Exploring Kootenay Lake

When I spotted five little sandpipers along the muddy outwash of a creek, I knew that they were not our local staple, the Spotted Sandpiper. It was only when I shared pictures with other birders that I learned that I had seen peeps.

In North America, there are only three species of peeps: Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper. I had just seen the last two together. Seeing these birds was unexpected as they breed far to the north and winter far to the south. During their long migrations, a few may stop briefly and feed.

The five peeps were all over the place as they foraged and it was difficult to get more than one in any picture, but here is a shot showing the two species. The Semipalmated Sandpiper is on the left and the Least Sandpiper is on the right. At first glance, I had thought they were all the same species; peeps are difficult to tell apart.

The Least Sandpiper is more colourful, has a longer bill, yellowish-green legs, and no webbing between the toes.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper is less colourful, has a short, blunt bill, dark legs, and partial webbing between the toes (after which it is named).

When a comestible was found, it was quickly eaten, so catching a grub still in the bill of this Least was lucky.

South America is a long way away and we are off again.

The first evidence I heard of the titanic battle was the repeated cries of a heron sounding the cacophony of a harassed soul.  

Far out onto the Lake, in the dim light of a driving rainstorm, two birds waged war. I knew at once that one bird was a heron, but thought that the other must have been an eagle (Did I mention the low light?). I grabbed my camera and managed only a few shaky hand-held shots. Only later when I looked at those flawed pictures did I realize that the aggressor was not an eagle, but an osprey. 

Why was the osprey harassing a heron? I have no idea. But the battle passed through a dozen or more swoops and banks by the osprey over a period of perhaps a minute or two. 

When first spotted, the cacophonous battle was taking place in the air over the Lake. It took me a moment or two to grab a camera and begin to record the final few encounters of this portion of the conflict. Here the osprey (top) is diving on the heron (bottom).

The heron was forced into the Lake, and the osprey repeatedly dived on it from above.

The osprey coursed back and forth, first attacking from one side and then wheeling and attacking from the other.

Each of these shots corresponds to a separate attack.

Perhaps the best view of an attack was the last one of an osprey with it claws out and the heron expressing horror at what was happening. In the end, the osprey gave up and moved on. Why did it happen? I don’t know.

The Cedar Waxwing is neither a common summer visitor nor a rare one. While I have taken shots of it before, this view shows the red waxy feather tips after which the bird is named.

It looked rather as if it were an avian version of leapfrog.

Two juvenile herons repeatedly shifted their foraging location along the shore. Yet, as they moved one at a time, and the second always flew past the first, in my imagination, theirs was a game of heron leapfrog.

Two pictures show different leaps.