I’ve been in denial about the change of seasons. Two weeks ago it was warm and I was still photographing insects. The sub-freezing temperatures the last couple of days have been a reminder to me that it’s time to put my macro lenses on the shelf and reach for my telephoto lenses.
Walking through my local marshland park this past Monday, I couldn’t help but notice that the ducks are starting to arrive. During the fall and winter, the park hosts a variety of different ducks (along with quite a few Canada Geese). Some of them are there for a brief stay and then continue their journeys to more distant destinations. Others remain for an extended period of time.
Among the early birds are these Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata), whose distinctively-shaped bills and colorful bodies make them hard to miss. They were paddling across the largest pond in the park, past a brush pile, when I captured this image. I didn’t notice it when I took the shot, but I really like the way that you can see some Canada Geese swimming in the distance.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great shot, I had to laugh when I read the blog title, I was thinking….. Duck season..Wabbit season… 🙂
The title is deliberately ambiguous and I love the Bugs Bunny reference. Here’s a YouTube link to that famous cartoon sequence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-k5J4RxQdE
Your gain, our loss. So frigid here already, with single digit lows at night, and fresh snow every couple of days. Enjoy those migrants!
They probably won’t stay long with the frigid weather already in place!
I like duck season too and look forward to it each winter. Last year was sad for the ducks though as many died of starvation in our area. The way the season is starting this year with 6 feet of snow in the last two days, ducks are not going to have a good winter on Lake Ontario or Lake Erie. I like the variety of ducks that come, like your Shovelers. Very pretty birds.
I hope the conditions improve for your ducks. We are fortunate that the conditions are a whole lot milder here. It was 21 degrees yesterday when I left for work, which is really cold for here. I noticed that this coming Monday is forecast to get to the upper 60’s. This is a crazy time of year, weatherwise.
We have ducks all year round here. Maybe ours are just the lazy ones who can’t be bothered to migrate.