Exploring Kootenay Lake

The Kootenay Lake website offers more pictures of local Red-tailed Hawks.

Spring brings the Red–tailed Hawk to Kootenay Lake. It sits high in trees and intently watches the nearby ground for delectables—especially delectables of the vole persuasion.

At first, this posting guessed the hawk to be a dark morph. Two knowledgeable birders (Rick Howie, Doug Brown) suggested that it is actually a rufous morph, so the page was amended.

The Red–tailed Hawk is a tremendously variable looking bird. It comes in differently coloured morphs: the fairly common light morph, the rufous (intermediate) morph, the less common dark morph. Over a week ago, I saw a light morph and showed it under the posting Killdeer, Hawk. However, today on the North Shore I saw the rufous morph. Compare this bird’s breast with that of the earlier posting. Below is a picture of it in a tree and another of it flying.

Then, just for the fun of it, I included a picture of a Pied–billed Grebe seen soon afterwards at the Nelson waterfront.

And the Pied–billed Grebe.

This morning, I saw two eagles sitting together in a tree—ah, it must be nesting time. But, before I could get my camera ready, one took flight and so made for even more interesting pictures.

The first picture of the eagle in the tree was actually taken yesterday (included here just to set the stage).

The Kootenay-Lake Website offers more pictures and discussions of local Bald Eagles.

The second picture shows the eagle as it flew out over the lake. To my surprise it lowered its legs. Usually, if an eagle is merely flying, the legs are tucked up. I guessed that it had spotted something delectable below and was about to dive on it. But no, it flew to another tree and grabbed a branch.

The third picture is a composite of two images showing it flying off with a branch. It almost certainly is building a nest somewhere in the vicinity.

It is slow work assembling a nest one stick at a time.

City dwellers have long been familiar with animals which seem to prefer the urban life style. Pigeons (to the right) are the classic example; they are found almost exclusively in cities. Around the Lake, they are found in Nelson and Balfour, but not elsewhere along the more rural shoreline. (Kaslo has seen them occasionally, but they are hardly residents).

Of course, many wild animals move freely between the city and the country: raccoons, robins, crows, geese, white–tailed deer, barn swallows, and others. Yet, I had assumed that among birds, only the pigeon confined itself to an urban lifestyle.

But, I was wrong. There is also the House Sparrow. Although not really common around here, it is present. Strikingly, it is not only one of the commonest birds across the world, but it, like the pigeon, essentially confines itself to cities.

Below are two pictures taken earlier this week, both in Nelson: a male House Sparrow and a Rock Pigeon. And if you think that the second picture doesn’t show a pigeon, look more closely at the eagle’s claws. The eagle is taking the pigeon out for lunch (what a thoughtful eagle).

For the next month or so, new birds arrive weekly. Monday’s observations were of a Killdeer couple (first two pictures) and a Red–tailed Hawk (second two pictures).

The Kootenay Lake website has one page devoted to the Killdeer and another to the Red-tailed Hawk.

Normally there is little in the plumage to distinguish the male and female Killdeer, but the first picture shows a somewhat plumper bird. Could it be pregnant? The second Killdeer seems to have grown a third leg (snicker).

I have a favourite spot to watch for Red–tailed Hawks in the spring. The row of trees still lacks leaves, and the hawk can sit there and watch for voles on a south facing bank upon which the snow melts earlier than elsewhere. The first picture merely shows the hawk in one of the trees. The second picture is a composite of two shots (taken less than a second apart) of it landing in another tree. That the Red–tailed Hawk is well named is clear.

I went looking for the Sharp–shinned Hawk again (the one I had misidentified two days ago as a Merlin). Alas, I did not find it.

But, a couple of other birds did fly by: a female Mallard and a adult Bald Eagle. The Mallard offered a lovely display of its speculum. The eagle was packing lunch: a pigeon. Oh yes, note that the Mallard is deploying its alulae.

Today, it neither snowed nor rained, so I headed out. Apparently some birds also decided that it was a good day to explore the world. I saw many, but show only the four I photographed: a (red–shafted) Northern Flicker (female); a Sharp–shinned Hawk; a Gadwall (male); and a (sub–adult) Bald Eagle. The stories accompany each picture.

The Northern Flicker is a fairly common local woodpecker. In the East, the undersides of the wing and tail feathers are bright yellow; in the West they are red—or so the books tell us. Yet, it is not always easy to see. Here is a female Norther Flicker prominently showing off the red shafts on her tail and wings.

Each spring I watch for Merlins and had mistakenly thought I had spotted one. But, Michael McMann has pointed out that this bird is actually a Sharp–shinned Hawk. My first.

I have never noticed a Gadwall before. But, a friend observed one along the Nelson waterfront, so I had to see it for myself. This one is a male.

A grand drama was the interplay between a dozen Mallards and a (sub-adult) Bald Eagle. The Mallards were quietly dabbling when suddenly they took to the air. Who can blame them for not wanting to be sitting ducks when this predator started circling overhead? The Bald Eagle has not yet attained its adult plumage. By using the diagrams in an article by Mark A. McCollough, it appears that this eagle is two–and–a–half–years old, so it would have hatched in the summer of 2008.

[It] is like a dog’s walking on his hinder legs. It is not
done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
Samuel Johnson, 1771

Which is more or less how I felt about my sequence, below, showing a kingfisher landing on a piling: it is not that the picture is done well, but you are surprised to see it done at all.

Pictures of the this bird sitting still and fishing are found at kingfishers on the Kootenay Lake website.

Here is the problem: I see a Belted Kingfisher only every few months, and then only for a few minutes. The bird quickly decides that the local fishing is inadequate and it moves away. So, if capturing a scene of it sitting is iffy (see the link in the box), recording its arrival is more of a trick—especially for a hand-held shot of a small bird some 80 metres distant.

The spacing between images decreases as the bird climbs toward the top of the piling. It is decelerating by using gravity to bring itself to a stop at just the right point. Incidentally, the white flecks in the picture are from a light snowfall.