Pied-billed Grebe – Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage Comparison
Last week, I took a photo of a Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage at my local pond. Today, I decided to do a comparison with one in nonbreeding plumage.
Last week, I took a photo of a Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage at my local pond. Today, I decided to do a comparison with one in nonbreeding plumage.
While I was out enjoying some sunshine yesterday morning, I photographed an adult Pied-billed Grebe from a distance and up close at one of my local ponds.
I've been paying a lot of attention to a drake Ruddy Duck at my local pond because he has gone into breeding plumage earlier than is normal for this species.
While I was at my local pond three days ago, I was happy to photograph this California Gull in winter plumage that had just landed on the water.
Since I frequently get asked which is which I thought this would be a good time to do a winter California and American Herring Gull comparison and ID feature post.
When I was down at my local pond a few days ago I noticed a Pied-billed Grebe that is going into breeding or Definitive Alternate Plumage.
About a week ago I photographed a young Pied-billed Grebe that was still in juvenal plumage on a pond at Farmington Bay WMA.
I took my first of season Spotted Sandpiper photos yesterday morning high in the Wasatch Mountains as I sat in my Jeep next to a creek.
Yesterday and the day before I was able to observe and photograph winter Common Mergansers at my local pond on both sunny afternoons.
When I got back home and uploaded the images I took of the drake Common Goldeneye I could see that his bill had pigment issues and that it wasn't a white feather stuck on his bill.
Even though this drake Ruddy Duck is small in the frame I liked this image because of the silky blue water, the small wake behind the duck, the direct eye contact and how some of the blue of this drake's bill is visible.
In just a few weeks the White-faced Ibis that are in breeding plumage right now will begin to molt into their nonbreeding plumage and I thought this might be a good time to show some of the differences.
I photographed a couple of American Goldfinches that morning too, as usual I heard the finches well before I spotted them foraging in some vegetation next to the auto tour route.
I start seeing some Ring-billed Gulls in breeding/Definitive Alternate Plumage in February but I sure didn't expect to see this one on the third day of January, I was quite surprised by it.
Most of the American Avocets have migrated away from northern Utah but most years we can have a few stragglers that haven't migrated by this time of the year
Yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I was able to photograph several first spring Red-winged Blackbird males.
In my last post on the Trumpeter Swan Cygnets On Elk Lake I mentioned that the cygnets spent a lot of time preening and part of the reason they do is they are molting.