BirdingGirl

Ding Ding Ding- We have a winner! I am confident to say this mystery duck that I saw at Four Ponds Conservation Area in Pocasset, MA is a female ring-necked duck. Source: Lloyd Spitalnik's Wildlife Galleries http://www.lloydspitalnikphotos.com/ Leah at BlueBirdFriendliness gave me a good tip about Scoters and Eiders, and I was fairly confident that it was a Female Common Scoter in 2nd year breeding plumage , but the ring on the bill was lacking in the pictures I found. As my friend Dave always tells me, if there is a key characteristic missing then it probably isn't a match and keep looking. I should have known better but didn't think I could get any closer. Thanks to Andy at Andyslens.com for helping me solve this mystery! I better study up and spend more time outdoors so I can get a little sharper.

Thanks to Leah at Bluebird of Friendliness for the tip on the Mystery Duck ID (shown above). I looked at some pictures of Ruddy Ducks, Eiders and Scoters. I found a great picture of a female Common Scoter in 2nd year breeding plummage that looks like a close match. Source: Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust http://www.wwt.org.uk Source: Surfbirds.com

I was out in the yard again on Saturday practicing with my tripod. It's very tricky how I need take the camera off the mount to flip it around so I can either aim up or aim down. It's still pretty cool though and I'm excited about the stable pictures that I'm able to get now. Since our back lawn has tree-lined borders on either side, that is naturally where the birds like to hang out. Unfortunately it looks like I like to spy on my neighbors with binoculars and tripod-mounted camera! Tufted Titmouse: White-throated Sparrow: Dark-eyed Junco: Carolina Wren: Ok- so the Carolina Wren and White-throated Sparrow aren't the greatest, but those birds are fast! They're so tricky to photograph. Practice makes perfect :) Can't wait to get out there again.

Armed with my new Dynex tripod I made a special trip to Four Ponds over Thanksgiving to try and get some decent Bufflehead pictures once and for all. My mom and Steve joined me. We left poor Marsy (our black lab) at home since we didn't want her to scare the birds away. Even with all of these things in my favor--tripod, no dog, known Buffleheads on a small pond-- I still cannot get a decent picture. We went directly to the pond that borders County Rd. since we saw the ducks there on our way to the Barlow's Landing Rd. parking lot. I quietly moved ahead and crouched down to set up my tripod. I went with the 60" lightweight one since I thought it would be best for carrying while birding. I figured I could easily kneel down and still aim the camera up whatever bird I was trying to get. Well, that's easier said than done when you're trying to shoot ducks in a pond surrounded by bushes. That, and the fact that they're easily spooked. Wonder why.... I was able to fin...