Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for March, 2015

Thirsty robin

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 2, 2015| 12 Comments »

A flock of American Robins (Turdus migratorius) was feverishly foraging in the bushes, but one solitary robin felt a need to satisfy its thirst. Perching on a fallen branch mostly submerged in the frozen pond, the robin gently leaned forward and dipped its bill in a small pool of open water. It must be tough for birds in the wild to get water to drink during the cold days of winter.

As I was processing the photo, I couldn’t help but notice that it was mostly monochromatic, except for the orange in the breast and bill, so I played around a little with converting it to black and white. It still doesn’t pop as much as I would like, but I thought it would be fun to include it for comparison with the original.

American RobinAmerican Robin

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

How do you like me now?

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on March 1, 2015| 6 Comments »

What’s going on here? Normally, it’s the male Hooded Merganser duck (Lophodytes cucullatus) that engages in courting behavior to attract a female, but in this case it looks like the situation was reversed. The female seems to be trying to get the attention of the male, who is playing hard to get and ignoring her antics.

Hooded Merganser

I took these shots this past Friday at my local marshland park. After a week of several snowstorms and frigid temperatures, there was not much open water for the water birds. I managed to find an area where a small number of them, mostly mallards and Canada Geese, were congregated and moved forward toward them, painfully aware that the crusty snow was crunching under my feet. I was thrilled when I saw that a pair of Hooded Mergansera mixed in with the other, bigger birds.

As a few snow flurries started falling, I was able to get some individual shots of the Hooded Mergansers, as well as the opening shot of them swimming together.

Hooded Merganser

Hooded Merganser

The first photo seems to be calling out for a clever caption and I welcome any creative ideas from readers. I used the title of a Toby Keith song as the title of the posting, imaging the female duck was trying to impress the male, who had ignored her in the past. (Check out this video from Vevo if you are not familiar with the song.)

What scenario do you imagine when you see the initial photo?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts