Exploring Kootenay Lake

Spotted Sandpipers are somewhat unusual for they have a sexual role reversal: Males are largely passive; Females are territorial, sexually aggressive, and promiscuous. Previous years, I have captured scenes of sexual aggression, and mating. I now seem to have recorded rival females fighting over territory.

The observations began sweetly enough: Two spotties copulated at the the water’s edge.

Upon completion, each bird flew maybe six metres along the beach where there was another Spotted Sandpiper. But, their similarity meant that it wasn’t possible to tell which was which.

Promptly a fight began when one bird grabbed the other by the bill. Given recorded spotty behaviour, both are almost certainly females. 

The fight carried on in the air, 

on the beach, 

and a mixture of beach and air.

Which bird prevailed is unclear, but one of them was eventually driven off. 

There is a dipper’s nest under a highway bridge. The nest has been featured here in other years: 2016, 2015. Over the winter, the nest was damaged, but the dippers still used it.

Dipper parents frequently brought things to the nest. Sometimes it was moss to repair the nest, as the dipper in the upper left is doing. Sometimes it was food to feed the chicks, as dipper in the lower right is doing. However, if only one parent flew in and did repairs, the chicks complained bitterly about being slighted.

Although only three chicks were visible in the previous image, this shot shows four.

Our local Great Horned Owl has received recent postings: Great Horned Owl, Then there were two. Now, the third owlet has appeared. 

As the interval between laying one egg and the next is a few days for the Great Horned Owl, the resulting hatched owlets are of different ages and fledge at different times.

The mother Great Horned Owl sat in a nearby tree. 

Owlet, number one, has now gained adult plumage, fledged, and sits in an adjacent tree.

Owlets numbers three (left) and two (right) are still looking over the edge of the nest.

Yesterday, I posted pictures of Great Horned Owls and their owlet. Today, there are two owlets. Might tomorrow bring three?

Two Great Horned Owlets look out from their nest.

The Great Horned Owl is widely spread across North America. It is also fairly common, yet not particularly easy to find. There is, however, a local nest site that had been used other years. It merited exploratory visits.

With the Great Horned, both parents attend the nest, and as far as I can tell, both have been seen, but on different occasions. They have two owlets, but I have only seen one.

This is one of the parents.

The markings of this owl seem different, so I assume it is the other parent.

The star of today’s visit was one of their owlets.