Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl nesting in clay bank along the Columbia River.
Photo and Video by Randy Hopkins.

Great Horned Owls are found throughout BC and according to Birds of British Columbia most nest sites are in trees where the owl uses old nest from other birds like Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles, Crows and Great Blue Herons. Sometimes they will nest on top of a broken snag and occasionally they use a hole in a clay bank like this one along the Columbia River.

Canada Geese Pairing UP

Canada Goose displaying it’s alert, wary of danger body language - Photo by Larry Halverson

The Canada geese have started  “pairing up” for nesting. And the Columbia Valley is sounding quite musical with lots of  “honk-a-lonk” filling the air. If you listen closely you can distinguish between the male’s lower “honk” and the female’s higher “hink’.

Canada Goose Nesting Platforms

Canada Goose nesting platforms dot the wetlands along the Columbia River. Photo by Larry Halverson

The local Rod and Gun clubs along with Ducks Unlimited established these platforms many years ago as a way to help nesting geese from having their eggs flooded from rising waters. In fact one of CWSP members The Golden District Rod and Gun Club maintain over 100 of these goose nesting platforms for over 20 years. Now with goose numbers up there is discussion around removing or replacing these structures.

It won't be long now before the Geese are back nesting . Photo by Larry Halverson

Bald Eagle Nest Building

Photo by Bram Rossman/ ExtremeXposures.ca

On February 18, 2011 Bram Rossman photographed this Bald Eagle packing a stick back to its nest at Windermere beach, BC

Bald Eagles tend to return to the same nest year after year but often make renovations each spring - adding new sticks and twigs to the old nest. This makes the eagles nest the largest of any North American bird. The record nest measured 20 feet deep, 10 feet wide and weighed two tons!

35 active Bald Eagle nests were documented in the East Kootenay during 2008 ground surveys.