Exploring Kootenay Lake

Amazingly, a Cattle Egret appeared in Nelson yesterday. It was well outside its normal range. It was also in its breeding plumage. 

I have seen the Cattle Egret once before, but a long way from here. It was (appropriately) feeding on cattle’s parasites. I start with an earlier picture because it is seen here in its non-breeding plumage.

A Cattle Egret on cattle in Maui in November 2016 lacks its breeding plumage.

A Cattle Egret in Nelson in breeding plumage was first spotted by Sachi Snively.

It spreads its wings in peparation to flying.

And takes to the air, but does not go far. Photo by Dorothy.

Three weeks ago, I posted pictures of our three hummingbirds. The males arrived first and of the three, two were illustrated with iridescent chins (blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=34515). 

Now, the females are here, but one species, the calliope, has not returned. So, this posting will show just the rufous and the black-chinned. However, a female is shown, and the male appears with and without displaying its chin’s iridescence. 

First is the rufous, then the black-chinned.

The male Rufous Hummingbird is normally seen with a simple black chin.

But, when it is seen opposite the sun, its chin turns an iridescent orange.

The female shows a series of spots on the chin that occasionally are iridescent.

Usually, the male Black-chinned Hummingbird is seen without iridescence.
 

But, when opposite the sun, its lower chin lights up in iridescent violet.

Our female Black-chinned Hummingbird has practically no chin adornments.

Twelve years ago, I wrote a post about birds and pilings (blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=8842). In it, I noted that many birds like the wooden pilings and often rest on them and even nest in them. For these birds, wooden pilings provide a refuge from many predators and a good view of the lake and adjacent shore. For people close to the lakeshore, this also provides them with a entertaining view. On wooden pilings, I have seen many ducks, geese, raptors, woodpeckers, swallows, corvids, herons, kingfishers, and gulls. What is not to like? 

But some time ago, people began to shift from wooden to metal pilings which have both the advantage of lasting longer and disadvantage of being unfriendly to birds. The latter has a conical top upon which the only bird I have seen capable of sitting there is a kingfisher. Now, many years later, I watched another bird try: a Great Blue Heron. It wobbled, couldn’t get a grip, and left again about one second later. Sigh.

A juvenile Great Blue Heron fails to perch on a metal piling and promptly leaves.

I have been watching hummingbirds in an attempt to get pictures of the female Black-chinned and the female Calliope. It has been unsuccessful so far. However, I did spot an unusual feature on a Black-chinned male: evidence of a battle.

I had long been aware that the Rufous Hummingbird was combative during the breeding season when it would challenge other rufous males. But, nothing was ever said about the black-chinned. Well, here is evidence, a black-chinned with a few other hummingbird’s feathers in its claws.

This Black-chinned Hummingbird has some feathers of another hummingbird in its claws.

I mentioned earlier (blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=34474) that we get three hummingbirds: rufous, black-chinned and calliope. In the last few days I have seen males of each of these birds. They migrate here before the females do.

The gorget (throat) of many hummingbirds is iridescent: sometimes it is black, sometimes it displays colours.

The rufous, with its sometime orange gorget, was first to arrive.

The black-chinned with its sometime purple gorget has been here for about three days.

North America’s smallest bird, the calliope has been here a couple of days.