I enjoyed watching this Ring-necked Duck trying to herd her ducklings while I sat quietly in my kayak.
Tag Archives: ducklings
The girls and I had a good hike this week. We covered a whole variety of habitats and saw lots of great wildflowers, some baby birds and beautiful blue butterflies. I had hoped the fireweed would be in full bloom but it was too early. The buckwheat and paintbrush were the real stars of the wildflower show. There were Mallard and goldeneye ducklings and I found two Lewis’s Woodpecker nests in burned snags. The aspens were full of bird song. I came across an active burrow that is home to what? Maybe a badger? The girls enjoyed cooling off in a lake and tussled over a stick too.
Who recognizes the location of the first photo?
Another lake, another Hooded Merganser, this one with a big family to care for.
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 