{"id":19426,"date":"2015-02-04T05:38:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T11:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=19426"},"modified":"2023-12-17T05:01:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T12:01:45","slug":"redheads-in-salt-lake-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/04\/redheads-in-salt-lake-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Redhead Ducks in Salt Lake County"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last February; when there was actually snow on the ground, I photographed a pair of Redhead ducks at a pond near where I live. The drake kept a close eye on the hen and was rarely more than 20 feet from her but most of the time he was within just a few feet.<\/p>\n

\"RedheadA Redhead drake in Salt Lake County – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 285mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

They hung around close to the shore of the pond where they probably were expecting handouts from the folks that bring bread there to feed the birds. I wish the city would put up signs explaining how bread is bad for the ducks. They sure didn’t get any bread from me.<\/p>\n

\"DivingDiving Redhead hen – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 328mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This image just makes me smile. It shows well why Redheads are called “diving ducks” and I like how I caught the hen just before she went under the water.<\/p>\n

Redhead hens build the nests, incubate and brood the young and some female Redheads\u00a0parasitize other duck nests but occasionally they will lay eggs in American Coot, Sora, American Bittern and even Northern Harrier nests. I wouldn’t think that Redhead ducklings would last long in a harrier nest.<\/p>\n

I wonder if this pair of Redheads will come back to the same pond in Salt Lake County this year.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Last February; when there was actually snow on the ground, I photographed a pair of Redhead ducks at a pond near where I live. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2460,709,26],"tags":[4004,2461,3174,4159,4753,4483,1129,126,4070,4359,4062,1984,4560,8018,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-19426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-redheads","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-aythya-americana","tag-brood-parasitism","tag-diving","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-female","tag-hen","tag-male","tag-pond","tag-redhead","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-hen-diving-mia-mcpherson-8911.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-53k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107795,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/07\/redhead-ducks-at-my-local-pond\/","url_meta":{"origin":19426,"position":0},"title":"Redhead Ducks At My Local Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I took a brief walk at my local pond and was thrilled to see a small flock of Redhead ducks resting together on the surface of the pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Redhead drake flapping his wings on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/redhead-drake-flapping-wings-mia-mcpherson-3202.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119064,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/17\/resting-redhead-drake-on-an-urban-pond\/","url_meta":{"origin":19426,"position":1},"title":"Resting Redhead Drake On An Urban Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing a simple photo of a resting Redhead drake that I saw at my local pond two days ago. The red-headed duck appeared to be keeping an eye on me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting Redhead drake, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-resting-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-resting-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-resting-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/redhead-drake-resting-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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had two Redhead drakes in my viewfinder at my local pond. the light was lovely and so were the ducks.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Redhead drakes fighting over food, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/redhead-drakes-autumn-pond-mia-mcpherson-8373.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/redhead-drakes-autumn-pond-mia-mcpherson-8373.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/redhead-drakes-autumn-pond-mia-mcpherson-8373.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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