Life has been busy this past week. Consequently, pending posts are piling up. Which translates to, they may or may not ever be completed/shared. I am glad I gave myself A LOT of flexibility with my attempt at regular Monday posts. They wouldn't happen otherwise.
This weeks sights did not happen on Sunday...they are from Tuesday. I packed my camera and took advantage of already being on the road for an oil change appointment.
After finding swans, I decided to change my focus to looking for different ducks. No clue why. I never paid attention to the various duck species. I wished to photograph a Wood Duck. I have never seen one in person. They are so colorful!
I had just arrived at my destination and out of the corner of my eye I saw ~ EEKS ~ Wood Ducks!! I pulled over and tried to contain my excitement. I had to shoot through brush as the pair quickly swam away.
4-19-22
male
female
pair
There were other ducks floating around within reach of my camera.
Lesser Scaup
pair
Blue-Winged Teal pair
I will have to try to get a better photo of a Blue-Winged Teal male.
Northern Shoveler
I was happy with what I found and headed back to my truck to leave. Suddenly, a large something came flying out of nowhere. It dramatically dove into the water in the distance. Multiple times. My exact words were "what the hell was THAT?!!" All I knew when I took these photos, was that it was big.
Update: What I saw was an immature Bald Eagle, not a Golden Eagle. Whoops! I thought it was awesome that ebird contacted me to let me know. Apparently Golden Eagles are rare, and this bird was not one.
the amazing show lasted a couple minutes
eagle bathing
The eagles head was completely under water during one of the dives.
the eagle flew away
then circled back for another dunk :)))
it was SO COOL to watch!!
Even with all the excitement of watching the eagle bathe, the highlight for me was seeing these two:
Wood Duck ~ male
