Posts Tagged ‘Duck’

While heading back down from Signal Hill to the Lower Battery in St. John’s, I ran across a small pond where a number of ducks had congregated. There were some ever-familiar Mallards, as well as some less familiar birds to me. Here are the better pics that I shot:

Northern Pintail Duck

Female Mallard Napping (But Keeping an Eye on Me)

Possible Male Tufted Duck (Without Much of a Tuft)

Male Green-winged Teal Beating a Retreat

Pair of Northern Pintail Ducks

This time I ventured down to the waterfront by Woodbine Beach in order to try to get some shots of some Bufflehead ducks. They’re very shy and invariably swim away from you if they feel they are too close to you. Managed to sneak up on a couple of them who promptly swam away from me when they caught a glimpse of me. Here are a couple of pics of that male and female pair who felt I was getting too close for their comfort:

Male Bufflehead Duck

Female Bufflehead Duck

At what was presumably a more safe distance from people, this pair of Buffleheads swam together along with a small flock of other Buffleheads and assorted other ducks and geese in the harbour by Woodine Beach.

Male and Female Bufflehead Duck

According to the Bufflehead Wikipedia article, they are among the smallest ducks in North America. For a size comparison, here are a couple of male Mallards adjacent to a much smaller male Bufflehead:

A Couple of Male Mallards and a Male Bufflehead for Size Comparison