Hello tweets,

Despite the past two days of sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall, 6
violet-green swallows were seen flying over a small remaining patch of
open water on an otherwise frozen lake. These birds would have arrived
on sunny Saturday Mar. 2 (mid Vancouver Island:Port Alberni).

While I was watching the swallows, a sub-adult Bald Eagle took interest
in a lone male American Wigeon. The duck was harrassed for at least 10
minutes and was forced to dive repeatedly. The eagle made at least 3
dives into the water but each time was unsuccessful. THe wigeon would
not take flight and thus seemed to "feel" more secure by diving,
eventually the eagle retired to a nearby fir tree. The eagle was rather
intelligent in that it approached the duck from many angles, once at
least by surprise. The eagle also displayed intelligence by focussing
its attention on the same bird (presumably tiring it) rather than
spreading its "hunting energy" around by chasing nearby buffleheads.
--
Cheers,

Don Cecile
Port Alberni, B.C. Canada
dcecile at cln.etc.bc.ca.