Exploring Kootenay Lake

With each osprey I have seen of late, I say: this has to be the last one of the year. Yet, today I saw another. Mind you, it was sitting in the rain under low skies which would have prevented its departure for the last week. Thursday is forecast to be somewhat better; maybe it will finally get on its way.

In contrast to the osprey, the eagle I saw earlier in the day is likely here for the long haul—eagles live here year round.

This October 11^th osprey on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake will surely migrate as soon as the clouds rise.

This eagle at Grohman Narrows will likely stay with us through the winter.

Four Horned Grebes visited me yesterday. It really was a visit: they came within maybe ten meters and seemed unconcerned by my presence and the incessant clicking of my camera.

A few postings ago, I noted that a grebe is not a duck. With this visit, one of the grebes underscored that point by prominently showing its toes. The birds in the Anatidae family (ducks, geese and swans) all have webbed feet (the toes are joined by webbing), a feature that facilitates using the feet for propulsion. Grebes (and coots) solved the problem of having a broad surface for propulsion somewhat differently: each of their toes developed broad lobes. Curiously, this solution has some advantages as the grebes are able to use these lobes as multi-slotted hydrofoils.

Below are pictures of the grebes, with the final image being the bird showing off its toes.

The four Horned Grebes spent a good deal of time near me merely floating.

Although, sometimes there was a bit of chattering,

preening,

stretching,

and, of course, the prominent display of those marvellous lobed toes.

Derek Kite's picture of the Wood Duck on Sept. 22.

Stunning!

I had thought Harlequin Ducks were colourful. Yet, the Wood Duck (the woody) is, if anything, more so, even though the one, below, has yet to complete its moult to breeding plumage.

For the past couple of weeks Derek Kite has been watching a male Wood Duck in Kokanee Creek Park. It was still in its non-breeding plumage when he found it (right).

By yesterday, when I went with him to see it, the duck’s moult to breeding plumage was well under way and it was already really spectacular.

The Wood Duck as seen on October 7^th. It will only become grander as it completes its moult.

With its wings partially raised, the lovely blues on the flight feathers are more evident.

Those of you who read my account of the Castlegar hawk watch may have assumed that all raptors left the area in the fall. No, I was describing raptors from the north of here that flew over our area.

Yet, some raptors have left the area. I probably saw my last Osprey this morning, and Turkey Vultures are gone. Some, however, stay year round. Two of those are the Bald Eagle and the Merlin—both of which I saw yesterday. The pictures below are of a Merlin seen in Kokanee Creek Park.

A Merlin is a falcon which feasts on small birds. It perches on snags, such as the one below, and when it spots a delectable, swoops down and takes it.

There is a whimsical assessment of whether something is what it appears to be. Known as the duck test, it asserts:

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Possibly the test imagined the mallard as the only type of duck. However, there are over two dozen duck species seen locally and they just don’t all sound the same: mergansers don’t sound like mallards and buffleheads don’t sound like goldeneyes. Yet, all of these ducks have a somewhat similar body shape and manner of swimming. But, do the first two criteria—looks like, swims like—serve to establish a swimming bird as being a duck?

Alas, no. Below are three birds seen in the last few days, each of which one might be tempted to call a duck, but which definitely are not: coot, grebe, loon. That these birds are not even closely related to ducks is old news to birders, but it is interesting that of my recently seen waterfowl, most were not ducks.

(Would the test work if thinking were confined to mallards? Even that has been satarized that with: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck but it needs batteries, you probably have the wrong abstraction.)

Rafts of American Coots are seen along the Nelson waterfront each winter—these ones are at Duck Bay. Not only is this odd-looking swimming bird not a duck, it is more closely related to cranes and rails than it is to ducks.

It is not uncommon to see four or more different species of grebes on Kootenay Lake. This is a pair of Horned Grebes, but as the month is October, they are in their non-breeding plumage and aren’t as spectacular as in the summer.

And then there are loons—a favourite of this blog. Not only are loons unrelated to ducks, they are not even closely related to grebes or coots. This couple of Common Loons swam by in the rain as I was taking the pictures of the Horned Grebes.

