Saturday, March 20, 2021

Saturday Critters ~ 379 ~

Our last trip to Lake of the Lilies was a good one.
We saw a lot of ducks, but not the Wood Ducks, it appears they have moved on.


The Greater Scaup
My bird book says they are only present here during the winter,
I think I have seen them other times of the year.
This diving duck has a green glossy head and a dark breast.
Sexes are dissimilar, and they are mostly silent.




American Coot
This is a dumpy waterbird, with long, lobed toes that facilitate swimming.
Sexes are similar, it utters a "kwoot" call and I only see them here during the winter.




Male Mallard Duck
The most common dabbling duck.
Sexes are dissimilar, the female utters a familiar quacking call, and I see them year round.



? A Hybrid Duck ?
I have never before seen this large black duck, with a green head.


Maybe a Ring Billed Gull




The hubs purchased some cracked corn duck food and we fed the ducks while we were there.

The Canadian Geese got word of it and chased all the ducks away.
Big bullies!

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 
Viewing Nature With Eileen 
for Saturday Critters

18 comments:

Brian King said...

Beautiful Scaup! Love the light blue bill! You're right about the hybrid - mallards are known to breed with several other species. I like watching coots on land with their big feet!

eileeninmd said...

Hello Debbie,

Great collection of ducks, geese and gulls. The Greater Scaup is a beauty and the Herring photos are some of my favorites. I have not seen many Coots around, I wonder why. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, enjoy your day! Have a happy weekend! PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

The large black duck with the green head is neat. I think there are hybrids whenever you have a pond with lots of ducks. I'm always trying to ID them all! What a challenge! Enjoy your weekend. We have clouds today but it still will be nice enough to get out! Hugs! And thanks for coming back and commenting again! I appreciate that!

Changes in the wind said...

So many different colors and love their webbed feet.

Rian said...

For some strange reason I love gulls. And those two pics of the gull are fantastic.

Lowcarb team member said...

Lovely pictures.
Happy Saturday.

All the best Jan

RedPat said...

I was looking for Wood Ducks this week too and had no luck! The geese can be so pushy!

The Furry Gnome said...

That's a lot of ducks and geese!

The Padre said...

Wonderful Personality There - Such Cool Birds

Cheers

Ruth Hiebert said...

Spring is such a fun time as all the different birds show up.

Linda said...

I enjoyed your ducks. We witness duck/goose interactions all the time. They get along "swimmingly" until food is involved.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Great to see the Scaup and lovely photos I am wondering is that gull a Herring gull as they have pink legs and those legs are yellow. Have a wonderful week ahead.

Shiju Sugunan said...

Lovely images of ducks. Hope you’re having a great weekend.

Ela said...

Oh, they are so beautiful !
Fantastic photos !
Greetings

Marie Smith said...

Love these. I’ve never seen coots. Interesting looking birds. We haven’t seen the geese here this spring yet.

Conniecrafter said...

How fun to have found a new duck you haven't seen before :) That is neat that you were able to find food for them, those geese can be quite pushy that's for sure, looks like it was a busy place with all those ducks!

Breathtaking said...

Hello Debbie,:=) Lovely variety of water fowl. I don't get to see flocks of birds, and my knowledge of these ducks and geese is limited, but like you I have a super bird book, where I can identify them, except for the hybrids. The black one with green head is an attractive bird. Your photos are lovely, with nice lighting and detail.
Have a good week.:=)

LeAnn said...

Wow, you got a variety of bird photos today. I continue to love the ducks. Maybe it is because we have some that come and visit us. Their colors are so beautiful. Feeding ducks can cause trouble. They then love your home and like to come by frequently and drop their poop too.
Blessings and hugs for this one!