We have five swans on our lake right now, migrating to warmer climates. I enjoyed taking some photos, especially ones that showed the water spraying off of them after they came up from feeding.
Five Swans
Category: Birds
The Swans are Here
We’ve had a couple of trumpeter swans here on our lake for a couple of days. We often see them in the spring or fall.
Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk
We were visiting at our daughter’s farm garden (Sparrow Gardens) this past week. When we arrived this juvenile red-tailed hawk was on the ground near us. It had just caught a rodent. In the time that we were there, it caught 4 or 5. In between catching rodents, it went up into the trees nearby […]
Hummingbirds
Common Merganser compared to Loon
Some people confuse male common mergansers for loons. The shape of their heads are similar, but as you can see they look quite different. The male merganser is on the left, and the loon on the right. The female common merganser looks different than the male. As you can see below, the male and female […]
Buffleheads
I look forward to seeing these small ducks during migration season. We see them in the spring and then later in the fall. They are very skittish and it’s difficult getting any photos of them. These were taken with a 600 mm lens, and then cropped. The male’s head is a glossy green and purple. […]
Common Mergansers
Hooded Mergansers
I like this time of year because we end up seeing birds we don’t always see during the rest of the year. These are hooded mergansers. This is a male merganser. The white on the head can be expanded into a “hood”. Hooded mergansers are the smallest of the mergansers. The female is not as […]
Wood Ducks
We don’t see wood ducks on our lake very often. These two have been staying for a few days, so I was pleased to get a few pictures this morning. Wood Ducks do not nest on the ground as many other ducks do. They nest in cavities in trees and are comfortable flying through woods. […]
Signs of Spring
Signs of spring – the Canada Geese are around again. The ice is melting, and the lake is beginning to have some of the water fowl are coming back. The number of Canada Geese on the lake can be overwhelming later in the summer, but they are interesting birds to watch. I like this one. […]