{"id":118573,"date":"2023-11-26T04:21:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-26T11:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=118573"},"modified":"2023-11-26T04:23:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T11:23:47","slug":"urban-ruddy-duck-drake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/26\/urban-ruddy-duck-drake\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Ruddy Duck Drake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even though it was windy yesterday afternoon, I spent a few minutes with a Ruddy Duck drake in my viewfinder at my local pond. I hoped that he would get closer.<\/p>\n

\"RuddyRuddy Duck drake on a windy afternoon \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Both this drake and a hen Ruddy Duck<\/span><\/a> seemed to be heading towards me. I was standing behind my tripod at the edge of the pond, near some rushes.<\/p>\n

These two small diving ducks arrived a couple of weeks ago and they might spend the winter and early spring at my local pond. The drake is in his nonbreeding plumage phase.<\/p>\n

This duck species transitions into their breeding plumage later than most of the ducks I see. When these drakes are in breeding plumage their bills turn a bright, light blue. In both these images just a hint of blue can be seen on his bill close to his face.<\/p>\n

\"UrbanUrban drake Ruddy Duck \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this image I can see that this drake might be missing a few tail feathers, or rectrices, because I can only count two tail feathers.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for me, these ducks did not come any closer to me than what is seen in my photos. A young person fishing walked up to within 15 feet of me and cast his line directly in front of me while yelling at his father and siblings that were at least 30 feet away from his position.<\/p>\n

The ducks appeared to be bothered by all of the noise and swam away. With my hopes for closer images of the ducks dashed, I packed up my gear and left the area too.<\/p>\n

I hope that these ducks stick around the pond over the winter. I’d love more uninterrupted, quiet time with them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Even though it was windy yesterday afternoon, I spent a few minutes with a Ruddy Duck drake in my viewfinder at my local pond. I hoped that he would get closer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2397,709,26],"tags":[4004,6676,970,4753,4483,1129,126,4620,4062,4246,2398,10698,1984,2447,8018,3996,1193],"class_list":["post-118573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-ruddy-ducks","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-afternoon","tag-autumn","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-fall","tag-male","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-oxyura-jamaicensis","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-ruddy-duck","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-windy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ruddy-duck-drake-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8688.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-uQt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/21\/ruddy-duck-shaking-in-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":118573,"position":0},"title":"Ruddy Duck shaking in morning light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month, when I took this photo of a male Ruddy Duck shaking at my local pond, I liked the way the light illuminated the lower part of his wings.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Ruddy Duck shaking in morning light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ruddy-duck-spring-wing-flap-mia-mcpherson-4795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ruddy-duck-spring-wing-flap-mia-mcpherson-4795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ruddy-duck-spring-wing-flap-mia-mcpherson-4795.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ruddy-duck-spring-wing-flap-mia-mcpherson-4795.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119186,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/18\/ruddy-duck-drake-what-a-difference-20-days-makes\/","url_meta":{"origin":118573,"position":1},"title":"Ruddy Duck Drake – What A Difference 20 Days Makes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Just 20 days can make a big difference in the way this Ruddy Duck drake looks. His bill is a lot bluer now than it was when I first saw him at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruddy Duck drake on December 15, 2023, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ruddy-duck-adult-male-december-mia-mcpherson-0364.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ruddy-duck-adult-male-december-mia-mcpherson-0364.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ruddy-duck-adult-male-december-mia-mcpherson-0364.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ruddy-duck-adult-male-december-mia-mcpherson-0364.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119932,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/19\/drake-ruddy-duck-in-early-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":118573,"position":2},"title":"Drake Ruddy Duck In Early Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been paying a lot of attention to a drake Ruddy Duck at my local pond because he has gone into breeding plumage earlier than is normal for this species.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Ruddy Duck almost in breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-getting-his-colors-on-mia-mcpherson-1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-getting-his-colors-on-mia-mcpherson-1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-getting-his-colors-on-mia-mcpherson-1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-getting-his-colors-on-mia-mcpherson-1969.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112996,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/28\/drake-ruddy-duck-and-his-sky-blue-bill\/","url_meta":{"origin":118573,"position":3},"title":"Drake Ruddy Duck And His Sky Blue Bill","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I had a real treat photographing a drake Ruddy Duck close to home. He was in his most dapper breeding plumage, including his sky blue bill.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring drake Ruddy Duck portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ruddy-duck-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-3947.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ruddy-duck-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-3947.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ruddy-duck-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-3947.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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