Exploring Kootenay Lake

Two adult Turkey Vultures visited the waters near my home. While they tolerated my presence when I took pictures, it wasn’t until the next day that I finally figured out what they were doing there. They were feeding on the carcass of a skunk along the beach but chose to perch on a piling and a dock as they waited out some competition from a raven. 

One Turkey Vulture spent its time on a piling. 

The other spent its time on the railing of an adjacent dock.

The raven that shared the carcass with them stopped by and was eyed, but ignored.

Bellies full, the vultures chose to fly off.

And it’s away.

Starlings are an invasive species which were released in New York in the 1890s and have since spread across the continent. Certainly, they are found at the south end of Kootenay Lake, but their numbers on the West Arm are rather few.  

Starlings battle for nest spots, and this year have displaced Tree Swallows in a Flicker cavity the swallows had long assumed. (The tree swallows merely moved to a different cavity.) The starling then raised a chick. It was discovered the day before the chick fledged and was photographed from a distance as it fed the chick.

The adult Starling feeds its chick.

In the fading light Cynthia took this shot from a boat of the chick just before it fledged. 

Nearly two weeks ago, I spotted a Townsend’s Warbler at the entrance of Kokanee Creek Park. OK, this is the season when this warbler is here. It seems to be collecting some nesting material. A day later and many kilometres away, I took a poor picture of a Yellow-rumped Warbler with what appeared to be the same material in its bill. 

But, what is this nesting material?

A Townsend’s Warbler with nesting material.

Eagles have returned to the nest and have produced one chick. Rapidly growing, now the chick looks almost as large as the adult, but is dark brown, being fed, and still lacks all its feathers and its skill to fly. So far, all it knows are the confines of the nest. Both parents bring fish to the nest.

We watched the nest for three days, and even during that short period, one could see the chick’s skills improve.

These two adults have only one chick.

In the beginning, the chick is mouth fed. Later, it foraged for food by picking at fish brought to the nest by a parent. 

Both parents caught fish and brought it to the nest. It is carried in the bird’s claws. This is the female. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

The female brings a fish to an excited chick. Photo by Cynthia.

The chick would practice flying by standing up and flapping its wings. Its wings show many pin feathers which are the white lines extending from the beginnings of the feathers. These are seen (on the left) extending from the underwing coverts against the dark of the flight feathers, and on flight feathers (in the right) against the sky. They have a blood supply until the feathers are formed.

I might not have realized what was going on had I not seen it before: Five years ago, I watched the rape of a new mallard mother. Curiously, yesterday’s altercation took place within meters of the previous location, but this time visibility was diminished by overgrown bushes.

This is the time of year when waterfowl parade new chicks around the Lake. They come in two flavours, one parent or two parents. The distinction seems to be whether the parents look alike or not. If parents are hard to tell apart (Canada Goose, Loons), each flock of youngsters has two parents tending it. If on the other hand, the parents are easily distinguished, (Mallard Ducks, Common Merganser) only the mother tends the chicks. This later group is more vulnerable in that a father is not there to protect the flock. Indeed, the biggest threat seems to be from an over abundance of unattached males of the same species who see the mother as vulnerable and slow moving. This picture of a mallard and her chicks was taken a few days earlier.

Yesterday’s scene took place on the edge of and midst flooded bush.

Two mallard males came after the mother in the bushes leaving the chicks to wander on their own.

While most of the action took place in the brush amidst much splashing and squawking, at one point a male chased the female right past me.

Soon afterwards the female was back with her chicks. But, as she moved out of sight, she was again being chased by a male mallard.