It's time for me to fly...

William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

Mallard Duck drake swimming at sunrise on a lake in Walton County, Georgia. Beams of sunlight and ripples on the pond. The mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the Americas.

Thursday, 8:43 AM - one of the first true chilly, windy mornings of the fall; when I left home at 6:30 AM there was actually some frost on the roof of my house and on the truck windshield. This is the signal that it’s time to fly… time for the winter waterfowl migrations. When I arrived at the shelter this morning, our first waterfowl visitors were on the main shelter pond: a Grebe and a male/female pair of Hooded Mergansers.

The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is the smallest of the three merganser species occurring in North America. Male “hoodies” have a large black-bordered white crest on the head. Of the three species of mergansers occurring in North America, the hooded merganser is a short distance migrant and the only one restricted to the continent. They winter in in regions where warmer temperatures allow for ice-free conditions on ponds, lakes and rivers.

The Grebe immediately dove and disappeared. But the Hoodies stayed near the resident Mallards. I inched down to the receding waterline of the pond so my body wouldn't silhoutte against the horizon and make the birds nervous. It took a few minutes, but the Mallards began swimming closer to me, with the Mergansers following. They never really got into close enough range for a good photograph, and as their comfort zone was encroached, they took off from the pond, "running" across the surface as they took flight and circled back overhead. I didn't think quick enough to switch to a faster shutter speed and better capature their flight. Maybe I will get it next time. Wildlife Photography books are great, but nothing equals practice in the field! 

Walton County, Georgia