Mallards are common ducks, seen frequently in many places. The ducks in these photos are hatch year males, males in eclipse plumage or females. I’ll leave it up to you to determine which. The photos are from three different days in roughly the same location.
As so often happens, my kayak allowed me to get fairly close to them (with a long lens in hand) without seeming to disturb them. I should have told them that in a relatively short time, people will be aiming shotguns at them. Not me.
Another lake, another Hooded Merganser, this one with a big family to care for.
I love birding from a boat. Especially a human-powered boat like my kayak. On quiet water, the boat moves silently and smoothly and many birds are not disturbed by its presence. I still have to be quiet and move slowly and when I do it all right, I might get the opportunity to watch and photograph birds up close. Well, up close with a telephoto lens!
This female Hooded Merganser was pretty relaxed and let me watch her as she preened her feathers on a floating log near shore. After a while she decided, enough was enough, and flew away. She may have had a nest to tend somewhere around the lake.
Female goldeneyes are always hard for me to ID. There are two kinds – Barrow’s and Common. The males are easy to separate so if I see a female and male together, I often assume they are the same species. Last week we saw two females, one with ducklings and one on her own. Looking at the All About Birds site from Cornell University, I think both of these are Barrow’s Goldeneyes. But I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
My Everyday Photos 