A Weekend With Waterfowl

Thanks, Magpye ...

Today, I returned to the same lake and the ducks were more scattered than last week. However, I was able to add a new sighting at this lake - a Northern Pintail Drake which brings the total waterfowl species that I have seen there in the last 9 days to 16.

I also got a nice photo of the female Northern Shoveler ....

Really nice shootin Linth! Thanks!

Those are outstanding photos - actually better than many of those in the bird books!

Fabulous photos! Thanks!

Awsome photos! Love the pic of the Northern Pintail Drake!

I don't know how I managed to miss these wonderful photos! Naturally, the Woodies are my favorite (since I rehab them) but I so enjoy watching all ducks. So far, 7 of my Woodies have returned home for the Spring. The days are going to be warmer this week, so I am certain that more will fly in for a visit. I still have a month or so before I get any babies. But, their room is all ready.

Thanks for the lovely pictures,

Kim

Kim, you WILL have a thread for this, won't you??? Please???!!! You couldn't possibly post too many pictures - it will be such a delight.

Absolutely great stuff, Linth.

Did your 500mm Nikon prime lens come into play here?

You got it Murmur ;o) As soon as I get babies for the year, I will start posting photos. I may even ask for help with names. So, start thinking.

Kim

Ooooooooooooo - fun!!!

Thanks, all ....

Dave, all of these photos were taken with my older Sigma 50-500mm lens. For the money, I find this lens hard to beat. I still have not bought a tripod and head for my new Nikon 500mm prime lens. Admittedly, I am a litttle intimidated and overwhelmed by the size of this lens and am still doing a lot of "interviewing" of other 500mm owners as to what tripod(s) I should consider. Right now, I am leaning toward a Gitzo G-1325 tripod with a Wimberley II head.

I will most likely only use this lens where the subject is far enough away that it will remain stationary while I set up the tripod. I do have a Nikon 1.7x teleconverter which puts me out at 850mm but I'll be interested in the quality once I start using a tripod. I think most photographers will use the nikon 1.4x teleconverter which will still give 700mm but improved quality over the 1.7x. It isn't the camera/lens combination that I am going to carry too far or too often in the field. I do plan to add the 1.4x teleconverter to my equipment.

Yesterday, I took this photo of a Bald Eagle with the1.7x teleconverter attached, at 850mm. I rested the camera on the top of my car but the wind was blowing quite briskly. I would expect better quality. So, if I don't see significant improvement once I start using a tripod, I will be disappointed. There was a gentleman next to me with a 600mm lens and a 1.7x teleconverter which give him 1020mm and he told me that he was satisfied with the results from that combination. Time will tell !!!

Sorry, I probably told you much more than you wanted to hear ......

Great photo, Linth, and I'm always interested in hearing about digital stuff, too.

I took a bunch of Bald Eagle photos again today, but am at my brother's place in Seattle for the night so won't be able to download them until tomorrow evening when I'm back home. Hope I got some good ones, but I felt like I was shaking no matter what I did. I walked way down the beach (and the tide was out so I was able to go quite a ways) and got photos of the BE in a different tree. Obviously I wasn't carrying my tripod (actually I was in between clients and was almost late to meet up with one because I went too far!).

Awesome photos Linth. My Goodness you sure saw a lot of different ducks. I love every one of the photos. Can't wait till morning so I can show these to my hubby. These are better than any I've ever seen in our bird/duck id books. Thank you for posting them.

Love those Mallard in flight. Gorgeous shots!!! ALL!!!

Janet

Here is a better photo than #12 above of the male Northern Shoveler, taken this weekend, at a different location. I also saw the Shoveler in photo #12 again this weekend. I first thought that he was moulting but I now believe he is ill.

Their beautiful ducks!

Marvelous - sure makes me want to go out looking for more places to locate ducks!

Tundra Swans in Flight ...... photo taken this past weekend.

Omigosh, Linth - amazing!!!!!

Another Tundra 'Whistling' Swan photo ....

Such beautiful ducks, Lithicum. Amazing number of varieties! And excellent photography skills. Was excited to see you shot of swans in flight. We traveled 2 hours last weekend to see Trumpeter Swans that began wintering in Heber Springs, Arkansas a few years ago. Growing in numbers each year. It's my understanding Heber is the most southern point the swans have been seen. I was wishing I could see them in flight - your Tundra Swans in flight must be awfully similar! They are beautiful.

