The Wood Duck

Posted By on February 3, 2016

My new approach to wild animals is this: I will speak their names and wait for them to show up.

Without even trying, that is what has been happening.

In the last month, it happened with the stork, the spoonbill and the blue heron. Just a couple days ago, I was asking about a wood duck. From searches online, it seemed the little pied-billed grebe might be a juvenile wood duck. (I’m confident it is a grebe, though).

Well today, the wood duck showed up. I saw a bird fly by, and he looked foreign, somehow. I’m not sure how I know the flight profile of the birds around here, but I can usually tell who is who when they’re in flight. So, this black streak flashed up into a tree. Quite high up.

Wood duck in a tree top across the water.
Wood duck in a tree top across the water.

I grabbed the camera. What a wonderful splash of color!

It remained like that for some little while and then flew off. I suppose the backyard was just a way station. I am hoping it returns and goes into the water nearby.

Naturally, other dramas played out concurrently in the backyard animal kingdom. For starters, the grebe came back. No heron or egret to play/hunt with.

Return of the pied-billed grebe.
Return of the pied-billed grebe.
Grebe tries to lure the ibises in. They're having none of it.
Grebe tries to lure the ibises in. They’re having none of it.
Grebe gives up and heads underwater again.
Grebe gives up and heads underwater again.

Then I found this muscovy hen sitting by herself on the lawn. They and the mallards are very often here, but they’re not usually alone, especially the female. She turned her head towards me.

Muscovy hen looks in my direction? Where do the eyes point when a bird's head turns forward.?
Muscovy hen looks in my direction? Where do the eyes point when a bird’s head turns forward.?

I started taking these images because these two turtles tried to use the same log together yesterday and failed. The one on the bottom slid of and just kept circling the log, trying to find a way on.

Turtles having a great day, sunning on a log in the middle of the waterway.
Turtles having a great day, sunning on a log in the middle of the waterway.
Look to the right. You'll see the reason the snakebird is called that as he approaches the turtles.
Look to the right. You’ll kind of get the idea of why the snakebird is called that as he approaches the turtles.
Snakebird launches himself out of the water. See the turtle up front being displaced.
Snakebird launches himself out of the water. See the turtle up front being displaced.
The anhinga settles in. The turtle seems unsettled, extending its forelegs.
The anhinga settles in. The turtle seems unsettled, extending its forelegs.
He looks bag as if surprised that even one turtle remains there.
He looks bag as if surprised that even one turtle remains there.
The turtle decides to stick it out and the anhinga doesn't fight int. They remained like that for some time.
The turtle decides to stick it out and the anhinga doesn’t fight. They remained like that for some time, then the anhinga left. The other turtle never came back.

My new camera arrived today. It is a D3300. I am not yet sure that I will be holding on to it, but I’ll see what I can learn from it, nevertheless.

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon PowerShot SX510 HS
  • Taken: 3 February, 2016
  • Focal length: 129mm
  • ISO: 400
  • Shutter speed: 1/80s