Water Birds

(January 25th) For the afternoon I headed down to two new locations known for being good for water birds. The first was a duck hangout. I wanted to go there because it is one of the best locations in the country to shoot Lesser Scaup. This particular species is often quite skittish or stays far from shore. Here if I just subjected myself to crouching on sharp rocks and slopping in thick mud, I could have a chance to get close. Sure enough, a sore bottom later, I came out with quite a few shots of this great species. In this shot, a male is swimming right at me at close range.

There were about twenty or so scaup that swam near me. The females were mixed in with the males. Although they lack the metallic sheen and some of the contrasting colors of the males, for female duck species they are quite attractive. Scaup are diving ducks like the Ring-necked Ducks I was shooting the other day. They would dive searching for food and periodically spend a bit of time preening. This female has just emerged from a dive and you can see how the water just beads up on their feathers keeping them dry.

I was in for a treat when a pair of Redheads showed up to check out what the scaup were doing. Some birds can be very brave and others very shy. Some species tend to be braver than others, but differences exist within a species too. Birds that are accustomed to human contact are often considerably braver than species that rarely encounter humans. But sometimes you just can't explain why some are shy and others are brave. That was the case with this pair of Redheads. The male started to approach and gave me time for all of 2 shutter clicks before he decided to turn back and go away. The female on the other hand had no reservations and came within a couple of feet of me and stayed until I left. No idea why the two were so different, but here's one of the shots of the male.

I wrapped up with the ducks and headed to the beach. Gulls were the order of business for the end of the day. There was a small pool of water near the beach that gulls just loved. At the banks of this pool one Ring-billed Gull was all worked up. It made sure to let everyone known that something was on its mind.

The pool itself was actively being used by the gulls. They were drinking from it and bathing in it (gulls can drink seawater). The bathing was quite comical so I had a great time watching them at it. This Western Gull was paddling away in the pool splashing every which way. Just like the ducks, gulls rarely seem to get wet.

I had a great time with the gulls in the pool, but what I had come there for was flight shots. I had a strategy in mind, and it turned out to be a bit flawed. In retrospect, it would have worked great if either I had a third arm or had brought someone else along. So I didn't have great luck with the flight shots, but this is one of a pair of Heerman's gulls that I liked. You probably can't tell in the small size of the posted version, but the foreground gull is drooling.

The light started to leave me and it was time to head home. There were some amazing houses and hotels around the location. I don't think I'll ever be able to afford a home there or even staying in the plush hotels, but I did take a picture of one of the houses I liked the most. I had to rush out into a busy street between cars to get the angle I wanted - if only I could have moved the basketball hoop out of the shot.