Bathing Canvasback Hen And The Story Behind The Images
When I photographed this bathing Canvasback hen three days ago at a pond close to home I was really happy to see her doing well and doing what ducks do.
When I photographed this bathing Canvasback hen three days ago at a pond close to home I was really happy to see her doing well and doing what ducks do.
Two days ago I spent a lot of time focused on a first winter Common Goldeneye drake as he swam, foraged, and ate at an urban pond close to home.
As the tail end of 2021 comes to a close it seemed fitting that the last photo I took yesterday was the tail end of a Common Goldeneye on what might have been my last trip into the field this year.
I did get out to find and photograph birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA and then later in the morning I found more closer to home.
The Great Egret landed where I had views of Hooded and Common Mergansers and three Mallards resting on the ice on the Bear River.
It was early in the morning when I photographed this immature Common Merganser in a morning mist almost five years ago at my local pond.
I spotted a single female Hooded Merganser on the Bear River two days ago and photographed her as she ran on top of the water to lift off.
I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.
Every fall and winter when Lesser and Greater Scaups are seen in northern Utah I hear questions about scaup identification.
This morning I am sharing a simple photo of a drake Northern Shoveler landing on a chilly pond that I took in early December of last year.
A few days ago I saw someone say that they rarely saw photos of Ruddy Ducks in flight and I remembered I had a series of them flying past taken 11 years ago.
This morning I am sharing a simple image of a Hooded Merganser I found two days ago on a pond at Farmington Bay WMA that had autumn colors reflected on the water.
I spent my morning up in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday and came home with photos of bluebells, currants, warblers, and a duck.
On the same morning that I photographed the drake Northern Shoveler flying by at the refuge I also photographed a drake Cinnamon Teal in flight.
It isn't easy to photograph some birds on the wing so I was thrilled yesterday to photograph a drake Northern Shoveler in flight.
Two days ago I photographed a Ruddy Duck close to home at my local pond. I was only able to take 14 image of it before it dove under the water and swam away.
Last week I took a series of photos of a Mallard hen as she landed on slippery ice at a pond close to home in Salt Lake City.
Yesterday and the day before I was able to observe and photograph winter Common Mergansers at my local pond on both sunny afternoons.
I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA and closer to home in the morning and afternoon.
Yesterday morning I took a series of a Common Goldeneye making waves as he landed in icy cold water in the marshes of Bear River MBR.
Early in December while at Farmington Bay WMA I was able to photograph and take videos of Northern Shovelers feeding on Glover Pond.
All three of the Hooded Mergansers were close to me because there was a shelf of ice that prevented them from swimming out into the middle of the pond.
I'm anxious to start photographing the ducks I see close to home during the winter here in the Salt Lake Valley and from what I understand a few Common Goldeneyes have shown up.
Among the duck species I look for during the winter are American Wigeons which are medium sized dabbling ducks.
When the weather turns colder, the clouds gather, and the snow falls I still have plenty of birds to photograph here in northern Utah.
I don't have nearly enough Gadwall photos in my portfolios and I honestly don't know why that is the case since they are year round residents here in northern Utah.
I know from experience that when I post Mallard photos and write about them here on my site that they don't seem to get as many views as other birds do.
I found it interesting to see a first winter drake Common Goldeneye swimming with a first winter Common Merganser and decided to photograph them.
Yesterday I watched and photographed the Redhead drakes exhibiting Kinked-neck and Head-throw displays but once again they were too far away to get the high quality images I am seeking.
Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled to be able to photograph two adult drake Common Goldeneyes in a territorial dispute on a pond as they moved across my field of view.