Hen Pintail

 I have always found these birds hard to get close to. I'm hoping for better shots of both male and females before they disappear for another year.

Northern Harrier

 In the interest of not being monotonous with these latest posts I will insert these images of a Northern Harrier photographed while I was out shooting waterfowl. The posts that follow this one will be fairly predictable given my penchant for concentrating on ducks during the Winter months.

Mergansers in "Better" light

 I put better in quotes since brighter light doesn't always make for better photos. It does allow for faster shutter speeds and more sharp photos and helps for capturing any action if it happens. This is the same location as the previous posts, same day as the Otter but different day from the last merganser shots. There were no Hooded Mergansers on this day unfortunately. 

River Otter

 This was not what I was expecting to photograph on this day but I wasn't entirely surprised to find an otter at this location since I had photographed one a couple of years back in the same spot. I was actually expecting some ducks to swim back up to where I was so apparently this guy had to swim past them to get to me. The ducks showed up after the otter left from the same direction it came from.

Mergansers in Soft Light

 I took these on a day I hoped there would be a little better light. As the afternoon wore on the light got more difficult. There was a little snow falling but not enough to really add anything to these images. I was happy to find a couple Hooded Mergansers mixed in with these female Common Mergansers. One is an immature male - the one with the larger crest and brighter eye. I'm still struggling to photograph the adult males. One of these days I'll find some.

Black-capped Chickadee - Cold Winter Day

I do like taking bird photos on cold Winter days even if it's just one of the many local Chickadees. They tend to look their best when their feathers are puffed out to help keep out the cold.