For any use of my photos, please contact me at monika.wieland (at) gmail (dot) com

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Waterfowl at Westmoreland Park

With the nicer weather yesterday, I went back to Westmoreland City Park in hopes of getting some nicer photos of the red phalarope. Unfortunately the phalarope had moved on (I'm glad I went in the rain and saw it before it left!), but there were lots of other waterfowl hanging out on the two ponds there. Since I had my camera in hand anyway, I decided to walk around the two ponds and take some shots.

First is a female American wigeon who was flapping her wings after bathing:


Here's a male American wigeon:


Some of the Canada geese were being fed, which is probably why they were much more approachable than the other species. I took advantage of this to try some close-ups. While I got some neat head shots, this full-frame picture turned out the prettiest:


There were only two lesser scaup that I could see, but the male took one pass close to the shoreline:


Finally, I've tried several times in the San Juans to get a nice picture of a bufflehead, but haven't had too much luck. I had a little more luck yesterday. There were a few of them hanging out together on the pond, and with the sun peaking through the clouds you can really see the iridescent feathers on the head of this male:

6 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Very nice photo's Monika, especially the male bafflehead.

PS re the treecreepers, it also fascinates me that your brown creeper is of the same species, and yet so far away. We like you only have the one type of ''creeper'' On the european continent they do have a wallcreeper, but its not really like a treecreeper!

eileeninmd said...

Great photos of the waterfowl. I love the colors on the American Wigeon. The Buffleheads are neat looking too.

Jeanne said...

I see you are adding to your list of
birds seen - very nice, and wonderful images...I bet you are really enjoying your new camera!

Vera said...

My favorite is the Canada Goose. Very "artsy"!

Monika said...

Glad you're all enjoying the photos!

Warren - interesting stuff about the treecreepers, thanks for sharing your perspective!

Heather said...

Absolutely lovely images, Monika.