Nature Photography

Over the last couple months, I’ve identified a number of duck species at Cottonwood Creek. I was worried for a while that the majority of the species would have moved on by the time I got my lens back. Most did, however several stayed behind, and it looks like a few species that don’t usually stick around might be spending at lest the rest of spring, if not summer as well. I identified the following species so far:

• Mallard
• Bufflehead
• Gadwall
• Blue-winged Teal
• Greater Scaup
• Lesser Scaup
• Hooded Merganser
• Northern Shoveler
• Ring-necked Duck

The birds I managed to photograph and feature here are bolded…all the rest of the photos did not turn out as I had yet to fine tune the AF of my perpetually broken lens. The wetland is now a full blown pond, all the mud flats and dirt spits are covered thanks to the most recent snow storms. That is a good sign, we desperately need the water. The higher waters and lack of mud flats has forced the smaller shorebirds elsewhere, however. They seem to hang out in difficult to reach places now, however there still seems to be a good variety of them. I have a number of photo series to post of Avocets, Willets, and a few others.