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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/robin120619bs.jpg\")
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The Lake level is as high now as I have seen it in recent decades: above the beach and onto local lawns. The spring freshet has consequences for many animals and plants, but until this morning, I would not have guessed that a robin would care about it one way or another.<\/p>\n
Normally, a robin seems to hunt over a wide area of grass where it is occasionally rewarded by capturing a worm or grub. Now that the Lake has risen onto the adjacent grass, robins have shifted to foraging within a meter or so of the water’s edge (almost in the manner of a sandpiper). Further, their capture rate has climbed considerably: it is one worm after another in quick succession.<\/p>\n
The clue to this behaviour, I suppose, is the water-soaked ground. Worms respond to sodden earth by moving to the surface where robins pick them off with ease.<\/p>\n
A robin uses sight (not sound) when\u00a0patrolling\u00a0soggy ground. Driftwood is seen along the edge of the high water.
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As all the worms are now near the surface, rewards are frequent.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/robin120619cs.jpg\")
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Once the Lake has risen onto the lawn, the adjacent grass becomes the robin’s favourite hunting ground.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/robin120619as.jpg\")
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The Lake level is as high now as I have seen it in recent decades: above the beach and onto local lawns. The spring freshet has consequences for many animals and plants, but until this morning, I would not … Continue reading