I heard this Wood Duck couple take off at Huntley Meadows Park this past weekend before I actually saw them. Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa), especially the female, make a distinctive shrieking noise when disturbed and when taking flight. (Check out this page from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website to hear some of the sounds made by Wood Ducks.)
Normally Wood Ducks fly away from me and I often don’t even get to see them before they disappear in the distance. This time, however, the birds flew across my field of vision and I was able to capture this long-distance shot as they passed me. I really like the way that we get a glimpse of the beautiful colors on the inside part of the wings of these striking ducks.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Lovely! Your posts are a lovely way to start my day every day!
Thanks so much for your kind words. I try to post early in the morning most days and it’s nice to hear that you are enjoying my wildlife/nature images of primarily my local area.
Wood ducks are so beautiful but so hard to see. Nice shot!
It seems almost impossible to get close-up shots of wood ducks, though I was fortunate recently to get some shots of a male perched on a nesting box. We are hoping that there will be baby wood ducks soon.
That would be great!