Waterfowl; Sharing the Habitat

A Wood Duck Drake shares a warm sunlit cove with a pair of Mallards

Now that the spring waterfowl migrations are past, we are left with Wood Ducks and Mallards. Both species nest in our area and I am keeping a sharp look out for the first ducklings of the season.

Rain had soaked our area all day yesterday with skies beginning to clear as night fell. I arrived at the lake this morning at daybreak and was met with a stiff breeze and 41F temperature, not exactly ideal fishing conditions but it is my day off and I wasn’t about to miss an outing.

Fishing along the shoreline, I kept my camera handy and was rewarded with this image as I turned into a small cove around 7:30. A pair of Mallards was sharing the sunshine with a pair of Wood Ducks. I tried to capture all four ducks in the frame but the Woodie hen wasn’t about to stick around for the shot.

As a side note; Mallards when approached to closely, flush but the Woodies will typically swim to the shoreline and run into the woods before flushing if they even flush at all. I find observing the differing evasion tactics of the various species

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Mallard Explosion

A Painted Turtle looks on as pair of Mallard Drakes take flight

I must confess I did not notice the little turtle until I reviewed this capture, as my attention was riveted upon the beautiful Mallards.

As I rounded a bend in the lake shoreline the Mallards watched me intently. Once I had the camera setting readied I began closing the distance as usual running the boat at very slow speed waiting for the moment they exploded into flight.


When shooting take-off shots, it is always a difficult call as to the best combination of aperture and shutter speed. In many cases I find myself fighting for enough light but that was not the case here as the bright sun was at a high angle. I used a 1/500 sec. shutter for this shot which gave a sharp image of the duck’s bodies while still allowing a pleasing amount of motion blur on the wings.

Ruddy Duck Hens

A couple of weeks ago I encountered a Ruddy Duck drake while visiting the lake and featured him on an earlier post. This past Saturday I bumped into a flock of hens. I don’t know if the hens and drakes migrate at different times or if this is purely coincidence.

A heavy coating of pollen along with the lighting angle created the unusual appearance of the water’s surface shown in this image.

Wood Duck Drake

A pretty Wood Duck Drake standing guard on a fallen log

I first noticed the Wood Duck pair as I was fishing in a small cove off of the main body of the lake. The drake with his bright plumage stood out against the soft green & brown background, the hen with her drab brown colors blended in very well. Before I could approach within good camera range they began walking through the woods. I knew the land they were on was only a narrow strip with another cove only about twenty yards away. This situation gave me hope for here they were in the shadows but the next cove caught the morning sun very well. As the Woodies passed out of sight over the slight rise I turned the boat and headed for the next cove.

As I approached I kept the boat moving at the slowest speed my electric motor allows and stayed near the shore trying to stay out of sight until I was as close as possible. Rounding a little bend in the shoreline I spotted the Drake standing high upon this log. Below him sitting on the water was his mate. The drake watched me closely and began pacing the log as I drew nearer. Finally he and his mate grew weary of my company and winged away to a less crowded part of the lake.

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Lonely Little Ruddy Duck

I spied a lone Ruddy Duck male on the lake Friday morning. As I had never captured a good image of a Ruddy before I made an extra effort to approach him. I soon found this was no easy task for like a Grebe he would slip under the surface only to reappear quite some distance away.

I would have loved to have gotten closer but I am content with this image captured with the Canon 30D and a 100mm-400mm L lens.

Bad Hair Day!

And you thought You Had a Bad Hair Day!

Merganser Preening

Pattering Buffleheads

The Bufflehead pair appears to run across the surface of the water, picking up speed in their rush to become airborne.

As has been my pattern lately; I again spent my morning quietly boating around my favorite lake in search of waterfowl and meal of fresh panfish and I was not disappointed.

Today was the first warm (50 deg F) morning I have been able to get out this spring. The highlight of the day was multiple sightings of an Immature Bald Eagle but sadly I was not able to get a good shot of it. One sighting that would have provided a good flight shot found me busy with my fishing rods while the camera was on the other end of the boat.

Mixing photography & fishing means that sometimes good images are missed because of fishing and of course some fish are missed as well but adding the Canon 30D & telephoto to my fishing kit has made my outings much more interesting.

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Red Breasted Mergansers

I encountered this busy flock of red breasted mergansers hens while checking out a lake for its boat docks and possible fishing potential. Although they would not allow me to approach as closely as I would have liked they did afford the opportunity for a few photographs while foraging their way along the shoreline. With the thermometer holding in the low twenties Fahrenheit and a stiff west wind neither the ducks or I was inclined to stay in one place for long!

Mallards

This pair of Mallards is content with each others company. As the male grooms his feathers the female keeps ever vigilant for danger.

The animal kingdom is not that different from ours as a couple must always work together and be ever watchful to protect that which is important to them.