A little over one week ago when I checked the local wetlands they were locked in ice with no sign of life. How quickly did our landscape change! With warmer temperatures and heavy rain the ice and snow quickly receded and large flocks of Canada geese can be seen flying north daily.
Sunday afternoon I again paid a visit to the wetlands to find it swarming with waterfowl. Along with Canada geese various species of ducks were also present. With their bright white crest the Hooded Merganser males stood out from their drab surroundings.
I was unable to get close enough for good photographs and contented myself with shooting identification shots. This shot of a Hooded Merganser drake is very tightly cropped.
I also observed mallards, wood ducks, a great blue heron, and red-winged blackbirds during this visit. In the coming days I am anticipating more encounters, hopefully closer and in better light but for now I am happy that the flocks of spring are again passing though on their annual journey.
6 comments:
HI Coy,
Wow I guess all these encounters did you day! Men, I'd love to see a hooded-merganser, they are so beautiful, and get a picture of it would even be better ;-)
Ring-necked duck are rare over here but we are getting few of them during the breeding season... I know one is around the river I'm visiting often ..
We are also seeing a lot of hybrids with tufted ducks!!
Well you are lucky that spring has reached you, this morning it was snowing over here!
It's getting exciting! I love this weather, and the anticipation of arrivals! Good luck in the coming weeks!
Me again, Coy. I visited "blogger in draft" and played around - but couldn't quite get a handle on enough room for larger picture size - any suggestions? I'd like to post my photos in larger size, and see the choices range from S to XL. But when I used XL the photos ran over into my sidebar. Maybe I'm missing something.
Okay - Hi Coy. I just figured out the picture thing on my own. Hope I didn't trouble you. Mona
Great shot on the birds flying.
Coy - nice shots of the waterfowl. It is always nice to see their return because it is a sure sign of warmer weather ahead.
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