Central Park Shovelers

No, not that Central Park, but the Carmel Central Park right on the Monon. I was walking around the wetland this week, and enjoyed watching these Northern Shovelers. It has been a fun time to watch waterfowl lately.

Geist Ducks

In addition to the Long-tailed Ducks from yesterday, there was a decent assemblage of ducks along the Olio Road bridge at Geist. This Goldeneye was not willing to stick aroud and have its picture taken.

The Canvasbacks seemed a little less skittish, but never did come in very close. There were several birders there yesterday, although most seemed interested in a recent Red-necked Grebe sighting. Some Bald Eagles flew over, attracting attention. I was excited about seeing my first of the year Tree Swallow flying over the lake.

Long-tailed Duck

I have wanted to see a Long-tailed Duck for a good while. Most years, these sea ducks are quite scarce away from the Great Lakes (or salt water). I thought it was cool to see the detail on his feet in the above photo.

Above, you can see why they are called a Long-tailed Duck. This year, Long-tailed Ducks seem to be showing up everywhere.

Two males and this female were at the Olio Road bridge over Geist. I was excited to get nice, long, close-up looks.

The Redheads, Scaup, Canvasbacks, and Goldeneyes didn't like my presence up on the bridge. The Long-tailed Ducks swam away when I got closer, but then moved right back.

The two males had some differences up-close. One didn't have the long tail. The one without the long tail had a much brighter orange in his bill.

Long-tailed Duck used to be called Oldsquaw and got changed for obvious reasons. The scientific name is Clangula hyemalis. Merriam-Webster thought that clangula came from clangere, meaning to scream. Hyemalis, like Equisetum hyemale and Aplectrum hyemale, means winter.

There were tons of other waterfowl in the open water at Geist. Too bad I couldn't count anything for my Hancock County list.

Doe Creek Redhead

I stopped by the pond near the origin of Doe Creek today and was excited to find two Redheads. The two Pintails were still present, as well.

Doe Creek Pintail

I love his cheeks

Shaking it out

Doe Creek is my local watershed. Doe Creek flows south-southwest into Buck Creek in the southeast corner of Marion County. Near the headwaters of this small tributary, in Gem, there is a pipe that discharges warm water and attracts some waterfowl. As you can imagine, this mostly consists of Mallards and Canada Geese. I have been stopping by lately to check out the flock, and was surprised the last couple days to find a Pintail hanging out. I think Pintails are gorgeous ducks. Joy says that Mallards are prettier, and she has a point. If I saw only Pintails 99.99% of the time, and a male Mallard were mixed in the flock, I would probably be excited about Mallards instead.

Ruddy Duck

I sat beside Comins Lake for a while this afternoon after finishing my run. It was a gorgeous day and the area was filled with birds. One of the stars were these male Blue-bills, or Ruddy Ducks. They kept displaying, doing their funny little strut.










I just noticed that this is my 1000th post! Pretty cool to have reached it.

Steptoe Valley Scenes

The Schell Creek range illuminated by the setting sun.

A pair of Pintails at Commins Lake. Commins Lake has only a small area ice-free, so all the waterfowl are concentrated. Canvasbacks outnumber all other species put together, but there were also Redheads, Buffleheads, Wigeon, Gadwalls, Mallards, Ring-necks, Scaup, Green-wings, and Cinnamon Teal.

The sunset over the Egan range. I couldn't capture the colors in the sky.

The moon rose over the Schell Creek range as I was leaving.

Ruby Lake Ducks

Here are some more birds from my visit to Ruby Lake. As you can see from their list, they get a good variety of ducks. These were just some of the duck pictures I like.

Lesser Scaup

A beautiful male Ruddy Duck with the ever-present Coot. This old boy kept diving underwater every time I tried to take a shot. I finally got him.

Cinnamon Teal couple

Common Goldeneye

This hansome duck was swimming in the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. There was rumored to be a Harlequin duck in the area, but Common Goldeneyes were the most common. Other ducks in the area were Mallards, Black Ducks, and Common Mergansers.

Arapaho NWR

Monday, we visited Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge in Walden, Colorado. It is a great place to see wildlife, plus the views are not too shabby either.

The island in Lake John had many American White Pelicans and assorted gulls.

Eared Grebe in breeding plummage

Western Grebe, which is much larger than the Eared Grebe.

Note the olive-yellow bill and black around the eye to distinguish from Clark's Grebe. We only saw Westerns. I love their bright red eyes.

We saw many waterfowl species at the NWR. This Northern Shoveler really caught my eye. I am only used to seeing them in winter plumage. He looks pretty sharp.

Cinnamon Teal was the one strictly western duck that I was hoping to see.

Okeechobee Ducks

Mottle Duck
I know that the range maps in the Sibley are just a suggestion. According to Sibley, Mallards (and Canada Geese) are not supposed to be in South Florida. (As the very old joke goes, they don't read the books.) Neither or Black Ducks. I thought at first that this was a Black Duck pair. I saw several around Okeechobee, but did not think too much about it and did not get any closer pictures. Then I read about Mottled Ducks in south Florida. Seems like a potential match, especially given the habitat and their behavior. (These weren't golf course or town pond birds.)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Another lifer for me was the Black-bellied Whistling Duck. I snapped these pictures with my little running camera, but they turned out to be the only pictures I got of them. I saw them one other time on the lake, but they were just flying by as a storm was moving in. I struck out on the Fulvous Whistling Duck, but I was quite taken with these guys. I guess there is always next time. ;)

Wood Ducks

This pair was in the ditch by our apartments. I haven't had many chances to photograph wood ducks in good lighting at a decent distance.

Pintail at Blendon Woods

I like Pintails. Blendon Woods is also a good place to see American Black Ducks.

Buffleheads

One of my favorite pictures of a male (left) and female bufflehead. They are gorgeous ducks that can be found on big lakes in Indiana in the winter.