Exploring Kootenay Lake

A family of five Trumpeter Swans stopped by yesterday for a snooze. 

So, where do swans sleep? I have seen them sleep while they floated in the Lake. Apparently they will also sleep on land, but doing so is fraught with danger from predators such as a coyotes. On this occasion, the little family slept on the border ice covering a shallow bay. 

Four members of the family of peripatetic swans slept on the ice. One parent served as a sentry. The adults are white; the juveniles are greyish. Beside each swan is a small deposit of poop (very few birds have much of a sense of smell).

With morning, the family stirred. An adult and juvenile (left) continued to doze; a juvenile (centre) started to preen, while two others stretched. 

Once everyone was awake, the stretching continued, but soon the family entered the water looking for things to eat. The visit ended later that day when they continued on their way. 

I went looking for visiting winter birds, but discovered early spring arrivals: a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds.

At first, I couldn’t spot the blackbirds in the brush, but their distinctive bubbly song told me that they had to be there. When seen, they tried to stay hidden deep in the bushes, but I finally managed a shot of one flying from one perch to another.

Wintering in the south, Red-winged Blackbirds spread into this area in March, with a handful turning up in the latter half of February. Certainly, a sighting of them here in early February is unusual.

This is one of two Red-winged Blackbirds that arrived at Duck Bay on the Nelson waterfront by the unusually early date of February 8^th. It is flying to a new perch in the bushes.

For years, I have been wrong (and have been misleading readers) when I have said that the Pine Grosbeak is a locally irruptive species. 

An irruptive bird is one that breeds in the north, but, occasionally irrupts in large numbers to the distant south. I had been persuaded that the Pine Grosbeak was one of these irruptive species by a number of websites that labelled it as such, plus the fact that I only saw it now and then in winter months. It all seemed to fit. But, I was wrong.

Certainly, the Pine Grosbeak is irruptive on the eastern half of North America, and websites based there proclaim it as such. But, these sites are regional (without saying so). In the western mountains, the Pine Grosbeak is, not irruptive, but a permanent resident. It is an altitudinal migrant: breeding in the high country during the warm months and sometimes descending to the valley bottoms in the cold months.

Today, I watched a few Pine Grosbeaks feeding on saskatoon berries.

This bird played the contortionist to get at the berries.

A male (top) and female Pine Grosbeak feed.

A recent article in The Tyee described the Anna’s Hummingbird (Vancouver’s new official bird) as “a sex-crazed, smart, supercharged recent arrival.”

Whatever its other characteristics, Anna’s Hummingbird is indeed a recent arrival to southwestern BC, and it has chosen to remain there year round. Further, it might do the same thing here in southeastern BC.

In the matter of staying throughout the winter, Anna’s Hummingbird is distinctly unusual. This region normally has three hummingbird species: Rufous, Black-chinned, and Calliope. They arrive from the south in April and leave in September. They are really lovely, but they don’t abide our winters. Not so, the Anna’s. It has the ability to slip into hibernation when the temperature drops, and in doing so, it can dwell permanently in places where the temperature plummets. 

Well, surviving during a winter in the coastal climate of the lower mainland of BC is one thing, but can it do so in the continental climate around Kootenay Lake? Apparently it can. In an earlier posting, I showed one still visiting a local feeder last November. The implicit question was: will it stick around, especially during the really cold weather of mid winter? The attached pictures say yes.

When next winter approaches, there might be merit in leaving (heated) hummingbird feeders out for Anna’s Hummingbirds.

This is a picture of Anna’s Hummingbird taken locally on December 23, 2019. 

And another shot of Anna’s Hummingbird taken at the end of a cold snap this January 18, 2020.

These are not my pictures, but they are used with permission.

A few days ago, I failed to find the Pine Grosbeaks seen by others, but have now seen Bohemian Waxwings. Both of these species are irruptive: They are birds that occasionally visit when they irrupt from their normal feeding grounds in the north. Presumably, the rather cold weather of this last week brought them south.

Bohemian Waxwings were seen feeding on crab apples in pairs…

…and singly.

Mallards are generalist foragers and will eat a wide variety of food. They don’t dive, but dabble to feed, tipping forward in the water to eat seeds and aquatic vegetation.     Cornell’s All about birds 

Anatidae (ducks, geese, swans) are generally divided into dabblers and divers — and never the twain shall meet. For years I have watched Mallards dabble in the shallows (they tip up and scouring the bottom with their bills) and wondered why they seemed incapable of learning to dive from the mergansers they see around them. 

Today (with no mergansers present) I watched Mallards dive. Now, they might have been driven to desperation by the snow covered ground, yet they did dive. (What they retrieved is unclear.) I did find some sources that allowed that mallards will occasionally dive for food, but others that said they did not do so.

A Mallard drake starts its dive.

What the Mallard retrieved was unclear, yet it did dive for comestibles.

In Nelson, these events start with the ornamental fruit trees.

These fruit trees seem to have been planted purposely in yards and along berms. Among their delicacies are crabapples, elderberries, and rowan berries (mountain ash). However, when snow covers the ground, these berries become particularly appealing to birds, and in particular to irruptives. 

A male Pine Grosbeak feasts on rowan berries.

Irruptive birds are irregular winter visitors. They irrupt from the north and turn up here only now and then. One can go for years and see none, but suddenly they are all over the place. An irruption is a dramatic, irregular migration of large numbers of such birds to areas where they aren’t typically found.

In this last week, there have been reports of irruptive Pine Grosbeaks feeding here on rowan berries. I went looking for them. Alas, I did not find any so include a picture of one from a previous irruptive year.

Now, we are in the realm of unintended consequences: a city plants fruit trees; the fruit trees attract birds; the birds attract predators. Previously, I mentioned that Pygmy Owls fly in to feast on irruptives. But, yesterday, I unexpectedly saw a Merlin in Nelson also watching small birds (in this case robins) feeding in fruit trees.

One of our two rarely seen resident falcons, a Merlin, was beside a school watching small birds feasting on berries. The Merlin had the clear intention of feasting upon them.

Rock Pigeons live in cities where they typically eat seeds.

Pigeons inhabit cities because the buildings in cities mimic the pigeon’s original habitat of cliffs. So some pigeons began to adapt to urban habitats and found that cities also provided safety and food. In cities, pigeons live mainly on bread crumbs, popcorn, or other junk food provided by humans. Away from cities, pigeons feed on waste grain, and seeds, but turn to berries when times are desperate. 

The local ground is now covered in deep snow and the temperature is low. Seeds and and food are in sort supply. What is an urban pigeon to do?

Pigeons eat, what for them is a food of last resort, elderberries.