Category: Waterfowl
Greater Scaup
Greater Scaup is a duck species in decline in North America. They winter in significant numbers locally, and are seemingly more common then their Lesser Scaup cousins. Here are a few photos taken from a dock in Hamilton as they mingled with the other ducks.
Greater Scaup (drake) (click to enlarge) - Canon 50D 600 f4 IS
Greater Scaup hen (click to enlarge) - Canon 50D 600 f4 IS
Greater Scaup preening (click to enlarge) - Canon 50D 600 f4 IS
American Woodcock
This somewhat bizarre shorebird is active by night, digging for worms with its long beak. I photographed this male with the use of a flashlight after he performed his mating rituals, which consist of a winnowing flight display.
An American Woodcock male at night (click to enlarge)
Michigan trip
I’m back from my trip to Michigan. It was slightly over a week long, and the main goal were loons. I spent most of my time near Rogers City in an area known for tame and approachable loons and also made stops in Grayling for Kirtland’s Warbler, and Ann Arbor for grassland birds that are not easily found in Ontario. I headed home via Sauble Beach for a quick hour of Piping Plover photography.
I took about 6000 photos during my trip, and it will definitely take me some time to go through them! That said, I will try to post a few favourites soon.
Songbird photography is now essentially over, with birds well into raising young, ceasing to sing and vegetation becoming thicker. My focus is shifting to photographing grassland and waterbirds before the shorebirds begin appearing in a few weeks on their southward migration.
This gives you an idea of how tame these loons are
Bufflehead drake
This is a bufflehead duck I photographed this winter. It’s normally very hard to get this close to diving ducks, but there were several diving near a pier, and would surface quite close.
Bufflehead drake. 50D 600IS 1.4x 1/1000 f7.1 ISO320 (click on image to enlarge)