So beautiful and so shy! Seen at Fanny Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow, MA
And here was another pair seen the same day at Lake Wallace in Belchertown, MA
And a couple of females resting at the end of the day. Their white-rimmed eyes standing out in the late day sun at the Norwottuck bike trail in Amherst.
A week ago I got these shots of several adult males along with some young males at Fanny Stebbins. I love seeing the adolescent males with their bright red eyes, but without the iconic head coloring!
The females, often overlooked, are also beautiful, especially when seen in the right light.
About a month ago, I loved watching these 3 young ducks swimming out on their own for the first time. The one in the lead is a young male, with a bit of the pattern coming out around his head and already a little orange around his eye. The other two are developing the feminine white around their eyes. They swam from the shore about 80 feet out and then back to land, back and forth, about 5 times. (The male wasn’t always in the lead!)
Finally, just for fun – now and again I like a picture but it isn’t as sharp as I would like or the lighting is off, so I play with it and sometimes I actually like the result.
