{"id":78363,"date":"2021-01-27T06:28:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T13:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=78363"},"modified":"2021-11-26T04:08:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T11:08:54","slug":"winter-ruddy-duck-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/27\/winter-ruddy-duck-close-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Ruddy Duck Close To Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinterWinter Ruddy Duck \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I photographed a Ruddy Duck close to home at my local pond. I was only able to take 14 image of it before it dove under the water and swam away.<\/p>\n

The age and sex of this Ruddy duck has puzzled me. At first glance it appears to be a female but after taking a closer look at the Ruddy duck I am going to label this bird an immature, first winter bird and it may possibly be a first winter male.<\/p>\n

The very light colored flanks and belly of this Ruddy duck combined with a hint of blue at the base of the bill were why I questioned my first impression of it being a female. Immature Ruddy Ducks have a dark line across their white cheeks which the female of this species also have.<\/p>\n

Ruddy Duck drakes don\u2019t molt into their breeding plumage until around March which is considerably later than most of the other male ducks I photograph during the winter. I have seen a few photos of local drake Ruddy Ducks recently that show them starting to get a hint of blue at the base of their bills.<\/p>\n

\"DivingDiving Ruddy Duck \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The dark line across the white cheek patch of this diving Ruddy Duck appears to be more pronounced in this image than it looks in the first photo. I can still see a hint of blue at the base of the bill. The bills of female Ruddy Ducks do not turn blue during the breeding season. If I can get photos of this Ruddy Duck from a closer perspective I might be able to confirm my thoughts on its age and gender.<\/p>\n

I could be wrong of course and I don’t mind being corrected when I am. I’d rather learn from the experience than to claim to be more of an expert than I am. That would be disingenuous and misleading.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

View more of my Ruddy Duck photos plus information about this species here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I photographed a Ruddy Duck close to home at my local pond. I was only able to take 14 image of it before it dove under the water and swam away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97587,"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":[4386,4159,4753,1129,126,2450,10932,10374,4062,2398,1984,2447,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-78363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-ruddy-ducks","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-blue-bill","tag-diving","tag-diving-ducks","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-first-winter","tag-hint","tag-immature-female","tag-male","tag-oxyura-jamaicensis","tag-pond","tag-ruddy-duck","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-winter-pond-mia-mcpherson-0673.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-knV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":97563,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/24\/ruddy-ducks-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":78363,"position":0},"title":"Ruddy Ducks In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago I saw someone say that they rarely saw photos of Ruddy Ducks in flight and I remembered I had a series of them flying past taken 11 years ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of Ruddy Ducks in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-ducks-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-5493.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-ducks-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-5493.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-ducks-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-5493.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-ducks-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-5493.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/26\/urban-ruddy-duck-drake\/","url_meta":{"origin":78363,"position":1},"title":"Urban Ruddy Duck Drake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban drake Ruddy Duck, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ruddy-duck-drake-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ruddy-duck-drake-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ruddy-duck-drake-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8688.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ruddy-duck-drake-nonbreeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8688.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ruddy-duck-female-mia-mcpherson-2497.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109661,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/17\/ruddy-duck-drake-close-to-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":78363,"position":3},"title":"Ruddy Duck Drake Close To Home","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I was at my neighborhood pond I spotted a Ruddy Duck drake out in the middle of the water who was starting to transition into breeding plumage.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Ruddy Duck drake, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-adult-mia-mcpherson-1632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-adult-mia-mcpherson-1632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/ruddy-duck-drake-adult-mia-mcpherson-1632.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I had a real treat photographing a drake Ruddy Duck close to home. 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