When I last saw this wren, it was called a Winter Wren; now it is called a Pacific Wren. The first observation was made before 2010, which was the time at which the Winter Wren was divided into two species and our western species was renamed the Pacific Wren. I have only seen this bird in older forests some 500 to a 1,000 meters above the Lake.
Seen flitting from one perch to another, a Pacific Wren divided its time between this rock face and a tree.
Here it is singing while perched on a tree. 
The River Otter treated my presence with surprising insouciance. I wasn’t standing far away as it chewed on its fishy breakfast in the light of dawn. It would sometimes look my way, but more-or-less ignored me.
I am otter; hear me roar. Actually, while otters chirp, growl and grunt, they don’t roar. It is probably just swallowing.
Around the Lake, there are five species within the deer family (the cervids): moose, elk, caribou, mule deer, white-tailed deer, but only the latter two have the word, deer, attached to their names. It was nice to see both deer on one day. Certainly, the white-tailed deer is common in the valleys, but the mule deer is usually only seen higher on the mountain sides.
The first deer spotted was a mule-deer buck. It is named for its large (mule-like) ears, but is perhaps more readily identified by its black-tipped rope-like tail. The antlers of this one are still in velvet. 
Then a white-tailed doe was spotted in my yard. After taking pictures and enjoying her company for a short time, we left her alone to browse.
When spotted again at twilight, it became clear that she was browsing for two.
This was the first time I had seen an eagle bathe and dry itself.
Last Friday, a number of eagles investigated a fish on the shore: an eagle infestation. Then, the fish was contested and eaten: eagle feast and fight. Finally, an eagle entered the water where it bathed and dried itself.
The eagle waded into the shallows and vigorously splashed water over itself.
It then twisted back and forth to shake off water as would an otter or a dog.
The drops flew as it continued twisting and shaking.
Next, the wings were flapped to evaporate water from the flight feathers.
With its flight feathers spread and waving, the wings are now nearly dry.
The time had come to dry the tail and leg feathers by jumping up and down.
Sated, clean and dry, the eagle flew off leaving only ephemeral marks on the water.
This story began with the posting called an infestation of eagles. It is continued here as eagles feast and fight. The final posting will show an aspect of eagle behaviour that was new to me.
Humans retreated and left the beach and fish to the eagles. Many eagles had taken an interest in the fish, but which one would get it? Not unexpectedly, it was the largest adult. Among raptors, females are larger than males, so it is probably a female who flew in and grabbed the fish (a sucker, from the look of it).
The eagle quickly set to tearing off bits of flesh and downing them.
Abruptly, the eagle hid its fish under its body and made agitated calls to something overhead.
This somewhat blurry shot shows the problem: a challenger for the prize.
The two eagles skirmished, but the first to arrive was larger and it prevailed.
The first (larger, female?) eagle triumphed. The challenger accepted the hierarchy and waited patiently for scraps. What happened next will be the substance of the next posting.
The skirmish picture (#5) was taken by Finn Grathwol and is used with permission.
Why the sudden infestation of eagles?
On occasion, Bald Eagles fly by or even visit, but at sunrise on Friday perhaps a half-dozen individuals started circling and landing. Only a few of these birds produced satisfactory pictures, yet, the story of the unexpected visitors proved so interesting, it will be spread over three postings. This is the first.
The first to arrive was a sub adult which flew into a tree above me.
Once it spotted me, it seemed distinctly unpleased and quickly flew off.
Then a progression of sub adults and adults circled over us, and…
an adult landed and glowered down from an adjacent tree.
Then another sub adult flew in…,
and the adult chased it around the Lake before driving it off.
Finally, my grandson pointed out the reason for all of this activity: a fish on the beach. Now understanding what an impediment we were, the humans retreated to a safe viewing distance and left the area to the eagles. Then, things got even more interesting—to be continued.
The eagle glowering picture (#4) was taken by Finn Grathwol and is used with permission.
As with the dragonfly emergence, reported earlier, mayflies shed their exoskeleton in late July and early August and take to the air. The arrival of the mayflies makes for happy fish, bats, and birds.
Local Nature Tasting: savouring nature with a camera
Again, I have been invited to talk in the Science in the Park series at the Visitors’ Centre of Kokanee Creek Park.
The show will be on Tuesday, August 4th at 7:30 p.m.
This is an end-of-the-month collection of images, none of which rated a posting on its own.
Sometimes noted is that by mid summer we already have all the migrant species we can expect until September. But, if we don’t see new species at present, we do see new members of those species, some of which appear below.
These two juvenile Great Blue Herons were hatched this year.
We cannot be sure if this American Redstart is a juvenile or a female (or both).
This Columbian Ground Squirrel was born this year.
This adult Red Squirrel seems to be eating a fir cone as if it were eating a corncob.
The yellowish belly of this Cedar Waxwing suggests that it is this year’s bird.
Nesting Pacific-slope Flycatchers were treated earlier. That this bird was probably hatched this year is evident from the buffy wingbars. They would appear whitish on an adult.
This unambiguously shows two Wood Duck chicks.
Normally the harbinger of the fall season, the presence of steam fog in July is uncommon. Yet, I have now seen it a couple of times at sunrise.
Steam fog forms over the Lake when the water is warmer than the air above it. This is why it is common in the early fall and during cold outbreaks in the winter when the Lake does not cool as rapidly as the atmosphere.
On this occasion, we have come out of a warm spell, during which time the Lake has warmed, and into a brief spell of cooler weather. Clear skies at night bring gentle katabatic winds that spread cooler air from the mountain slopes out over the warm water. This results in steam fog at sunrise. As the day warms, the steam fog is soon vanquished.
It was a drama I had only seen once before, but this time it played out in a rather different manner.
A Bald Eagle is just too big to be able to hover over one spot except by flying into a rather high wind. And that is the way I saw it before: in a high wind, an eagle hovered over a merganser and tried to capture it. This time, the high wind brought a four-year-old Bald Eagle to try to capture a mallard, or probably, its chick. Given the appearance and the noise of the wind, the mallards may have been unaware that they were being targeted.
What happened next was unexpected. An osprey appeared, attacked the eagle, and drove it off. Why did the osprey do it? I haven’t a clue. But, the mallards swam off as if nothing had happened. 
