Cottonwood Creek – Fall Waterbirds
| 8 imagesAt the tail end of fall, or very beginning of winter depending on how you look at it, I managed to find a variety of birds at the Cottonwood Creek Wetland area. During the 2011-2012 winter season, this wetland area had been reworked due to sediment buildup (it’s part of a state park, and none of the wetlands are natural…but it’s good to know that some of the wetlands that were destroyed by civilization have been rebuilt). Throughout spring and summer 2012, Cottonwood Creek wound its way through, reinvigorating all the aquatic life that used to live there, creating quite a smörgåsbord for the waterbirds. There were mallards, shovelers, a couple of grebes including pied-billed, a bunch of geese and one unbelievably FAT American Coot.
The photographic opportunity, with late fall reflecting in the waters from everywhere, offered me a chance to get some interesting shots. The featured photo of this gallery is that fat coot drifting through perfectly glass-clear water reflecting a dull gray sky shortly before sunset…the only shot of the day that did not have golden, orange, yellow, or brown reflections in the water. Sadly, I was in very low light conditions, and my ISO was quite high, so there is not much in the way of fine feather detail.
Nature Photography 
Terrific series! I really like the coots. I know they are kind of goofy but for some reason I really do like them.
I love Coots! Even their name is goofy, but they are fun birds. Especially this one, man, he was FAT, and just kept on gobbling up mouthful after mouthful of whatever aquatic plants were growing there. Every so often, he would waddle over to another area, take a bath, then waddle back over to his dinner spot and start eating again (which is what presented the opportunity to get the super clear reflection shot). Funny little marsh birds, for sure!