Wood Duck – Page 2 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

A Ducky Day

Daylight saving time.
Did you remember to change the clock on your camera along with all the others today?

With the next storm front delayed, it meant there was a slight break in the weather today. Unfortunately it was still fairly windy and on the cool side. Being Sunday, I headed out to Reifel to help on the trails. From a birding perspective, it is still fairly quiet at the sanctuary. Wanting to stay out of the wind, the display ponds provided some waterfowl opportunities.

First up was this male Greater Scaup,

… followed by a female.

Next up were some male Northern Pintails,

… busy strutting their stuff as spring approaches.

Then the smaller male Bufflehead,

… whose head is iridescent in the right light.

The inside sloughs had some Gadwall,

… and Northern Shoveler.

To finish the afternoon off, a couple of portraits.

This female Wood Duck,

… and her male counterpart that were hanging around near the entrance.

Pre Game Walk

Time permitted a Stanley Cup Final pre game walk this afternoon. Not wanting to stray too far from home, I headed out to Reifel.

Started off with this Cooper’s Hawk in the trees along the driveway.

Then some friends who were shooting this Grosbeak on the ground,

… flushed it nicely into a tree for me to capture.

Still no shortage of new arrivals,

… with this Wood Duck family basking in the sun on this log.

There has also been a Western Wood-pewee around my last few visits.

The treat of the afternoon though was a couple of other new arrivals.

These Rufous Hummingbird fledglings were in the bushes along one of the trails.

I was hoping to capture one of them getting fed by the adult female. She would come in close above them, but then back off. My proximity to the fledglings may have been spooking her. Sometimes they don’t mind when you are around, other times it may interfere with their behaviour. You have to watch for this. In situations like this, the well being of the birds comes before the picture. So it was time for me to move on.

On checking the watch, it was time to head home for the game. Go Canucks Go!

A Little Variety Today

For some it is still nest building time.

Here a Barn Swallow is gathering nesting material.

For others, new arrivals are here.

A little better luck today with getting a Wood Duck family together.

Yellow-rumped Warblers were busy hawking for insects from the trees.

While watching and photographing the warblers,

… this Rufous Hummingbird stopped briefly on a branch before flying off.

And this Red-winged Blackbird paused momentarily in the cattails.

There were also a few Orange-crowned Warblers around. I located and stuck with one to try and get a photo. Unlike the Yellow-rumped which would sit in the open, the Orange-crowned were foraging for insects amongst the branches of the trees.

This one never came completely out in the open and this was the best I could do today. Such is the life of bird photography, but there is always next time.