It’s a new month which means the blog count has been moved back to zero and that number just makes me look lazy. So, here we are with the first post for March. My brother is busy harvesting birds for his life list and putting some serious pressure on me to keep doing the same to mine. The last couple of posts have been more of an “update cycle” allowing me to replace some crappy pictures that were used for the initial load of the list but a tad embarrassing on the photography skills front. This post is a little of the same improvement process, but there is a new duck here that I have been unable to identify that may turn out to be a new entry – if anyone can help me with that task. We’ll get to that in a bit, but first let’s get the image improvement part out of the way.
These shots were taken in Denver on our way back from Yellowstone. To be honest I had forgotten all about this shoot until they were popped off the queue in the digital darkroom. As mentioned, this is not a new bird, but at least now you can actually see what these ducks look like – the other posting taken out in Yellowstone were pretty poor due to the distance (link here). They also didn’t show the pretty iridescence these ducks possess which can be clearly seen in these shots. This particular specimen was just wandering around in some fairly nasty green water that ended up providing a beautiful backdrop once the Beast softened it up. The bright coloring and stark contrast with the white markings classify this one as a breeding male.
For the record, these two shots are some of my favorite overall duck shots and looking forward to seeing how they look in full print. Hoping the coloring in the head is maintained through the printing process. A few quick facts for my loyal readers. These ducks pretty much call all of North America home. Wintering in the Americas and breeding (as in Summering in Canada). Unlike a lot of the ducks I’ve researched, the Bufflehead actually nest out of the water in tree cavities – per Cornell’s site this mainly includes old Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker holes). They are the smallest of the North American diving ducks (and thus their ability to use the small Flicker cavities). The are monogamous and they have a Conservation Status of Least Concern (crowd goes wild). Not a whole lot more on these flamboyant ducks, so will move onto the second featured duck….
Hit the jump to see the second featured duck of the post
