Exploring Kootenay Lake

It is a delight to spend time in the company of owls. Yet it is striking that very often of late, the one with which I spend the most time is the Northern Pygmy Owl. The explanation is simple: each of us hunts during the day.

My favourite Ruffed Grouse is featured on these pages a few times a year for it is an occasional visitor to my yard.

For three seasons, my friend is difficult to espy so well does it blend into its surroundings. It is well camouflaged both when it stands still, and during its languid travels though the brush when it appears to be little more than a bit of foliage shifting in the wind.

Alas, the cryptic plumage and stealthy movement that provide beautiful concealment during other seasons, just seem comical in the winter. Now the grouse is stridently conspicuous as it makes its stately passage across a field of snow.

In the winter, colours are often muted.

A Ruffed Grouse wanders through the snow, seemingly unaware of its ineffective camouflage.

Barrow’s Goldeneye Ducks are surrounded by light-flecked waves.

This is a posting that only an ardent birder could enjoy: the apparent sighting of a Harlan’s Hawk near Wynndel. (That this bird was a Harlan’s has now been confirmed by Brian Wheeler who examined six of the pictures taken of it.)

The day was sunny, so Derek Kite and I took our cameras for a Sunday drive around the Creston flats. This is the region at the south end of Kootenay Lake that, prior to the dykes, would seasonally become part of the Lake. It is now largely open agricultural land. The crops attract rodents, and these in turn, attract coyotes and raptors, so it is a good place to see hawks. Quite a few Red-tailed Hawks were seen on the drive and I attach the best shot of one in flight (taken by Derek).

Rick Howie assesses the pictures: We can rule out Rough-legged hawk quickly due to the lack of a prominent belly band. It would be much darker and more extensive on all but perhaps light male adult Roughies. I think we can all agree that this is a juvenile bird based upon the white patches on the folded wing and showing on the back of the flying bird, the strongly-banded tail with no rufous showing, the heavily-barred underwings and pale iris. I think the white throat rules out various morphs of the typical western B.j. calurus form. The darker black-brown tints and white throat suggest B.j. harlani to me. The broad white supercilium also fits the intermediate morph of harlani. So my thinking at the moment is juvenile Harlan’s Hawk in some sort of intermediate morph plumage.

Among the various red-tails, there was one seen just south of the community of Wynndel that had the right body plan, but a somewhat odd plumage. Yet, it was beyond my skills to know what it was. A knowledgeable birder, Rick Howie, suggested that the pictures show a Harlan’s Hawk.

The Harlan’s is (by most accounts) a subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk, but it breeds far north of here and generally winters far south. The only time one would usually expect to see a Harlan’s in this area is during migration. While there have been scattered reports of Harlan’s wintering elsewhere in the BC interior, none had been known to winter around here.

First, Derek’s spectacular picture of a characteristic local Red-tailed Hawk with its buff colouring.

Then, the two pictures of the Harlan’s Hawk, first in a tree,

and then in flight.

Feel free to weigh in on the identification.

“Just ignore this snag; there is nothing but snow and bark up here.”

About a week ago, I posted some images of reddish birds feasting on rowan berries: Pine Grosbeaks and a Red-shafted Northern Flicker. Today, I add two more reddish birds to the list of birds that seem to appreciate these berries: American Robins and Varied Thrushes.

I watched robins feeding, but when the picture was taken, each was merely sitting amidst a world of berries.

Although also a thrush, as is a robin, the Varied Thrush is a remarkably skittish bird.

It reaches out and takes a rowan berry.

In 1900, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was started in the U.S. and Canada as a counter measure to the sport of the day of seeing how many birds could be killed. The more civilized sport of seeing how many birds could be counted has now spread across many countries and thousands of volunteers. Many communities around the Lake have already had their CBC, Nelson had its count yesterday.

As usual, I tagged along with one of the teams in the hope of shooting birds—albeit with a camera. Some irreverent results below.

This Hooded Merganser is clearly willing to stand up and be counted.

The problem of counting is not always so simple. Consider this shot into the middle third of one of a number of populations on the Lake. There are many species, and they are constantly shifting position. By the time a couple of birds of one species have been counted, the pattern has rearranged itself.

This Ring-necked Duck seems to cast a gloomy eye towards the census taker. Maybe it thinks it is covered by Canada’s privacy legislation.

Some birds seemed oblivious to the presence of counters. Such was the case with a Song Sparrow,

a wigeon,

and another Hooded Merganser.

A rather large flock of goldfinches seemed skittish about human visitors, with the possible exception of this phlegmatic bird. It permitted my best shot of the day.

Not the best shot, but perhaps the funniest, is this one. Do you suppose that the dock owner would consider these birds merit prestige parking? I certainly do.