Ducklings

Photographing the waterfowl migrations this spring was a huge disappointment.  With the draining of the Meadow Grounds Lake I no longer had a body of water near home where I could photograph waterfowl from the boat.

 

  With Raystown Lake the next nearest place to boat in Pennsylvania I spent at least one day each weekend fishing and attempting to photograph waterfowl there only to find that the waterfowl photography in no way compared to working the much smaller Meadow Grounds.  While various species of waterfowl were present for the most part they would flush while I was too far away for good photography. 

 

With the Meadow Grounds out of play what waterfowl photography I did encounter occurred in small wetlands.  With some of the results posted here.

 

Wood Duck hen with both Wood Duck ducklings and Hooded Merganser young

 

This was the first time I ever observed a wood duck with both wood duck and hooded merganser ducklings in tow.  I expect that the mergansers made it back to the proper mother as I have not observed a mixed flock since. 

 

Wood Duck duckling

All ducklings are not hatched at the same time so it is common to see young of various sizes in a single outing.

 

Mallard Duckling foraging in the shallows

 

Hooded Merganser apparently from an early hatch

 

Hooded Merganser duckling feeding.
 

 

Duckling Escape

 

Finally finding time for an evening visit to the wetlands I was eager to see some of this year's waterfowl babies.  After concealing myself on a small hummock with camouflage blind material wrapped around both myself and camera rig I was soon rewarded when a young hooded merganser swam into view. 

 

Even though I was concealed the clicking shutter gave my position away as the duckling passed close by. 

 

Alarmed, the little merganser beat a hasty retreat. 

 

Throwing up a wake much like that of a motor boat!

Ducklings Arrive: Hooded Mergansers

A pleasant surprise awaited upon my arrival at the wetlands this evening; the hooded merganser ducklings have arrived!  I spotted this hen hurring away with her some of her brood in tow. 

 Whereas mallard and wood duck young will stick close to their mothers, hooded merganser ducklings frequently forage by themselves or in pairs.  After placing my pop-up blind I didn't have long to wait until a lone duckling swam by my position.

More singles and pairs passed by as the evening progressed however most stayed behind the bushes ringing the shoreline.  This duckling took a shortcut across a small area of open water.  The reflections of the fresh spring foliage painted a beautiful backdrop aross the water.

This little duckling caught some creature, perhaps a salamander.  The catch was too large to swallow in one gulp and the duckling carried it around for some time as it alternated between trying to swallow and attempting to peck it into smaller pieces.  I don't know how the merganser made out as it was still carrying the prey when it swam out of sight.

Besides the two broods of merganser I also sighted a mallard pair with a large brood in tow however they were much warier and disapeared from view before I could capture any decent images.

Hoodies, Woodies, and Honkers

My spring waterfowl photography at a local wetlands has been more difficult than expected this year.  The birds are always wary but this year they have been doubly so.  Finding empty shotgun hulls strewn about indicated that some hunting activity had taken place sometime during the last week of Canada goose season in late February.  The scare has apparently not been forgotten.

After a number of unsuccessful attempts I decided to make an early morning attempt but walking in and setting up the blind well before daylight.  Settling back for a nap once the blind was up the sounds coming from the wetlands told of Canada geese, wood ducks, mallards, hooded mergansers, and assorted frogs.  As the faint light of a new day began brightening the eastern sky flocks could be heard taking off.  By full light most of the waterfowl had departed.  This hooded merganser cruised into view about 30 yards away.  At the first shutter click he reversed course, swimming rapidly for cover.  I could here his calling from various parts of the wetlands throughout the morning. 

Around 8:30am a small flock of wood ducks cruised past.  The male woodies are our most colorful duck and as with the hooded merganser the calm water reflected him perfectly.

One hen accompanied the flock of males.  Her muted colors suit her perfectly for the upcoming nesting season.

A flock of common grackles perched nearby and treated me to the loud singing.  I always look forward the seeing the flocks of grackles each spring.  During the 1960's and '70's huge flocks would descend each spring.  By the 1980's the big flocks were gone and only small flocks of a few dozen birds were seen.  I have began to notice during the last few years that the flock sizes seem to be growing once again however they are still no match for the massive flocks of forty years ago.

Before leaving the wetlands I spotted this Canada nesting on a small hummock just above waterline.  I have taken photographs of geese on the nest before but this is my first nesting reflection shot.

Waterfowling: Behind the Scenes

 Waterfowl in my area are normally quite wary.  Getting good photographs requires getting close.  Long lenses certainly help but even with the big glass the photographer must still be inside hunted waterfowl's comfort zone. 

This winter has been much milder than normal and with the temp at 37 before dawn this morning, I decided to check out a local wetland in hopes of finding some early migratory ducks.  Walking in through the early morning gloom I spotted a white dot sliding along the surface of the water, the unmistakeable white crest of a male hooded merganser.  As the morning passed I could hear the Canada geese and mallards fly out to feed and the hoodie occasionally calling, but nothing swam by my position.

And then suddenly a female hooded merganser was in front of the blind.  Success!

Now here are the "behind the scenes" views:

Frontal View

View from inside

I sewed the die-cut camo material around the window to break up the hard line of the window edge and to help conceal movement inside the blind.  To break up the outline of the camer & lens I drape a piece of camo die-cut blind material over the camera and tripod.

Rear,interior view

This year I added a pair of decoys to my gear 

I'm hoping that the sight of the decoys will give the real ducks added confidence in aproaching my setup.  I'll let you know later if they are a worthy addition.

The complete rig ready to travel

Camera, tripod, folding chair, camera bag, blind, and decoy bag

With the blind on my back, chair on the right shoulder, camera bag & decoys on the left, and the tripod/camera rig over the shoulder, the entire rig can be carried into the field in one trip.

