Ring-billed Gulls

While cycling back from Bird Creek Marsh this morning 4 Ring-billed Gulls (117) flew overhead. The Swainson's Thrushes are still singing as are the Lazuli Buntings. Cliff Swallows have invaded our back yard. Seems they are trying to build nests on the neighbour's house. 

Eaglets on Gold Island

I went out kayaking this morning with a friend from Calgary and we saw TWO eaglets in the Eagle Nest on Gold Island. Yeah! This nest has not produced any young in the past two years. Now I can add this breeding record to my square for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas Project. 

Big Poplar Sphinx Moth

Last year, on almost exactly the same date, we had  Big Poplar Sphinx Moth visit out black light. This year, we have another one. These are good sized moths as you can tell from the photos with Larry's little finger indicating scale.

Walking about

Took advantage of the nice weather and the offer to visit a friends property who will soon be moving. I rode my bike over as the property is just off Hwy #3 between Playmor Junction and the Slocan River bridge. Most of the property is heavily treed with conifers but I was nicely surprised to see some very large birch trees with a diameter of more than a foot. We heard some singing Hammond's Flycatchers, Cassin's Vireo, Swainson's Thrush and Townsend's Warbler. A flock of calling Red Crossbill's (116) flew overhead. Sarah says she often sees a mother turkey hen and her brood but we didn't see any today. We did come across these very interesting looking mushrooms. Anybody know what they are? I emailed my photo to a mushroom expert and he says they are: Elf's Saddles, Gyomitra infula. They are not edible!

Veery

I heard my first Veery (115) in this area this morning. We took our kayaks cross to the Ward's Ferry Trail and hike north for a while. We thought we saw a Red-naped Sapsucker but couldn't confirm it. Singing were Winter Wren, Red-eyed Vireo, Swainson's Thrush, Hammond's Flycatcher, American Robin. We found a Spotted Sandpiper nest very close to where we landed. The river level is high and it was 

Polyphemus moth

The past three summers we've put a black light (uv light or called a 'party light' at Wa-lmart) on our covered back deck. This light attracts moths. We were so excited to have big moths stop by last summer. This morning there was a Polyphemus moth. As you can see he is gorgeous! He has a wing span of 4.5 "  Last year, we had several Polyphemus moths. One afternoon I watched an American Kestrel land in a nearby tree with something moving in it's talons. Yes, it was one of my moths. He discarded the wings (which I kept) and ate the body. 

side view

upper view

Osprey Survey

I went out last week to survey the Osprey nests between Nelson and Waneta. A group of us have been surveying these nests for about 14 years now. I check approximately 50 suitable nest sites. This year 11 nests appear to be active in that an Adult is sitting low on the nest. Next month I'll return to these and check to see if there are young visible in the nest. Below are two nest sites I monitor. The first is the where the Slocan River meets the Kootenay River close to where I live in Shoreacres. You can see the gas pipeline crossing and tower.  In the past the Osprey nested on top of the red tower. When Canada Geese used this nest the Osprey built another nest on the pipeline. Geese have used this nest as well. It was blown down during a windstorm last year. Terasen Gas will be removing the pipeline and tower next year (the pipeline will go underground) so they have erected two poles for the Osprey. They de-activated the nest that was on the tower. Fortunately, the Osprey have taken to one of the new platforms and successfully nested and raised young there last summer. This year, they are again using the platform. Yeah!

The nest below is from Waneta. Two summers ago the highway department closed this bridge for repair work. They removed the nest and erected a pole with platform on the other side of the river. The Osprey's never used the platform. This year, you can see they have rebuilt their nest, (pylons be damned!) on the railway bridge and appear to be incubating eggs.

The Osprey have not used the new nest poles that Fortis erected for them. A few years ago Fortis decided it wasn't safe to have Osprey's nesting on their structures so the existing nests were removed. With this new policy, there are now no nesting Ospreys (that I know of) between the South Slocan Dam and Taghum!