Exploring Kootenay Lake

Muskrat grazing

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Alistair

I assumed that after the variety of yesterday, I would lie low today, but then a muskrat stopped by.

Muskrats get a bad rap: They aren’t rats, they are large aquatic voles; They don’t attack swimmers, they are herbivores. I have probably seen this one a dozen times in the last month, but always partially submerged and during the twilight of dawn. Now, it was grazing on a dilapidated dock in the afternoon sun.

May is the month to watch for young males doing a walkabout in search of a nesting site of their own.

Each wants to find a place where there is a good supply of vegetation to eat. With luck, this one will stay around.

Posted in mammals | 2 Comments

Bountiful watching

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Alistair

Nature watching has been bountiful in the last few days. In addition to the just posted toads in amplexus and the dipper chicks, some things seen were:

A Cliff Swallow peeking out of its nest;

A marmot contemplating (“You disparaged my vanity on your previous posting, but when I’m not sleeping, eating, or mating, I really am a contemplative fellow.”);

Goslings following their parents;

A Painted Turtle lazing in the Lake (The rest of us must wait for summer.);

An early season dragonfly perching (possibly a female Spiny Baskettail);

A close view of a Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck revealing its iridescent head;

A Black Bear grazing on dandelions (It did not like being watched.);

Nothing beat a coyote impudently walking with its back to the traffic flow, which stopped on the road and pooped.

Posted in birds, bugs, herptiles, mammals | 3 Comments

Dipper chicks

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Alistair

Two weeks ago, I showed pictures of a dipper nest under a bridge. One shot showed the male feeding the female in the nest. The chicks have now hatched, which makes this a busy Mother’s Day.

Three hungry maws beg at the nest’s opening.

The brightly coloured gapes and mandibles of the chicks are believed to be a signal to and a target for the parents: Insert food here. The adult lacks this colouration (see the earlier posting).

The adult obliges. Here it is carrying a grub in its bill and is about to insert it in the chick’s mouth. This goes on all day as both parents ferry food to their voracious progeny.

Posted in birds | 4 Comments

Amplexus

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Alistair

A froggy would a-wooing go.

Amplexus (embrace) refers to the mating position of frogs and toads, in which the male clasps the female about the back with his front legs. Sperm and eggs are released together and fertilization occurs externally.

Dozens of Western Toads were seen along the shore.

Then it became evident that they were mating: in the grass,

under water,

and at the water’s edge.

Posted in herptiles | 1 Comment

Hoverers

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Alistair

This is the season during which my camera asks if it might be allowed to stake out a hummingbird feeder. While earlier a Calliope had visited, today there was nothing but Rufous Hummingbirds, each fighting for control of the bounteous supply of nectar. They have never figured out that the feeder does not get depleted (as does a flower) so they have no need to contest it. They could share; they do not.

However today, something new visited the feeder.

A male Rufous Hummingbird flies toward the feeder and begins to extend his tongue in anticipation.

So does a hover fly. This is a first for me at a feeder. These tiny beasties are really hard to photograph in flight, but this one hovered just off the feeder and offered me the opportunity of a shot. Its legs are dangling in anticipation of landing, but it lacks the long tongue of the hummingbird and so left unsated. Yet, it was fun to see.

Posted in birds, bugs | 1 Comment

Marmot whimsy

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Alistair

“My modelling agent insists that I always pose with a strong backlight so as to highlight my golden pelage.”

Posted in mammals | 1 Comment

Fairy Slipper

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Alistair

I don’t know how many wild orchids bloom around the Lake, but I have managed to photograph seven different local species. The first to appear each year, sometime in May, is the Fairy Slipper (Calypso bulbosa). This one was spotted about a week earlier than those of other years. With luck, this will be a good year for wild orchids—it is a beauteous beginning.

Posted in wildflowers | 6 Comments

Squirrel stripes

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Alistair

The squirrel family (Sciuridae) is represented by quite a few species around the Lake: two of marmots, one tree squirrel, two ground squirrels, one flying squirrel, and one (maybe two) chipmunks. Only the chipmunks and the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel sport stripes. Below, I show a picture of each seen on May 1^st in the sub-alpine forest high above the Lake.

A curious aspect of having two types of squirrels with stripes are the websites (usually touristy ones) which show a picture of a ground squirrel but label it as a chipmunk (the two aren’t even in the same genus). I wondered: How could this happen? Then it struck me: The construction of such sites is contracted to web designers who obtain their images from stock-photo services. So, I tested the idea by typing the word, chipmunk, into the search engines of a few different stock-photo websites. Yep, therein lies the source of the problem: a substantial number of the pictures labeled as chipmunks on such sites aren’t. It may be that a stock-image company isn’t such a reliable source of biological information.

A Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel is about four times the weight of a chipmunk. Stripes only appear on its back.

A chipmunk is not only much smaller, but its stripes extend from its back across its face to its nose.

Posted in commentary, mammals | 2 Comments

Otter’s breakfast

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Alistair

I see River Otters only a few times a year, but I have to wait two or three years for a sighting such as this: an otter that arrived with its own breakfast.