These two photos of Canada Geese were taken in very different lighting conditions and while both tested my skills as a bird photographer one of them required more thought from me and challenged my skills more too.
It is hard to figure out who is the lucky duck here, the Common Goldeneye for catching the crayfish or me for seeing the duck with the crayfish and photographing it.
I wonder how long this pair of American Wigeons will hang around, I hope it is long enough for me to see more green iridescence on the drake's head and long enough for me to take more images of them.
One of the drake Common Mergansers I saw yesterday flew over the pond and past me close enough for me to take two photos of it up close in the late evening light.
Photographing the Mallards in flight in golden afternoon light was a terrific way to end my bird photography session for the evening.
I'm over the moon that I was able to photograph these Common Mergansers landing and lifting off from the pond yesterday and I am pleased with the photos I took.
I spent fifty-five minutes primarily focusing on male Common Goldeneyes yesterday afternoon and I am very happy with the images I took of these beautiful diving ducks.
The number of birds in a specific location can increase and decrease substantially from one day to the next and that happened with Common Goldeneyes at my local pond in northern Utah when their numbers increased considerably.
While at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge two days ago I spotted my first of the season Common Merganser from the auto tour route.
After bathing the Mallards lift up, flap their wings and shake the water off and I have also noticed them repeat the process of bathing several times in succession. Bathe, shake, flap.
I've been wondering if "my" Canada x Snow Goose hybrid will be back this winter, if it will show up at the same pond and if I will be able to photograph it again.
This pair of Canada Geese in flight had taken off and flew in front of a leafless willow when I photographed them close together while they were on the wing.
The Ruddy Duck hen was photographed at a pond close to where I live during the evening hours and I loved the golden light on the bird and on the water.
One of my fondest memories for photographing Trumpeter Swans happened on an evening of September of 2015 in southwestern Montana.
Back in February there was still snow on the ground, ice on the water and Common Mergansers were at Farmington Bay WMA and some were sporting their breeding plumage.
I don't often have the opportunity of taking photos of ducks that are flying straight at me while coming in for a landing which is exactly what this drake mallard did.
Some Tundra Swans migrate from the arctic tundra using the Great Basin hub of the Pacific flyway and huge flocks of them spend the winter here.
It felt great to photograph a nice mixture of birds yesterday and and to be out enjoying the beautiful scenery of northern Utah. Life is good.
Some people might call these manky mallards homely, weird or even downright ugly but I prefer thinking of them as oddly beautiful and believe they are worthy of being showcased once in a while.
Because they are very common in most North America Canada Geese are often overlooked as subjects by some bird photographers.
Mallards form pairs in the fall and courtship can seen during the winter and seeing them mating in February isn't all that unusual.
Several of the Gadwalls were tipping their heads under the water to feed when this drake started to flap his wings before settling back down on the water.
In 2017 one of the proposals submitted to the AOS is to rename Ring-necked Ducks to Ring-billed Ducks and I personally am all for the name change!
I'm seeing plenty of goldeneyes around right now and I have also begun to see the male Common Goldeneyes performing their courtship displays.
I noticed a Mallard hen and was watching and photographing her when the gulls swarmed around her like bees do honey and caught her immediately after a Ring-billed Gull grabbed her bread right out of her bill.
Ten days ago I photographed a manky mallard at my local pond and when I pulled images of it up on my monitor I discovered that it has a hidden "face" and once I saw it I couldn't un-see it. Do you see it?
Two days ago I was surprised by being able to photograph a Common Merganser hunting close to the shoreline of a nearby pond in Salt Lake County.
Three days ago when the sun broke through the clouds in the afternoon I went to the pond and was able to take several Canada Geese portraits with the blue water of the pond in the background.
This Redhead drake photographed at the refuge in his breeding plumage sure stood out well from the water that was reflecting the spring growth of rushes and phragmites.
I had fun photographing the Common Raven and the Common Goldeneyes yesterday and even though the cold temps made my fingers numb, these birds were the highlight of my day.