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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/eagle211016s.jpg\")
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As these monthly goulashes go, this one is sparse. Only three images: two birds and a mammal.<\/p>\n
Here a Bald Eagle dives off of its perch on a tree. This raises the question of why it dives, rather than just flies off. Flight is a unusual means of travel. Unlike ground or water travel, where the faster one moves, the more energy it takes, flight doesn’t work that way. Slow flight takes a great deal of energy to just keep airborne; fast flight takes a great deal of energy to overcome air drag. Between these, there is an optimal minimum-energy flight velocity. For the eagle this is about 12 metre\/second (~43 km\/hr). So an eagle needs to dive off a perch to use a gravity assist to pick up enough speed for optimal flight. Of course, that is also true of other birds.
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Obtaining a shot of a bull elk deep in the forest is not easy. This is one was taken by Doug Thorburn, who shared it with me.
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In the dying days of October, people began reporting the appearance of Trumpeter Swans from various places around the Lake. Here is one I saw.
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As these monthly goulashes go, this one is sparse. Only three images: two birds and a mammal. Here a Bald Eagle dives off of its perch on a tree. This raises the question of why it dives, rather than … Continue reading