Debra

Debra, nice photo of the Trumpeter Swan. We have a few transplanted Trumpeters here in Maryland. Last summer, we had a family on a local lake that had 5 or 6 cygnets. Unfortunately, the turtles got all but one and then the last one died from an unknown cause along with its mother. Turtles do take a toll on their offspring. It was the first time that I had ever seen a Trumpeter and it was easy to see how it got its name. I would love to hear a flock of them trumpeting at one time .....

Here is a photo from last summer.

How cute! Great shot. Turtles eat the babies? Must be some big turtles.

Snapping turtles are the main culprit.

We also have quite a few Mute Swans which have become a nuisance. The population has grown to about 4,000 from a few escaped captive Mutes back in the 1960's. The following link discusses the problem here in Maryland.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/muteswans.html

A photo of the Mute Swan with 3 cygnets ......

Debra and Linth, beautiful pics!

Love the flying pictures, too bad they do not come with sound. I love the sound of a flock taking off or landing. It is also neat to hear the swans "grunt" as they fly. Most waterfowl are so vocal landing or taking off, but sometimes in the woods all you hear is the whistle of their wings. It is awsome.
Question. We have wood ducks nesting in old trees and have just put up a nesting box. We put metal around the pole to try to keep out the raccons and such, is there anything else we should do?
Also, I find it funny that mallards will nest about 1/4 mile away from the water in the woods. Every year the dog finds at least one. Some nests make it, some don't and we see the eggs missing, or just one or two with a small hole in them. Seems like a long way for the little duckies to waddle to water.
Last year we stumbled on a turkey nest in the swamp. She was in plain sight (a bad sign). We have seen them before, but never in the swamp. Well, sure enough a week later, I find a turkey feather broken on the trail near her nest. So, I walk into the swamp to ck on her, sure enough, nest gone and turkey feathers all over. Not only did her nest get raided, but she got eatten too. So sad. There were both raccoon sign all over and bobcat tracks in the area, so who the lucky hunter was, I don't know.

Mute Swans are common native breeders here, but we also get Whooper Swans in winter, arriving from Iceland - similar to Trumpeter Swan but with the beak half yellow:

Resin

Resin, thanks for the Whooper Swan photo. Do the Mute Swans present any kind of nuisance in your country ? Do you ever get the Bewick's Swan in the United Kingdom ?

Looked up the UK peak winter counts (for 2004/05 winter):
Mute: 20,000
Whooper: 8,000
Bewick's: 6,600

Resin

Once again, Linth, you have amazed me with your spectacular photos!

We have Trumpeter swans winter in the state and Mute swans that stay year round. The poor things try to raise a family every summer but they lose one cygnet (almost) daily.

According to the woman who owns the property where the Trumpeter Swans winter, there is usually a single Mute Swan with them. I'm so ignorant.......I asked "With over 100 swans, how do you know if a single swan is mute?" LOL!

Debra

Oh thats funny Debra but I'm sure a lot of people would have asked the same..

You are too funny, Debra. Just think you were able to catch a photo of the ooonlllly Mute swan.

ducky

I heard Trumpeter Swans were wintering at the outlet to Kenai Lake and in open water on the upper Kenai River, Alaska. So today I took the drive to see for myself. It's well over 100 miles each way from Anchorage. I took pictures on four adult Trumpeter Swans, and one gray Juvenal, just above the the Sterling Hwy. bridge at the lakes outlet. There was a large flock of Mallards swimming in the open water. When I looked at the pictures, I discovered an unexpected duck among the Mallards. The bird front and center in this picture (appears to me to be) a male Ring-necked Duck. However, according to Stokes Field Guide, Alaska's Kenai Peninsula is way out of the Ring-necked's territory.

These are the other two Trumpeter Swans, along with Mallards and the Ring-necked Duck. The decorations on the ice would seem to indicate they have been staying here for a while.

This uncropped view shows a lot more of the Mallard flock.

There were other ducks in the Kenai River open water, on the down stream side of the bridge, but too much open water, to get very close. Here is a Barrows Golden-eye and Mergansers from the down stream side.