Sunday Evening Surprise

Finding a couple of free hours Sunday evening I headed to the local wetlands eager to see if any young ducks were about. As I moved into position I spotted a wood duck hen leading a large brood along the water's edge screened by the overhanging brush.  Disapointed that I was unable to photograph the young woodies I hid along the shoreline hoping for activity to develop.   Some time later this colorful male swam into view just long enough for a couple of quick clicks before he sought safety elsewhere.

Fifteen minutes later I was caught totally off guard by this family of Hooded Mergansers as they swam into view at close range from my left; the blind side of this shooting location. Try as I might I could not find them in the camera's viewfinder until they were nearly out of sight leaving me with a shot that is not nearly as sharp as I desired. Even though I failed in obtaining a "print" quality image I was still pleased to be able to document this year's first encounter with the young hoodies.

Woodie & Hoodie

Waterfowl shots have became more difficult to come by lately as the duck at the local wetlands learn my habits avoiding those spots where I can set up.  Even with the more difficult conditions I am still getting the occasional image, like this wood duck male, that makes the wait worthwhile.  Even when the birds do not cooperate the time spent is still enjoyable listening to the whistles of the wood ducks, the quacks of the mallards, and the guttural growling call of the hooded mergansers.

A female Hooded Merganser swims rapidly across a narrow opening with her crest erect.  And what a crest it is.  I tend to think of these ducks as the duck with a paint brush bristling out on top of their heads.

I'm already looking forward to when in a few weeks ducklings will begin hatching, beginning a new phase of my waterfowl photography season.

Wetlands: The Other Ducks

While the Wood Ducks are the most commonly observed duck at the local wetlands, they are not alone.

I observed a hen Hooded Merganser with a brood the same evening as when I seen the first Wood Duck young although I was unable to capture a suitable image.  During each of my visits I have been able to locate at least one young Merganser and occasionally have been successful photographing it.  The Merganser young are often widely separated, not flocking together as the Wood Ducks and Mallards are prone to do. 

This young Hooded Merganser caught sight of me as I moved into position one recent morning.  After spending nearly an hour concealed behind a small island it finally moved into view checking to see if the intruder had left.  After only a couple of clicks of the shutter the young bird submerged.  Fortunately for me the bird had chosen a spot with good lighting to check from

A few minutes after the Merganser encounter this flock Mallards who had flown in a few minutes earlier checked me out from nearly the same location.  I believe this to be a flock of juvenile Mallards as immature birds and hens are very similar.  The bird farthermost to the right may be the mother although the oly difference that I can see is that its bill coloration is somewhat different from that of the others. 

Again with only a couple of frames exposed the Mallards scooted to safety, this time behind the nearby vegetation.  In this location I was not hidden nearly as well as I would have preferred and once the camera drew the duck's attention to me they wasted no time in retreating. 

Disappearing Act: Hooded Merganser

A young Hooded Merganser swims past my hide noticing that something is not quite right.

As most of you know the only control of natural lighting the wildlife photographer has is in choosing the location to shoot from. In the case of the wood ducks and mergansers I have been posting lately because of their wariness that control lies solely in the choice of hiding spots. This photograph was taken in the morning from a location I normally consider an evening spot but in this case the backlighting worked to my advantage

 

 
As I began burst firing the Merganser quickly dived beneath the surface apparently leaving the area as I did not see it again during this wetlands visit.

Hooded Merganser Duckling

Last July after encountering a flock of immature Hooded Mergansers on our local wetlands I began wondering if the Hoodies were nesting there.  The question remained without answer until a week and a half ago when I encountered a Hooded Merganser female accompanied by her tiny brood.

This evening I returned to the wetlands in hopes of capturing some good duckling photos and was well rewarded for my efforts with both Hooded Mergansers and Wood Duck ducklings present.

This young Hooded Merganser was the first to swim past my hide.  Even though I was well camo'ed the duckling quickly was alerted to my presence by the sound of the camera shutter.

After fleeing either the same Merganser or one of its brood mates returned.  As you can see this bird has already perfected the merganser hunting method of swimming with eyes submerged allowing it a better view of the underwater realm.

A Green Heron was also hunting the wetland although it never gave me an opportunity to for a photograph.  At one point the heron took flight and apparently decided to land exactly where I was concealed.  As the bird flew through the narrow camera opening in the low growing bushes it realized its mistake and frantically began beating its wings as it made a hasty about face.  The heron was so close I could feel the gust of wind generated by its wings upon my face.  No photo was possible but instead a memory I will carry for some time from an exciting evening in the wetlands!

A Hooded Merganser Encounter

After photographing the Lesser Scaup posted yesterday I noticed a pair of ducks quite some distance away. Looking through the binoculars I could determine that one had a white patch on its head. At that point I knew they were either Buffleheads or Hooded Mergansers and in either case it would be worthwhile to try to get a better look.

Maneuvering the boat to get a good lighting angle I approached them. As I drew nearer I was able to determine that they were a pair of Hooded Mergansers.


Instead of flushing while I was still a distance away this pair decided to try to swim across the lake with me in pursuit, following just a tad faster than they were swimming.

After following and photographing them for some distance they looked at each other as if to say, what do we do now?

Evidently the look they gave each other was the “let’s get out-a-here” look for immediately they sprang into the air, giving me the shot I was looking for.



Flying to the western shoreline the Mergansers settled back on the water while I turned the boat away to look for other photo opportunities.

Migrant Waterfowl Arrives

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.

A male Ring-necked Duck passes through the same spot as the Hooded Merganser in the previous image, again 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.