All My Blogs

Canada goose driving off competition.  Munson Pond, Kelowna.  Feb 14, 2026. It's Valentine's Day today, and an excellent time to talk about monogamous birds, such as the Canada goose.  But is it love? Monogamy is the word that describes species that mate more than once in their lifetime, and only with the same partner.  There are a surprising number of bird species that behave this way.  Male and female, they find each other, usually both young and both inexperienced with mating, and they stay together.  For years.  How long? - Canada geese may live up to 25 years in the wild, but often live up to their early twenties.  Imagine staying together with the same partner for that long.  Better than many humans. Canada geese are monogamous.  They mate for life.  If a partner dies, they will eventually find another to mate with, but not right away.  They typically go through a period of mourning.  Yes, they are sad, depressed, mi...

Crabs, lobsters, and crayfish - all members of the decapods You probably know about our equilibrium organs making up the inner ear.  Called the vestibular system, the three loops of tubing (vestibules) give us a sense of balance, each tube corresponding to each of the three dimensions of our reality.  It turns out that balance systems are not unique to life - many other creatures have a similar system. Many aquatic creatures use statocysts, somewhat analogous to our vestibule canals.  However, instead of there being three individual organs, there is a single organ that essentially does the same thing.  The one I want to discuss today in my blog is found in decapods - crabs and their relatives. I copied the image below from this source - it shows the statocyst of a lobster.  It is essentially a round ball of cells, empty in the center - with hair-like (cilia) projections facing the center.  A small, hard object, the statolith, has its position within the sph...

My family in 2010 - Two losses and two additions since then. Tumbler Ridge.  Someone enters a high school with a gun.  What comes next is horrible - life-taking, life-changing, life-destroying.  Families, the school, the community, and even the country will never be the same again. This is why family is important.  Before, during, and after.   Before - I can't speak to who the person with the gun was, but I have to believe that there were deep problems with the family.  That's not always true, of course, but often when there is deep unrest, there is something missing within the family.  Fortunately, most children are somewhat resilient and can thrive in spite of family squabbles.  But, at the end of the day, everyone is usually much better off when a family loves each other and works together. During - I can only imagine the horror of what the people in Tumbler Ridge are going through right now.  Parents losing children, children who hav...

Phainopepla - Left (2016) and right (2008) - Photographed in Arizona  OK - not my best photos of birds - but I have only ever seen them once - for each the male and female.  The female photo was taken with my Nikon D7200 and 80-400 S zoom while the male's was shot with my Nikon D200 and my non "S" 80-400 zoom.  The two systems are worlds apart, but both allowed me to do what I love, which is to get outdoors, see wildlife, and photograph it. The species is fond of berries and often eats them from mistletoe, which is a plant parasite.  The downside to this is that the seeds are widely distributed from their droppings and offer new trees to parasitize.  They also eat the berries of a vast variety of plants and take insects, often on the wing, whenever they can.   The males both build and defend the nest.  Although these birds are rarely found on the ground, they will forage there for nesting materials.  Their defensive behaviours depend greatly ...

My family and I wearing hats - wHat it's all about. I just love to wear a hat. Big or little, thin or fat. Sitting high, or low and flat. I'll never have enough of that. What's a hat without a brim? It's like a tube, long and slim. Wearing one on just a whim, Hats are meant to have a rim. A hat can be very fun, Or keep you from too much sun. Dawning one when rain's begun, Hold onto it if you run. Toques or beanies when it's cold, Helmets for the very bold, Peaked caps for cops we're told, Berets are hats that you can fold. Bowler, floppy, and top hats, Cowboy, firemen's, screens for gnats, hiking, biking, or hunting rats, It's enough to drive one bats. Coloured hats, blue, green or red, Or maybe cool patterns instead, My favourite hat, from A to Zed, Is the one upon my head. Thanks for reading. Eric Svendsen      www.ericspix.com  

Male mallard duck photographed Knox Mountain in Kelowna, February 7, 2026. I had some fun putting this together.  I got quite a few good photos of the drake in spite of the low light.  However, the heavy cloud did make for even lighting with no visible shadows.  The image reminded me of someone speed skating, and I just took it from there.  The fact that the winter Olympics are currently in session also provided some impetus. I don't often photograph mallard ducks as they are very common and rarely inspire me.  They fall into the same category as robins and house sparrows.  My main purpose for this series of photos was to take some bird photos, and there were only two species available - mallards and goldeneyes.  I wrote a blog on the female goldeneye I took yesterday ( click here ).  I did a blog a few weeks ago on common goldeneye ducks as well, where I wrote up some information on them ( click here ). I have to admit to enjoying being silly on ...