You know what I love about waterbirds? The little buggers are easy to photograph. Well, relatively. When you’re standing on the boardwalk at Juanita and they’re out amongst the riot of vegetation that thrives in the shallow end of Juanita Bay in the summertime, they can sometimes be a bit hard to spot. Like so:
I swear to you, there are birds in that photo.
The ones I’d like you to identify are easier to spot in subsequent shots, although none of them were particularly interested in posing.
At least in this shot, you can see the grooming one has a spot of white on its face.
Aren’t they lovely, even if they’re inconsiderate little bastards?
I can’t wait for summer again. There’s nothing quite like wandering around the bay when everything’s abloom and life is abundant.
Please help keep the verdad flowing!
Woodies!
Yes, Wood Ducks. The preening one on the perch is a female, probably mother to all the others, which look to be mostly grown fledglings (I think I can see three young in the original photo, when blown up to full size).
Dang! I knew that facial marking looked familiar but couldn’t come up with it.
Had no trouble spotting the invasive purple loosestrife in the first image.