Ducks: Part III

Continuing with Ducks:

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Ruddy Duck

A Rainy Day at Sweetwater Wetlands

Catching up from last month's Best Wildlife Photos of 2016, I'll start with a quick trip to Sweetwater Wetlands; quick, because shortly after I arrived and was at the far end of the Wetlands it started raining.

Nonetheless, I did come away with some photos; some better than others. The first, a Belted Kingfisher shows the difficulty in photographing birds sometimes. Often when they see you they immediately fly away, never to be seen again. All I got was a blurr:

Belted Kingfisher

There was a Black Crowned Night Heron -- not as often seen at Sweetwater:

Black Crowned Night Heron

The more secretive Common Gallinule showed himself momentarily:

Common Gallinule

The Cooper's Hawks (as well as the Sharp Shins) were out and about. This one I took in the pouring rain:

Cooper's Hawk

 A Great Egret did a flyby:

Great Egret

 And, the Ruddy Ducks -- seen more often in the winter months -- were in most of the ponds:

Ruddy Duck

All in all, a nice, short, wet morning birding and photographing at Sweetwater.

Whitewater Draw

Whitewater Draw, 25 miles southeast of Tombstone is one of the premier winter birding sites in the US. It never fails to provide photos. Last week Christine and I picnicked and walked the dikes. Here are a few of the photos:

Ruddy Duck

Cinnamon Teal

Pied Billed Grebe

Eared Grebe

White Crowned Sparrow

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Common Gallinule

Birding Pena Blanca Lake

As I mentioned in the last post, I didn't get my target bird: the Rufous Crowned Warbler at Pena Blanca Lake. I stood/sat along the cattails on the south side of the cove 1/3 mile above the boat lunch for two hours but the little guy never showed. However, I didn't come home without a photo. In fact, I got quite a few nice ones:

American Kestrel

Vermillion Flycatcher

Ruddy Duck

Black Phoebe

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

American Coot

Mallards

Vesper Sparrow

White Tailed Deer

Bridled Titmouse

Rufous Winged Sparrow

Great Blue Heron

Pyrrhuloxia

Red Tailed Hawk

Marsh Wren

Verdin

Wintering Waterholes in Southern Arizona

First, a milestone for our Blog. Yesterday, we hit the "Century Mark." 100 (now 101) countries have viewed our Blog. The latest include: Mongolia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Trinidad & Tobago, Macau, and Isle of Man. Thank you all for visiting our site.

Saturday, I made what may be the last round of wintering water holes for the season. I started at the Benson Sewage Treatment Plant, then Lake Cochise, and finally Whitewater Draw. Today, Benson STP.

Benson STP is a series of ponds that attract ducks and duck like birds. The viewing area is from only one side of each pond, so if the waterfowl are all on the other side, good photos are not "in the cards." What was there was mostly Northern Shovelers and Mallards, but a few coots, a couple of gulls which I couldn't positively identify,  a few Ruddy Ducks, and at least one Lesser Scaup. 

This is the best I could do:

Ruddy Duck

Lesser Scaup

As you can see, not great photos. I was hoping to find some Buffleheads that had been reported. However, I scoured the ponds without luck. The good news comes tomorrow, when I will show a photo of a Bufflehead I found at Lake Cochise about an hour later.

Diving Ducks

Ducks are sometimes challenging to photograph. First, is finding the intended species.  Most ducks migrate so time of year is often important. Your choice of lakes is also important since some lakes draw a wider variety of waterfowl than others. Usually you don't know exactly what you will find. You may have a good idea that Mallards or Northern Shovelers will be around. But, even if you find them, getting close is somewhat problematic since they are in water and you are on land. If you are in a public park then it is a little easier because the ducks may be more accustomed to people and may in fact come closer to the water's edge. But in the more remote areas there are other problems. Ducks don't always sit calmly for a good profile photo. You want them to be close and in the right direction -- as opposed to swimming away from you and just showing you their "rear-end." Lighting, is a whole other issue itself, unless you just want silhouettes. With Dabbling Ducks you often just see the tail because the head is underwater. With Diving Ducks you might take a photo only to realize once you get home that all that's in your photo is a splash of water where the duck was. 

Diving ducks are different from dabbling ducks in that they -- you guessed it -- dive for their food. Diving ducks swim underwater to feed on aquatic vegetation, insects, and occasionally small fish. They can dive deeply and are strong swimmers so they dive for protection from predators as well as for food. Unlike dabbling ducks, they are very awkward on land. Diving ducks are found most often on large bodies of water such as lakes, bays, and estuaries. All of my Diving Ducks can be found throughout the United States at various times of the year. Here are my photos of Diving Ducks:

Barrow's Goldeneye

photo taken at Lake Chopaka, Northcentral Washington

Common Goldeneye

photo taken too long ago to remember exactly -- somewhere in British Columbia

Bufflehead

photo taken at Davis Lake, Oregon

Canvasback

photo taken at Potholes, Central Washington

Lesser Scaup

photo taken at Agua Caliente, Arizona

Redhead Duck

photo taken at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, California

Ring Necked Duck

photo taken at Agua Caliente, Arizona

Ruddy Duck

photo taken at Sweetwater Wetlands, Arizona