Exploring Kootenay Lake

Those of us who frequent lakes are well aware of the unsuitability of the name, seagull. The bird is a gull (wherever found).

So, how does one reflect on a passing Cgull?

Recently I wrote an essay about the difficulty of observing flying birds. It explored the reason why small birds are much harder to photograph in flight than big birds. Leaving aside the technical difficulties that the essay explored, there is the additional problem: You have to be present at just the right time and place to capture any of these images. For the fliers, below, being there was a matter of happenstance.

This is the fist year that I have seen Turkey Vultures attracted to the feast of spawning kokanee. Here are two of five soaring over the creek.

I see the Great Blue Heron maybe a half-dozen times a year, but usually at a distance. On this occasion, three juveniles flew close overhead allowing a satisfying image.

If one had to compile a list of the significant verities of local Ospreys, I suppose that two items would stand out:

• Although Ospreys breed and raise chicks locally, they migrate and spend their winters in Central and northern South America.
• Ospreys feed on live fish.

Today’s posting does not rise to the significance of these facts: it treats trifles of the everyday life of our favourite summer resident.

Ospreys suffer constant harassment by wasps — after all, they both like fish. There is a wasp in the centre of this picture.

In addition to the wasps, this picture shows a frequent Osprey preparation for flying: It is defecating. This is presumably a way to lighten the load. Defecating just prior to flying is a common practice among large birds, from eagles to hawks. It might be argued that this is also the reason that Canada Geese leave such a mess on our lawns. They must constantly poop so as to be as light as possible in case a predator prompts them to fly. This female adult will soon migrate.

The omnipresence of wasps in underscored by this shot of a juvenile. It is flying off with a partially eaten fish, but it is accompanied by a wasp. The wasp will fail to keep pace with the Osprey.

A somewhat unexpected view of an osprey is this one of it dragging its claws in the Lake. No, it is not fishing. It has already been feasting on fish and is now merely washing its claws.

The Brown Creeper has to be one of the most cryptic of our local residents. I have yet to spot one on my own. On the rare occasions when I have seen it, someone else found it for me. My response tended to be: “Huh? Where? I don’t see anything.”

The bird inhabits forests with many large live trees, which it scours for insects. That it blends in with the tree bark is a given.

“There is nothing to see here folks, I am just another bit of tree bark.”