{"id":110126,"date":"2023-02-09T05:01:47","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T12:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=110126"},"modified":"2023-02-09T05:01:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T12:01:47","slug":"calling-mallard-drake-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/09\/calling-mallard-drake-in-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling Mallard Drake In The City"},"content":{"rendered":"

I enjoy photographing even the most abundant ducks at my local city ponds. I simply couldn’t resist taking images of this calling Mallard drake two days ago.<\/p>\n

\"CallingCalling Mallard drake on an urban pond \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

My position for photographing this Mallard<\/span><\/a> drake was perfection. The light angle I had seemed to intensify the vibrant green plumage of the drake’s head tenfold. I don’t think his head could have looked any greener than it did that bright winter morning.<\/p>\n

While I was taking photos of the Mallard drake a man with a dog walked close to the eastern edge of the pond which stirred up all of the ducks including this drake. The drake called when I snapped this image.<\/p>\n

I had all kinds of funny ideas for captioning this photo but in the end decided that a simple title was best.<\/p>\n

Female Mallards quack when they call. Male Mallards have a raspier call than females. The differences can be heard on AllAboutBirds.org<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

These urban Mallards have been courting for weeks now. When it gets a bit warmer these dabbling ducks will find nesting spots nearby, even in the city. They often nest in people’s yards near the ponds or along the Jordan River Parkway Trail.<\/p>\n

I loved having this handsome drake Mallard in my viewfinder. I was outside on a sunny morning so my day was great!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Mallard photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I enjoy photographing even the most abundant ducks at my local city ponds. I simply couldn’t resist taking images of this calling Mallard drake two days ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,965,709,26],"tags":[4237,5552,4072,13665,4717,4483,1129,126,4062,1604,7951,6733,1984,8018,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-110126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-bill","tag-calling","tag-city","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-mallards","tag-open","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t