On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I love springtime with Albatrossity! Then ema treats to some finery from the Easter Parade. For the ret of the week, we are treated to a 3-day Mexican Bus Trip with Elma.
We have made it through our backlog of posts, so this would be a great time to send in your pics!
Albatrossity
We are in a bad drought cycle here, but there are some places with water, Those are good places to find birds at all times of the year, but especially in the spring! So here are a few water-loving birds and some others. We’ll be back in Africa next week!
Birders in the springtime look forward to the return of all the ducks. That is because they are really colorful at this time of year, but also because they are larger birds and generally pretty easy to ID (compared to, say, quick-moving warblers at the top of a tall tree). One duck that is very familiar to birders and non-birders alike is this one, the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). The more colorful one (with the curlicue ducktail) is the male, but the drabber female still shows some nice colors as well. Click for larger image.
Another dabbling duck that is underappreciated, in my opinion, is the Gadwall (Mareca strepera). Generally it appears to be just a brownish duck with a black stern while on the water, but in the air they flash those white wing patches. And in springtime the male (at right in this image) showcases his beautiful mahogany epaulets! Click for larger image.
Dabbling duck #3 this week is the American Wigeon (Mareca americana), which is the duck in the foreground here (the other two are male and female Ring-necked Ducks, Aythya collaris). Baldpate is the colloquial name for this white-foreheaded bird, and it also shows a lot of white in the wing when flying. In the right light that dark patch around the eye is iridescent green, but I have always had a hard time getting that light on this species. Click for larger image.
Dabbling duck #4, a female Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) was obviously interrupted during dinnertime. Click for larger image.
Dabbling ducks and diving ducks both have the same response when somebody points a long black object in their direction, and these two were no exception. In the foreground is a female Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), a diving duck who is fleeing along with a male Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors). When I started shooting this sequence the teal was well behind the scaup, but rapidly caught up and eventually took the lead. That’s not surprising; as any duck hunter can tell you, teal are very small and very fast! Click for larger image.
These are male Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), but as you can see, some are more ruddy than others. Ruddy Ducks molt into the alternate (breeding) plumage (for the males, that means a chestnut-brown plumage and a bright blue bill) in the spring, and many other ducks are already in that colorful alternate plumage late in the fall or early in the winter. So it’s not unusual, here in Flyover Country, to see these birds with a variety of outfits at this time of year. Click for larger image.
Switching from ducks to another iconic spring migrant in these parts. I found this lone Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) at a local WTP (Water Treatment Plant, aka sewage pond) at a time of the year when most of its comrades are in Nebraska or points north. It must have missed the wakeup call one morning, and will now have to hang out with ducks and geese at sewage ponds for a while. Despite its laggardliness, it is still a stunningly beautiful bird, and one of my all-time favorites. Click for larger image.
Another beauty, this Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) was seen several times this winter, and hopefully it is still around for the summer. It has some pigmentation issues, although that eponymous red tail is still apparent. More images can be found on eBird. Amusingly, it was usually seen near a road named White Eagle Road. It’s no eagle, and I do not know how that road name originated, but maybe there is something in the water up there. Click for larger image.
This is a bird that sometimes overwinters here, but generally I have to wait until April to see one each year. Bewick’s Wren (Thyromanes bewickii) is expected but very patchily distributed here. It prefers areas with scrubby brushy vegetation, and most landowners do not. This one was singing lustily in an area near a reservoir that has undergone massive changes in its water level in recent years, so there were lots of dead trees, driftwood, and no persnickety landowners other than the US Army Corps of Engineers. Perfect habitat! Click for larger image.
The final bird is also one that I have to wait until April to see each year, and every year it still gives me the same thrill. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus). A bird that looks like it belongs in the tropics, yet it graces my part of Flyover Country all summer long. This is a female, and she was already hard at work catching insects, as you can see. Click for larger image.
Donatellonerd
Thanks. this is what i look forward to on Mondays. the sandhill crane is lovely and i’m also very fond of the last two.
raven
Incredible.
eclare
The Ruddy ducks are cute!
OzarkHillbilly
Boy, the words Corps of Engineers and “perfect habitat” have never crossed paths in my brain.
Sandhill cranes… Sigh. Someday I’ll make it to the Platte when they are there.
Argiope
Is that a dragonfly in the flycatcher’s beak? False advertising! (And what an incredible photo). Thank you for sharing these. Birds are never still long enough to really see all the facets of their beauty, but you let us do that.
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
Love the scissortails! That is the birding highlight of any trip to visit to my sister in Dallas. And that is a beautiful pic!
Albatrossity
@Argiope: I don’t think it was a dragonfly; I think it was some kind of wasp.
Still false advertising for an alleged flycatcher, I know.
mvr
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes, the Cranes are impressive and often along the Platte for several weeks centered near Kearny which is a convenient place to stay. It is worth a trip.
mvr
Really like the wren, though there are many nice photos here!
Thanks!
SteveinPHX
Amazing. Thanks again.
delphinium
Great photos as always-thanks for making our Mondays better!
Wapiti
We get wigeons in the park here in Seattle over the winter. They’re more skittish of people, so still wild and migrating. I once saw a single Eurasian wigeon (yellow pate, ruddy head) in a flock of American wigeons; guess he got into the flock in the Arctic before coming down here for the winter.
Yutsano
I figured it wouldn’t take long for this blog to go quackers. :P
Seriously: love all the fowl. And the colouring on that hawk is remarkable as well.
Xavier
@OzarkHillbilly: In winter in Albuquerque Sandhill cranes forage in fields near the river. I often can pass within 10 or 15 yards of them on the river bike trail. But my favorite sightings are early spring when I hear their croaking calls, but flocks of 100 or so are circling in thermals almost out of sight on their spring migration.
J R in WV
Wonderful pictures of fabulous birbs!!!
Thanks so much for sharing your work with us!
Mike Mundy
We have ducks down by the swimming pool.
Madeleine
Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!
And other beautiful birds, too.
StringOnAStick
One of the many things I love about your photos is that I can click on the higher resolution links and then zoom in to see so much interesting detail. Doing that let me see some of the green irridescence around the Widgeon’s eye; very pretty, and a close look at the feathers on the Sandhill Crane’s body is entrancing.
BigJimSlade
“It’s duck season!”
WaterGirl
@eclare: Is that an alternate spelling for adorable?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Late to the post, but I had to thank you for these pics. I love Gadwalls; closeup one can see the beautiful subtle mottling of the brown feathers.All the shots are great, as is the commentary.
TriassicSands
OMG, more ugly photos of hideous birds. Will it never stop?
OK, not even remotely true. Birds are magnificent — from the tiniest, smallest gray or beige critters, to the largest or the most spectacularly colored. By comparison, mammals tend to be pretty drab (with some exceptions) and seem to rely more on other attributes to make them stand out.
Only fish (and other sea creatures) can begin to compare with birds for colorful splendor. However, I’m a huge fan of dark-eyed juncos, not exactly a rainbow-clad species, but like
allmost birds they are simply beautiful to look at. And extremely cute. Every year they invade my carport and raise their young.That may be the prettiest red-tailed hawk I’ve ever seen and that number is far too great to even begin to count. Still, seeing it live would be even better, as no photographs or videos can ever quite live up to seeing the living, breathing critters in feather and flesh.
Thanks to Albatrossity (and others — no less important because I don’t mention their names) for providing us with a never ending array of beauty.
In the miserable political environment we live in thanks to the Republican Party and its neo-fascist members, one reliable thing to look forward to is the wildlife and scenic photo collections we see regularly here on B-J. A huge thank you to everyone who contributes.