{"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_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":[27,2397,709,26],"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":[],"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