Exploring Kootenay Lake

Both birds shown here have a migration path that is well to the east, and so they normally do not pass through this area. However recently, they were both in different parts of Kokanee Creek Park. They were soon on their way.

The Lapland Longspur nests along the Arctic coast and winters in central U.S. Its migration path is usually east of the Rocky Mountains. (Seen Oct. 15th.)

The Pectoral Sandpiper also nests along the Arctic coast but it winters in South America. Its migration is usually similarly east of the Rockies. (Seen Oct. 5th.)

I first saw Canada Jays when hiking in Garibaldi Provincial Park in August 1963. The sightings there were appropriate, for the altitude was about 1670 metres, and this bird lives well above the valley floor. The birds just hung out with us, always seeking food. I have seen it a few times since, always well up on a mountain.

Mind you for the 1963 sighting, I knew it only by a very early name, the Whisky Jack, which was just an Anglicized version of the Wesakachak, the name in Cree, where the bird seems to have been named after an amiable trickster hero. But, by 1956, it became formally known as a Grey Jay. Curiously, from about 1831 to 1956 it was actually called the Canada Jay, and to that name it finally returned in 2018 (story told on Audubon). Sigh, it is a bird that has had a great many names, but it is probably permanent now.

In 2016, an online poll and expert panel conducted by Canadian Geographic magazine, selected the Canada Jay as the national bird of Canada, although the designation has not been recognized by the government. The significance is that this bird is found in all provinces and territories in Canada, but is only found in a few mainly western States — and nowhere else. Further, it doesn’t migrate south. It really is a distinctively Canadian bird. Just don’t look for it in the lowlands. 

These pictures were taken at about 1500 metres elevation.

The Canada Jay.

A Canada Jay eats a slug.

And then flies off with it. Photo by Cynthia.

The spawning Kokanee in our local channel have now died, but the activity has not stopped. Some of the water birds are now feeding on the dead fish.

A mallard helps itself to some Kokanee residue.

As does a merganser.

Not feeding, but looking for food, is a flicker.

I have occasionally been seeing a young male Pileated Woodpecker (blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=34868, and blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=34873). It was seen again, this time eating the berries of a dogwood.

Before flying down to the dogwood, the woodpecker perched on electric wire above a cable splice closure. I don’t often include pictures of wildlife in such settings, but as far as the woodpecker is concerned, this is perfectly natural.

The Pileated Woodpecker then flew down to a red osier dogwood and ate berries.

I don’t often see the Red Crossbill and the Pine Siskin because each species wanders far. They eat seeds from the recent cones of mature coniferous forests. The crossbill will nest whenever it finds a rich crop. The siskin is a more regular nester in time, but variable in place. Each of these finches will occasionally flock with the other.

The Red Crossbill is a bird with an unusual crossed bill. The upper mandible might cross to either the right or left. It evolved this way to facilitate extracting the seeds of cones. The crossed tips act as levers, allowing the crossbill to pry the cone scales open. The slightly smaller Pine Siskin, while it likes the same seeds, lacks this bill refinement.

Many dozens of these two species were eating gravel at ground level yesterday. Gravel is consumed because birds lack teeth and the small stones help to break down the plant fibres and may supply some nutrients. 

A female Red Crossbill (which has a yellowish colour) is eating gravel. The upper mandible of this bird crosses to the right, but some cross to the left. Note the outstretched tongue.

A Pine Siskin is on the ground similarly eating gravel.

The female crossbill is on the left and the male is on the right. The siskins are in front.

This is a small portion of the large flock of crossbills and siskins.

These species spend most of their time high in trees. It is to those heights they return.