26 Sunday Mar 2017
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Northern Pintails are normally peaceful, relaxed as in the following photo.
Northern Pintails, female diving, male on right.
Last Sunday, two of them were … more agitated shall we say, as in the following series.
Northern Pintails, one cloudy Sunday morning.
Northern Pintails.
Northern Pintails, he bit her neck and held on.
Northern Pintails, churning the water.
Northern Pintails. She tried to escape.
Northern Pintails. She did escape from him.
19 Sunday Feb 2017
Posted in Photography
As of 2014, the Northern Pintail is on the list of birds in steep decline. Yesterday, though, I saw many of them at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, outnumbering all the other ducks combined. They were busy looking for food, flying about from one spot to another, and allowing me ample opportunities for photos.
Northern Pintails at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. The one of the right is the male.
Female Northern Pintail with her head above water. The two diving ducks with long tails are male, and the other one female.
Northern Pintails in flight.
Landing on water at end of flight.
Female Northern Pintail putting on the water brakes.
09 Tuesday Feb 2016
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Tags
Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, hooded merganser, northern pintail, photography, postaday
He was standing on a bank of the marshes, his back turned to me, his face to the water. I stopped to take his picture, and as I aimed my camera at him, he turned around, a severe look on his face.
Great Blue Heron: “You there, keep quiet. Don’t scare the fishes!”
So I drove on. The tide was falling, and water from the marshes was pouring out toward the ocean. At one of the outlets, I found a Hooded Merganser swimming by himself, coming very close to where I was, as if he had not noticed me. This was the closest I had ever been to these usually shy ducks.
Male Hooded Merganser.
Male Hooded Merganser.
Male Hooded Merganser, from the back.
Male Hooded Merganser stretching.
Male Hooded Merganser.
There were female Hooded Mergansers in the vicinity, but they were paired with other males. None paid any attention to our handsome bachelor!
I moved on to another pond and saw a pair of Northern Pintails busy in their favorite pursuit: dabbling in shallow water to find plants and crustaceans to eat.
Northern Pintails, male on left, female on right.
After a while, they paused and struck a classic pose, with water still dripping from the male’s bill.
Northern Pintails.
21 Wednesday Jan 2015
Posted in Photography
After surfers and snorkelers, I would like to show you the Northern Pintails in synchronized swimming. These ducks are known as dabbling ducks which feed on the surface of the ponds where they land. They first look for things to eat by submerging their heads, then they tip their rear end to look even deeper and catch their food.
Northern Pintails looking for food
Tipping
The following photos, taken 10 days before the above, show groups of them similarly practicing the art of synchronized swimming. It looks like they got better at it in the final photo!
Northern Pintails
Northern Pintails
Northern Pintails
20 Tuesday Jan 2015
Posted in Photography
Beside the surfers that I saw last Friday at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, there were quite a few snorkelers. The majority of them were Northern Pintail ducks very much focused on finding a tasty lunch.
Northern Pintail ducks, two males and one female, snorkeling.
One of them found something, or maybe he was lonely, and called on the others to come.
Male Northern Pintail: You guys, come here!
In no time at all, he was surrounded by both male and female ducks who happily resumed snorkeling.
Northern Pintail ducks
Northern Pintail ducks
