{"id":25874,"date":"2019-03-13T11:12:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T18:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=25874"},"modified":"2019-03-13T11:12:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T18:12:27","slug":"birds-in-the-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=25874","title":{"rendered":"Birds in the woods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, I was asked if I were a birder. Probably not. I rarely look specifically for birds and rarely submit observations to birding sites. So, I probably don&#8217;t qualify.<\/p>\n<p>What I do do is to look for interesting things in nature. And although what constitutes interesting depends upon experience, it remains that birds are particularly interesting by being some of the most numerous and variable things to be seen during a walk in the woods. I would happily photograph bears and otters (and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=25812\">skunks<\/a>), but mammals lack the species variability of birds and are less commonly encountered (leaving aside squirrels).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, I photograph birds.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, I start with the most common mammal to be seen during a walk. <br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25879\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/squirrel190308s.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Pine Siskin is almost as common as the Black-capped Chickadee. <br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25880\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/pinesiskin190311s.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although the dipper doesn&#8217;t have a colourful plumage, the bird makes up for it by its colourful behaviour. A dipper will frequently just climb out of the creek and onto the shore, yet to get onto this thin border ice, it has chosen to lift off from the water and fly the short distance. <br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25875\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dipper190306s.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While I occasionally see a Ruffed Grouse in my yard, this one was out in the woods. <br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25878\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/grouse190308s2.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I recently posted a picture of a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=25799\">Bohemian Waxwing<\/a> flying past, but this one perched nearby and allowed a rather close portrait. Notice the crest. The bird lowers its crest during flight.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-25877\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/bohemianwaxwing190310s.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Trumpeter Swans are still with us, but I don&#8217;t often see them so beautifully sunlit against a dark background.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25876\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/trumpeterswans190310s2.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Yesterday, I was asked if I were a birder. Probably not. I rarely look specifically for birds and rarely submit observations to birding sites. So, I probably don&#8217;t qualify. What I do do is to look for interesting things &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=25874\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-mammals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25874"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25884,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25874\/revisions\/25884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}