The House Sparrow is a long-term Nelson resident as surely as are its people and their pets. Indeed, the House Sparrow is (on the whole) a strictly urban bird: I have not seen it in the more rural areas around the Lake, only in Nelson. This bird is what is known as an obligate commensal—it is dependant upon us. I featured this bird last April under the title Urban junkies, and since then I have found it many places in the City.

The birds I show here were photographed three months apart: first two were in early August (breeding season), second two in early October. Notice the difference in behaviour and in male plumage. Each of these pictures was taken along the edge of Duck Bay (between the Mall, and the sports fields).

During the breeding season, the male has a black bib, dark bill, a grey crown, and a rufous neck.

Here is a breeding couple at the nest box beside Duck Bay. The female is leaning out of the nest cavity.

When the breeding season ends, the male’s bill becomes yellowish, and his previously strong head colours become muted—it just makes for better camouflage when he isn’t trying to impress the females. House Sparrows frequently forage along the ground; this bird has a leaf in its bill.

At all times, the colours of the female are more muted (this bird was recorded in October). It is typical of many avian females to favour camouflage over showiness. The female House Sparrow has both a yellowish bill and a broad creamy eyebrow.

And just for the fun of it, I include a recent picture of a somewhat more intrusive perennial Nelsonite.

In late September, the North empties of raptors. At this time of year, raptors from Alaska to northern Alberta flow down along the coastlines and mountain ranges of BC. Some pass through the West Kootenay and so present the astute viewer with species not seen at other times.

Michael McMann is the person with the insight to watch a ridge across the Columbia River from Castlegar. Some years ago, he reasoned that any raptors travelling south along the Arrow Lakes would move past Castlegar. So too it seems do the raptors that come down the Slocan Lake, and those that arrive from the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. The question was: which local ridge might they follow? He started watching ridges and found that the one just east of the airport was the most fruitful. From his watch location on a bench above the airport, he has seen up to thirty raptors an hour at the height of the migration season: falcons, accipiters, buteos, eagles, ospreys, and vultures—spread across more than a dozen species.

Raptor watching must be something akin to celebrity watching: rare sightings always at great distances. In the case of the Castlegar hawk watch, raptors travelling along the ridge will be anywhere from 1.2 to 1.8 kilometres from the viewing point. Often they are not even visible to the naked eye—binoculars are necessary. But, once spotted, a scope usually enables identification. Body shape, wing profile, colour, manner of flying, all allow the skilled observer to say that this was a Red-tailed Hawk, a Golden Eagle, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, or a Turkey Vulture. It is a skill not mastered quickly.

Those who follow my musings, know that this blog relies heavily on images. Alas as much fun as it is to watch the migration of raptors, I am incapable of taking detailed pictures of birds that are over a kilometre away. Fortunately, occasionally a raptor leaves the ridge and flies closer to the observer. Of the 73 raptors seen yesterday, only one bird did this. I show its picture, below.

I am indebted to Michael McMann for the opportunity to share a few Castlegar hawk watches with him.

A Cooper’s Hawk seen with Michael McMann at the Castlegar Hawk Watch yesterday.

Two days ago, I posted an artsy picture I described as a matutinal loon. At the time, I was struck more by the beauty of its pose than by its state of moult. Others challenged me on my assessment that this bird was in its non-breeding plumage. So, I went back to all of the pictures taken at the time and picked a conventional profile view (below). I agree, it seems to be in a transition from its breeding plumage to its non-breeding plumage, but it has not arrived yet.

Now, I have received another suggestion that this bird (photographed on September 23^rd) is: “a non-breeder that has commenced molt in advance of the breeders in the population.” So, I have a question for the birders of this area: When is this transition made locally? Is this bird early or not?

Common Loon: September 23, 2011, Kootenay Lake

In the early morning, I often see a loon wander by. Usually it is well offshore. Today it was a bit closer and I was able to watch it rise out of the water and shake its wings.

It is September and this Common Loon has moulted from its breeding plumage (which can be seen last July) to its non-breeding plumage.