Too Much Fun! - Bufflehead Duck
Jul 28, 2020 03:44:09 #
Bucephala albeola
These small diving ducks are wide spread and in the area where I live they only show up in winter. Strangely their nesting areas are much more restricted since they nest in holes made in trees by the Northern Flicker whose hole entrances are too small for the larger tree nesting ducks. So they only breed in a patch in Colorado, parts of Northern California and Oregon and from NW Wyoming up through Idaho, Montana, Washington into British Columbia and Alberta.
They will dive repeatedly after food in shallow water. Staying under 12-25 seconds, rarely a bit longer. When hunting they only stay up an average of 12 seconds between dives. They may come up right where they dove or it may be several yards away. Watching them I have sometimes gotten the impression that they were playing and diving as much for fun as food.
Though they appear to be black and white when the light catches them just right the males show an iridescent green face and top of the head with a purple neck and the back of the head white. The females are mostly gray shading to black with white markings.
7DII, 100-400L mk2 +1.4x @ 560, 1/800 @ f/9.0, ISO-640
hand held - taken 1-9-2017 and reworked with new processing apps
These small diving ducks are wide spread and in the area where I live they only show up in winter. Strangely their nesting areas are much more restricted since they nest in holes made in trees by the Northern Flicker whose hole entrances are too small for the larger tree nesting ducks. So they only breed in a patch in Colorado, parts of Northern California and Oregon and from NW Wyoming up through Idaho, Montana, Washington into British Columbia and Alberta.
They will dive repeatedly after food in shallow water. Staying under 12-25 seconds, rarely a bit longer. When hunting they only stay up an average of 12 seconds between dives. They may come up right where they dove or it may be several yards away. Watching them I have sometimes gotten the impression that they were playing and diving as much for fun as food.
Though they appear to be black and white when the light catches them just right the males show an iridescent green face and top of the head with a purple neck and the back of the head white. The females are mostly gray shading to black with white markings.
7DII, 100-400L mk2 +1.4x @ 560, 1/800 @ f/9.0, ISO-640
hand held - taken 1-9-2017 and reworked with new processing apps
Jul 29, 2020 05:44:06 #
Jul 29, 2020 12:46:12 #
We get them on the Texas coast in the fall. Interesting ducks. They fly very close to the water and land quickly. I’ve seen them stay underwater for longer than you suggest. Maybe because when they are here it is during hunting season. 
Jul 29, 2020 16:44:06 #
Jul 29, 2020 16:45:51 #
Rickhstudio wrote:
We get them on the Texas coast in the fall. Interesting ducks. They fly very close to the water and land quickly. I’ve seen them stay underwater for longer than you suggest. Maybe because when they are here it is during hunting season.
Nah! it because everything in Texas is bigger therefore the water is deeper and they are down longer to reach the bottom and snatch some food.
Jul 29, 2020 17:23:11 #
R-i-g-h-t! Just because I’m a Texan doesn’t mean I’m the one telling the tall tales!
Jul 30, 2020 01:13:42 #
Very artistic view of a character we see here on California South Coast regularly but not frequently. Nice work.
Jul 30, 2020 03:50:30 #
sakitson wrote:
Very artistic view of a character we see here on California South Coast regularly but not frequently. Nice work.
Thank You very much. The park lakes and the Santa Ana River attract them here in Western Riverside County.
Aug 10, 2020 07:10:51 #
Paul Diamond
Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA
Great shot. We had a ring necked diving duck orphan here that I was able to photograph for almost a year. Will work on my photos and post in the coming weeks.
Aug 10, 2020 15:03:56 #
Paul Diamond wrote:
Great shot. We had a ring necked diving duck orphan here that I was able to photograph for almost a year. Will work on my photos and post in the coming weeks.
Thanks, go for it
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