Exploring Kootenay Lake

It appears that April 12 was the day that Ospreys arrived at Kootenay Lake this year. Here are shots of a pair that turned up at Harrop. Osprey were apparently also seen around Nelson.

One male Osprey sits on a sign at the Harrop waterfront.

A female Osprey sits on a tree at Harrop, midday on April 12. Photo by Cynthia.

I have had little success in photographing the Violet-green Swallow, a western bird that comes here from Mexico in the breeding season. But they are rather fast flyers. Last weekend when they first arrived I watched some courting, but alas, after many shots, my pictures were just poor. So, to show one flying, I have resorted to an older picture.

And what is the occasion that prompted this? After a short session this morning, I came home with many bad pictures, but one lucky one: Violet-green Swallows mating midair. 

Here is a Violet-green Swallow flying from three years ago.

Here are a couple of Violet-green Swallows mating. Although they are in front of a shed where they have decided to nest, they are mating midair and in free fall in front of the wall. This emphasizes two things: they sometimes mate in flight; mating is very brief.

This is the time that the Mountain Bluebirds come through this region. There have been a few observations so far and here are some pictures we got yesterday.

A male Mountain Bluebird sits on a bush watching for insects and grubs to eat from the grasslands.

A female Mountain Bluebird also scans the ground for insects and grubs. Photo by Dorothy Fraser.

Having spotted something, tbe bluebird flies after it.

Another male Mountain Bluebird scans the grasslands. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.

Recently, I have been watching Wild Turkeys. It is now mating season. Mind you, the mating itself seems to be a rather rare, albeit necessary, event.

Wild Turkeys have only crossed into Canada in a few places, but one of them is where I live. They resulted from turkeys having been seeded in eastern Washington and northern Idaho in the 1960s to provide targets for hunters. Eventually, some of them wandered up to southeastern B.C. Numbers increased and now they are described as naturalized here.

From years of casual observation, I know males are in their breeding plumage at this time of year, but until some turkeys moved into my neighbourhood, I never saw them mate.

For much of March, some males spend the early part of the day displaying their mating plumage and trying to seek the company of any interested female. Most times it is a lopsided encounter because a female only expresses interest during her rather short oestrous period. But now and then…

Two Wild Turkeys mate. The male is atop the female, but her tail is up and his is down so their cloaca kiss and sperm is passed.

I don’t know why wild turkeys very occasionally flap their wings when standing on the ground. Swans often do so on water to straighten out their wing feathers, but this does not appear to be the case for turkeys. When turkeys flap, it is very quick, often less than a second — maybe they are just stretching. If the bird isn’t already in the camera’s focus, the flap is likely missed.

This first picture shows two female Wild Turkeys, and one is standing tall and flapping wings. Indeed, the first time I saw turkeys wing flapping, it was by a female. Although this is the mating season for them, the females apparently are not yet in oestrus. So as they wander about, they have only food on their minds, not mating. They thus have more time for standing tall and spreading wings than do the males, who are thinking of other things.

This older male is in his mating display. His tail is up and his wings are almost touching the ground. His one concern at this time seems to be seeking the interest of a female. (If he gets hungry, he drops his display.) So, at first, I had not expected him to add spread wings  to his display. Yet, by happenstance, I saw it once, but at that time, he was largely behind a tree. So, the hunt was on to take a good picture of the male display plus raised wings.

And this is it: a male Wild Turkey in display, yet standing tall and flapping wings. Grand!

For a bit over a week there have been between ten and thirty Trumpeter Swans visiting in the shallows at Kokanee Creek Park.

This is a shot of into their midst on March 1st.

Web sources that discuss birds, say that Trumpeter Swans lay from two to six eggs. Yet, I have seen swan couples with no chicks and often couples with only one. Seen yesterday, this couple had three (the greyish birds).

This is the first time I have seen a couple with as many as five chicks in a family.

An adult flaps its wings.

With yesterday’s posting of mallards mating <blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=34342> and today’s observation of turkey displays, it is clear that the mating season is upon us. There were three toms displaying and soliciting, but the females were not yet interested.

A male Wild Turkey in full display tries to interest a female, but she turns and walks away.

A couple of days on the late side, but this is a collection of pictures from February that lacked a posting of their own.

Occasionally during the breeding season, I have seen a female mallard perched atop a piling <blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?p=33132>. I have now twice observed a Canada Goose perched atop a pilling during the breeding season. I suspect it is a female. It is unclear why this happens and really only during the breeding season. As there is no room for mating atop the pilling, they are possibly saying, “I am not available.” If so, are they saying, “I already have a partner” or “I don’t want to breed.”

The north American Dipper is a plain dark grey bird. Surprisingly, it has all white eyelids. It flashes them frequently, yet there are few pictures that show it. This may be because it flashes them very quickly, for about a tenth of a second.  

A Bald Eagle flies off its perch.

This is the beginning of the season where birds mate. For many water birds, they signal one another their interest by bobbing their heads. Such is the case with these two mallards. The male’s head is up while the female’s is down.

The mallards then mate with the female largely below the water.

I watched this Hooded Merganser couple for nearly an hour. He kept his crest up indicating sexual interest. Sometimes she followed him, sometimes he followed her. But they did not mate.

This eagle and the ravens were feasting on a dead elk.

For the last few days there have been Trumpeter Swans in the Lake at Kokanee Creek Park. This view of a portion of nearly thirty was photographed March 1st.