Exploring Kootenay Lake

Derek Kite showed me where to find Mountain Bluebirds only three kilometers from my home. The first five times I looked, none were to be seen. The sixth time, there they were—precisely where I had failed to find them earlier. It was worth the effort.

While Mountain Bluebirds do breed around here, most of those we see are passing through. So there is a big spike in observations as they head north in late April to early May, and then again in September as they head south. Today, they were hard to miss. Below are some of today’s shots. The third picture shows the female; she has muted colours. The rest are of the more striking male.

I have often seen a Red-tailed Hawk in the trees along a lakeside road. Sometimes, the hawk is being harassed by ravens; they try to drive it away. The usual response of the hawk is, indeed, to leave.

Yesterday, I saw the hawk in the tree. From the tree, it switched to hunting while soaring. While aloft, it spotted a raven and started chasing it and actually attacked it in the air before the two of them passed out of sight.

My guess is that the hawk just decided that it was time to teach the raven a lesson.

The Red-tailed Hawk was seen first as it hunted from a tree.

It then switched to hunting on the wing.

It then encountered a raven and gave chase, including attacking it in the air.

Today, I set out to see one of the Mountain Bluebirds that had been reported recently in Kokanee Creek Park. I headed out a few times. I failed to see one. I will keep looking—the bird is worth seeing.

Yet during the search, I did see and photograph two other rather nice finds.

The Northern Shrike is a curious bird: a predatory songbird that mimics a raptor in the way it hunts small birds, mammals, and insects. As does a raptor, it uses its hooked bill to kill and dismantle its prey. But unlike a raptor, it lacks tallons to hold its prey. Its solution is to impale its prey on a thorn. The thorn holds it in place as the bird dismantles it with its hooked bill. It is probably no accident that one often sees the Northern Shrike sitting on a black hawthorn, as it does here. This bird, while not common, can be seen throughout the winter. Yet, from May to September it heads farther north to breed.

The Common Loon, however, is not all that common during the winter but becomes more so in the summer. Today, these two species overlapped. I guess I will have to look for a Mountain Bluebird another day.

The Horned Grebe is frequently seen on the Lake, except, alas, when it is in its spectacular breeding plumage. From May to September it heads farther north to breed.

Nevertheless, while it is here, it is fun to watch as it repeatedly dives for fish. It seems to have a rather low success rate. This morning, I watched one dive dozens of times as it swam back and forth along the lakeshore, and only once did it come up with a small morsel.

The Horned Greb dives.

On one occasion it surfaced with a small fish.

And then, seemingly, the grebe poses.

Sometimes the horizontal format, which I use for most of my pictures, does not suit an image. That is the case for this view of the Ruffed Grouse, a bird whose range seems to include my yard. Both intricacy and beauty demanded a large vertical format.

I had assumed that my posting about the ogopogo would be the last one for March, but I had counted on neither a train wreck nor many agitated herons. Ah well, life doesn’t follow my agenda.

Yesterday morning I received a message from Nicole Tremblay: over a dozen herons in Balfour are being harassed by an eagle.

When I arrived, there were perhaps a half-dozen herons in the air and more in the trees. They came and went with urgency. The sub-adult eagle causing the ruckus was probably the same one earlier spotted harassing an otter and hunting farther down the Lake. Although the eagle chased, I saw no evidence that it was successful in downing a heron. Finally, it seems to have left.

I had never seen so many herons together. The five pictures, below, show herons in the trees, herons in the air, but they start with the sub-adult eagle that caused the ruckus.