Wood ducks mother natures painting

I haven't been able get out much this week so far. We had one snow day and several days with the temperatures in the teens. If I were in a national park I'd still go out, but I've done these temperatures several times this year and it's not pleasant. Plus, I learned my camera has an operational limit on the low temp side, which I know has been exceeded many times already. These wood ducks are from several weeks ago. Traveling 2 miles further upriver than anytime before, I came across this area where the land juts out into the middle of the river. On the far side of the river were at least three beautiful wood ducks; there may have been more but without binoculars I just couldn't tell. Male wood ducks are iridescent chestnut and green, with ornate patterns on nearly every feather. Females have a distinctive profile and a delicate white pattern around the eye. They are one of the only duck species equipped with strong claws that can grip bark and perch in tree branches. Wood ducks are the only North American duck that regularly produce two broods in a year. The oldest recorded wood duck was a male 22 years and 6 months old who had been banded on Oregon. In the bottom 2 pictures are a male and female. The female is on the right, though you might not see it right away as the male is so striking.















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing birds in flight, a Cooper's hawk, and the process of working to get a 'tack' sharp photo

Image
  Capturing birds in flight like the Cooper's hawk above has been quite an adventure into photography for me. I'm not sure that the average person knows exactly how hard it is to capture a sharp image, but I can tell you it's more difficult than one would think. Initially starting out just shooting birds that were still, I always had the desire to capture birds in flight, the question is: how do you do it? Capturing flying birds has required me to watch quite a few youtube videos and read from a few birding books that I have, hoping that there would be an answer to this question. Having the right camera with the ability to shoot at unbelievably high shutter speeds is a start. My Sony Alpha 6400 seemingly has no end to how fast it can take pictures. However, shutter speed by itself is not the only factor. Something called the 'exposure triangle' is the key. I won't go too much further into this as it can take hours to explain, but these three components involve 1...
Read more

A Northern Goshawk

Image
Goshawks usually reside in the northern United States. When prey is scarce, though, they may be found well to the south of their normal range. A couple of days ago while walking through the open space, I passed by a tree where some birds were making a huge ruckus. I stopped, turned around, and tried to figure out what was causing the birds to be upset. I didn't see the goshawk right away; it was camouflaged almost perfectly against a thick tree branch. The goshawk didn't move, fly away, or alert me in anyway that it was there, but the birds sure knew. Finally I saw it, an eyas (juvenile hawk), which might explain why it didn't fly away, just not experienced yet. The goshawk was not huge by any standard and had beautiful feathers that it was seemingly shedding. Goshawks hunt their prey by putting on short bursts of amazingly fast flight, twisting among branches and crashing through thickets in the intensity of pursuit. They generally mate for life with females laying 2-4 egg...
Read more

A blue Grosbeak

Image
 I rarely see one of these beautiful birds. They are usually found in fields as was the case with this one. Males are blue with two brown wing bars. A mated pair of Grosbeaks usually raise two broods of nestings per year.They build their nests low in small trees, shrubs and tangles in vines. The oldest grosbeak on record was a male who was at least 7 years and two months old when he was captured and re released during banding operation in Virginia.  
Read more