• About
  • Village Teacher
  • Photography
  • Red Rock Country
  • EBF Refuge
  • Big Sur

neihtn

~ Village Teacher – The Books & Photographs

neihtn

Tag Archives: bufflehead

Buffleheads

17 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by neihtn2012 in Photography

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

bufflehead, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Buffleheads are the smallest diving ducks in North America, often seen at the refuge in late fall and winter. In early December of 2020 I saw one male and two female Buffleheads there.

Buffleheads, male in between two females.

The male gave a signal and all three of them decided to take off, giving me a unique opportunity to capture them in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Male Bufflehead Courtship

14 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by neihtn2012 in EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

bufflehead, courtship, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Two days ago I happened upon about a dozen Buffleheads involved in their annual courtship rituals at the refuge. Male Buffeheads court their future mates by a vigorous exercise of head bobbing, diving, running on water, and flying over the head of the female ducks.

Male Bufflehead.

Male Bufflehead running toward female.

Male Bufflehead flying over female.

Male Bufflehead flying over female.

Male Bufflehead trying to impress female.

Sometimes, a female Bufflehead chased a male away.

Female Bufflehead chasing after male: “Get out of my sight, you … duck!”

Male Buffleheads competing for attention from female.

Male Bufflehead: “I am the greatest!”

Female with male Buffleheads paddling fast in background.

The courtship also took place underwater, perhaps with the males trying to prove they could be good foragers. I saw them dive and spend a minute or two submerged, but unfortunately was not equipped to take photos under water.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Female Buffleheads

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by neihtn2012 in barnegat, Photography

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

bufflehead, photography, postaday

Buffleheads are among the smallest ducks, one with a large head relative to the body. A small group of them was swimming near the Barnegat Lighthouse a few days ago. These ducks live mainly in North America, but may be seen in some Western European countries and Japan, but only rarely.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Suddenly they took off flying toward the open sea.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Then they began landing on the water.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Here are two of them swimming around, watching the humans and the other ducks and loons.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Buffleheads 2018

13 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by neihtn2012 in colonial lake, EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

bufflehead, colonial lake, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Buffleheads are the smallest diving ducks, no larger than 16 in (40 cm) in length. They are a joy to see as they appear to be constantly smiling and moving about, bobbing, and diving to find food. They swallow their catch of crustaceans (shrimps) and mollusks under water, and I have yet to see a photo of one Bufflehead holding food in its short, smily bill.

In past years I usually had a hard time taking good pictures of them, especially the male ones, because their eyes are often lost in the dark patches around their heads. This year sunlight was with me, most of the time, as you can see in the following photos.

Female Buffleheads at Colonial Lake.

Female Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Female Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Female Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Male Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Male Bufflehead beginning to dive.

Male Bufflehead approaching female who just dove.

Male Bufflehead and his harem.

Female Bufflehead angling for photo.

Female Bufflehead and Canada Geese.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Buffleheads

17 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by neihtn2012 in EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

bufflehead, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Buffleheads are very small ducks, about half the size of Mallards. I have found them to be difficult to photograph because of their size and colors. Females are gray brown with white patches on their cheeks. Males are white and black. In both sexes, the eyes are hard to distinguish from the dark areas surrounding them, unless there is good light, which is not always the case in winter.

A few days ago, I went to the refuge on a cold and windy day. The marshes were mostly frozen and there were only several gulls and Buffleheads. There were also very few cars, and so I was able to zoom in closer on some female Buffleheads who were actively diving for food.

Female Bufflehead.

Female Bufflehead.

Female Bufflehead diving.

There was no male Bufflehead at EBF on that day. The following photo shows one taken a few days earlier near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Male Bufflehead.

Here’s how the refuge looked on a cold day, when the highest temperature was well below freezing.

Marshes in winter.

Marsh plant in winter.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Buffleheads and Hooded Mergansers

10 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by neihtn2012 in EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bufflehead, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, hooded merganser, photography, postaday

Yesterday was cloudy all day, but I went out anyway to the Edwin B Fortsythe National Wildlife Refuge near Brigantine, NJ to see what I could photograph. It turned out to be not much. Most of the photos turned out mediocre at best and had to be discarded. However, it was high tide and at two of the locations where sea water came into to the marshes I found Hooded Mergansers and Buffleheads merrily diving for food.

Buffleheads are small ducks, even smaller than Hooded Mergansers. They kept their distances, and I could only get one good shot at a pair.

Buffleheads, female on left, male on right.

Buffleheads, female on left, male on right. The male had a glossy green forehead, which would have been more colorful in better lighting.

The Hooded Mergansers were bolder, coming within 30 ft, seemingly undisturbed by the guy with a white car and a black camera.

Male Hooded Merganser.

Male Hooded Merganser. He had been diving so his crest or hood was tamped down.

There were several female Hooded Mergansers who looked quite coquettish even as they dived and resurfaced constantly.

Female Hooded Mergansers.

Female Hooded Mergansers.

Female Hooded Merganser.

Female Hooded Merganser.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Village Teacher – New Review
  • Silent Sunday – Sleeping In
  • Hooded Merganser – Bad Hair Day
  • Last and First
  • Buffleheads

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • September 2013
  • June 2012

Categories

  • Acadia National Park
  • barnegat
  • Big Sur
  • Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
  • Bombay Hook National Widlife Refuge
  • Books
  • colonial lake
  • EBF Refuge
  • Great Swamp
  • john heinz national wildlife refuge
  • Moss Landing
  • Ocean City Welcome Center
  • Photography
  • Road Trip
  • The Siege of An Loc
  • Viet Nam Trip
  • Village Teacher
  • Weekly Photo Challenge

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,005 other followers

Top Posts & Pages

  • Village Teacher: Genesis
    Village Teacher: Genesis
  • About
    About
  • Weekly Photo Challenge: Reward
    Weekly Photo Challenge: Reward
  • Weekly Photo Challenge: Achievement
    Weekly Photo Challenge: Achievement

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: