Saturday, March 20, 2010

Camera Critters: First Day of Spring

After what seemed to be a very long cold winter spring arrived almost as fast as if one had flipped a switch. While snow still covered much of the landscape last Friday, now it only lingers in a few spots. Yesterday I noticed my first blooming daffodils, what a pretty spot of color against the brown landscape!


Today I towed the boat to the nearby lake in hopes of encountering some of the migrating waterfowl now streaming through our area and I was not to be disappointed. During the morning I spotted three Red-breasted Merganser males, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, a flock of twenty or so Ring-necked ducks, a pair of Wood Ducks, two pair of Mallards, three Horned Grebes, a number of Canada Geese and one Lesser Scaup male.

I found this Lesser Scaup hanging out with the Ring-necked ducks but when they took flight he stayed behind. I was able to maneuver the boat to within close camera range as he swam the length of the lake.



Getting the boat too close for his comfort, the Scaup began pattering across the surface is a great spray of water




As those of you who have followed Country Captures for some time know, getting out on the water with the migrating waterfowl is one of my favorite photography pursuits.

Using a boat frequently allows me to get very close to waterfowl and sometimes it makes it possible to capture spectacular take-off images. Boating for waterfowl also allows me to combine photography with another of my favorite activities, fishing, and today was no exception. After the waterfowl action had died down for the morning I picked up the rod and caught a nice meal of spring bluegills. Boating, birds, fishing and beautiful warm weather; today certainly was the perfect First Day of Spring.




For more Critters of all Kinds
visit our friend Misty at her

12 comments:

~✽Mumsy✽~ said...

Gorgeous pictures!

Adrienne Zwart said...

Beautiful shots, Coy. I adore daffodils. They are such charming, cheerful ambassadors of spring! The duck photos are wonderful.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

I'm sure glad you have your camera ready to get these perfect shots.Spring is here and none too soon.
Blessings,Ruth

fini said...

wow! there are no daffodils in my country and to see yours, wow, it's beautiful!

Montanagirl said...

Always beautiful shots! We did get up to 50 above today with sunshine. I was ready.

Elaine said...

Beautiful shots of the Scaup! I am totally envious of the daffodils. We have had a little bit of snow melt and some bright sunny days, but spring is still a few weeks away.....

Linda said...

great photos for Camera Critter day

eileeninmd said...

Beautiful shot of the Scaup, Coy! BTW, I love your new header photo, just gorgeous!

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

A wonderful series of photos :) You've captured the action well and I just love that daffodil shot!

Kahshe Cottager said...

Some wonderful photos! I do like to follow your spring photos of returning water birds. They seem to arrive here about 2 weeks later. I saw Morgansers yesterday - courting and rearing out of the water but too far away for my lens! There is still a little ice on the lake so it is too soon to put a boat in. By the time we can do that, they will be long gone.

Chris said...

Hi Coy,
The scaup sequence is really beautiful and I'm happy you got the first sign of spring... It has yet to come over here. For the moment, we just have a volcano eruption at 140km from home!

ms426d said...

Hi Coy, This is the first I have visited your new set up. Amazing! That size shows your images at their very best! I am hoping to become a regular blogger again, feel free to visit anytime.