to prevent the hotter blood from reaching its brain.
The balalaika-like pose of the heron is mimicked by a Turkey Vulture, so one suspects that it, too, is baking its parasites.
Signalling
The above poses can be fairly long lasting. Of somewhat shorter duration are those shown in the next images. The spread-wing posture can be used to signal. This dipper is telling an adjacent dipper to stay clear of its foraging area.
Similarly, this loon is signalling a perceived interloper to move out of its territory.
These Canada Geese seem to use synchronized spread wings in their courting.
This is one of the ways a male Hooded Merganser signals his interest to a nearby female.
Maintaining balance
When mating, a male osprey spreads his wings both to support its weight and maintain balance.
This is also the case for the mating Tree Swallows.
Sometimes a perched bird loses its balance when eating and spreads its wings to regain it. Here a Pileated Woodpecker is foraging on elderberries.
And an osprey briefly uses its wings to maintain its balance as it adjusts the position of its fish.
Preparing to fly
This juvenile osprey has yet to fly, but it practices by facing into the wind and spreading its wings.
Finally there is the momentary spreading when an adult bird is still perched, but about to fly.
When I post something to this blog, I like to have a theme — a story to tell. Alas, in the nascent days of September, I could find none. There were many images, but no theme. So, this is just a grab bag of things seen.
A white-faced meadowhawk rests on a leaf between flights.
An Eastern Kingbird expresses its opinion.
A bluet damselfly shepherds its partner to an egg-laying place.
A Turkey Vulture flies low overhead.
A darner dragonfly hunts for insect prey.
A Warbling Vireo also hunts for insects.
A Grey Catbird rests in a tree.
A sub-adult Bald Eagle passes low overhead.
This is a collection of images from August, none of which has had a posting of its own.
An osprey flies by with a fish.
Earlier I showed a Solitary Sandpiper. Here is another migrant: a Semipalmated Sandpiper.
In May I posted Western Toads in amplexus, in June copious tadpoles. Now there are toadlets.
This is an oddity: a juvenile Brewer’s Blackbird during its moult.
Usually Turkey Vultures are seen soaring on high. This one was low as it flew past.
The dramatic stance of this Bald Eagle was the transient result of it lifting its wings so as to fly.
A black bear sow and her two cubs have staked out a local creek to fish for spawning Kokanee. Although she has explored the creek, I have yet to see her do so. Rather, I had a view of the family resting overnight in a tree.
OK, as wildlife pictures go, these are marginal, but the family was seen high in a distant tree through other foliage.
Two black bear cubs (seen in silhouette) rest in a tree, one above the other.
Mommy had been higher in the tree, but has now descended.
Yesterday, with the Kokanee moving up local creeks to spawn, I posted a picture of a heron hunting by the creek. Today, it plunged after a Kokanee.
A Great Blue Heron strikes at a Kokanee. Alas, it failed to catch one.
Kokanee are filling local creeks in preparation for spawning, after which their carcasses will become available to many other creatures. Those creatures are already standing by in anticipation.
A Kokanee salmon enters the creek to spawn.
Standing by to pick off the dying fish are ravens.
A juvenile Bald Eagle looks down on a creek with impatience.
Turkey Vultures soar overhead in anticipation of a feast.
And a Great Blue Heron watches from beside the creek.
Mommy Osprey brings a serving of fish to her rather large chicks still in the nest.
Flaws in supporting pictures
This blog bases its postings on recently taken pictures from local nature. Now and then an identification is mistaken and this results in a flawed text. Nevertheless, the picture is correct.
News sites have the opposite problem. A textual story comes over the line and some benighted picture editor has the job of providing (presumably) relevant illustrations. Sometimes these illustrations are just silly.
Why such text stories are deemed inadequate without an accompanying image strikes me as bizarre, and many of the better news websites do not insist upon it. Yet, many news sites seem to require a gratuitous picture for each story — often one that is merely generic clip art, and now and then one that is misleading.
Below are two discussions of recent ineptitude on the part of picture editors.
During the recent catharsis in the Manitoba wilderness, the BBC ran a story about the dangers of the locale and illustrated it with a shot of a grizzly bear. Alas, grizzly bears have not been seen in that region for hundreds of years. Someone must have pointed this out to them, for a couple of days later the picture was changed to show a black bear. Here, I show a local grizzly bear, something long gone from Gillam, Manitoba.
A recent story in the New York Times discussed a study of the behaviour of migrating European warblers. However, they illustrated it with a North American Yellow Warbler. Alas, despite the similarity of names, these two warblers are only distantly related, making the illustration irrelevant. Here is a shot of the local Yellow Warbler.
