Eagle dramas

Posted on July 25, 2015 by Alistair

 

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. 

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Merganser stuffing

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Alistair

 

Sometimes an event’s distance and rapidity make for low-quality, yet interesting images. This merganser swallowing a fish certainly qualifies.

It is fun to see a merganser eat a fish anytime, but this one seemed unconscionably large for the bird.

Stuffing the fish down its gullet proved difficult, so the merganser pushed it in with its toes. I had not seen this behaviour before.

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Third hummer

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Alistair

 

Chalk it up to inattention. I know that we regularly get three hummingbird species during the warmer months: Calliope, Rufous, Black-chinned. Yet, I don’t think that I have ever noticed seeing all three in a single year. This year I have: Calliope, Rufous, (and other postings) and lately a Black-chinned. 

I saw a Black-chinned male this last week, but failed to get a picture, so this link is to one from a previous year. However, I have been getting regular visits from a Black-chinned female. 

Unlike males, female hummingbirds are not easy to distinguish. A good view of a spread tail can prove diagnostic, but it only happens occasionally. This female Black-chinned presents a typically uninformative view.

Here is a fleeting view of a spread tail. On the female Black-chinned Hummingbird, the black band on the tail is broken by central green feathers. On a Calliope or Rufous it is continuous.

A female Rufous Hummingbird visited about the same time. Even this side view shows the continuous black band.

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Plume from afar

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Alistair

 

The picture, posted on Saturday of a (controlled) burn around the Sitkum Creek fire, was dramatic.

Doug Thorburn has sent me a picture that was taken about the same time and puts the matter in perspective. His view is from the summit of Mt. Asgard in the Valhallas. The smoke from the Sitkum fire appears beyond the top of Mt Dag (top left). From this distance of about forty kilometres, the world looks pristine and the plume tiny.

Doug Thorburn’s picture is used with permission.

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Nightmare continues

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Alistair

 

This picture was taken at 16:30 PDT today.

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Finally dusky &

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Alistair

 

Last Tuesday’s foray into high-country wilderness produced some delights (already posted was the Wesakachak), some of which might be seen in the valleys, but are often easier to find in the subalpine and alpine tundra.

Primary among these was a Dusky Grouse. Previously posted pictures of this grouse were taken by Doug Thorburn. This female was a first for me. A male was also seen, but its pictures were not worth posting.

Spotted in the alpine tundra (albeit also found at the valley bottom) was a Columbian Ground Squirrel. It presented me with many poses, but the one I really liked was evocative of a grass-chewing rustic.

A Snowshoe Hare was feeding beside a backroad. This is not a rabbit; this is not a bunny. Admire the large white hind feet. The hare and the pika are our only indigenous lagomorphs. I don’t see either often enough.

Finally, there was a Red-tailed Hawk. It was stationed near the tree line and looked towards the valley, almost as if the hawk were a sentinel at the entrance to the alpine tundra.

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Fledging flycatchers

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Alistair

 

Less than a week ago, I posted pictures of a Pacific-slope Flycatcher hanging around its nest in a local carport. Ron Welwood, from whom the flycatchers appropriated the space, has sent me a picture of the chicks standing in the nest. Fifteen minutes later the chicks had fledged.

An adult Pacific-slope Flycatcher waits impatiently for those pesky humans to leave its carport.

Finally, the two chicks stood up in the nest. A short time later, they were gone.


Ron Welwood’s picture is used with permission.

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Wesakachak

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Alistair

 

I encountered the Whisky Jack fifty years ago when camping in the high country. At the time, I had no idea what this jaunty bird had to do with whisky (or whiskey, as Americans style their beverage). Nothing, as it turns out. Whisky Jack is just a transliteration from Wesakachak, the name in Cree (and related languages), where the bird seems to have been named after an amiable trickster hero (or possibly, it was the other way around).

So Wesakachak was the bird’s name in Canada for centuries. Along the way it gained the more formal name of Canada Jay, which does make geographic sense as the bird’s range lies primarily in this country. But, then the American Ornithologists’ Union decided it should be called Gray Jay (which really should be spelled Grey Jay in Canada) and we went along with it. If you want to find it in a guidebook, look under Gray Jay, but I think I will stick with Wesakachak.

Any way you spell it, one of the delights of the sub-alpine forest is an encounter with this amiable trickster. If it happens, it is probably not because you sought the bird; rather, it is because the bird sought you. 

This is one of a number of Wesakachaks that came to investigate visitors to its realm.

“Why are you here? More to the point, did you bring food?”

The bird is soon off, but only on a short flight to a nearby perch.

Here is the issue: If you brought food you are interesting; if not, well….

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Snaketail emergence

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Alistair

 

While other dragonfly species have been hunting and mating for some time, the Pale Snaketail is just emerging. Usually emergence takes place in the morning. The exuvia, the discarded larval skin, is seen beside the dragonfly. The white thread, to the right, stays attached to the exuvia. It served as a trigger line to open the spiracles in the dragonfly allowing it to get oxygen now that it lives in the air. Soon this snaketail will try its first flight.

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Robin vs toad

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Alistair

 

The froggy wooing, reported in early May, seems to have had consequences.

The toadlets were plentiful but tiny. When seen from afar, they could have been beetles. A tiny patch of lakeshore was crawling with them, for having grown legs, they were no longer tadpoles, albeit still sporting tails.

I was not alone in enjoying the sight. A snake slithered away, presumably having been sated. A couple of Song Sparrows wandered through the crowd. Most interesting were a half-dozen juvenile robins.

The robins would pluck toadlets off the surface and swallow them one after another.

However, fans of the Western Toad will be happy to know that many toadlets remained after the robins flew off.

Posted in birds, herptiles | 2 Comments