Wood Duck

I stopped by Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden a week ago last Saturday after spending some time at Westmoreland Park. There are usually good opportunities for closeups of water fowl there and this time the stars were several Wood Ducks.

They usually scurry away when they see you coming, but I found a few that I think were a little sleepy and let me get close. Despite a typical low light Oregon day, these ducks stayed still enough to get a few great shots. They have outstanding plumage!

Wood Duck

Well I missed being able to go out birding on the beautiful day today because I was involved in another one of my hobbies. I design stage lights for Wilsonville High School drama productions about twice a year. Right now I am working on two shows and I had to put in time at the high school so that I can complete the lights for opening night. Kind of a bummer though as this was the first nice day in quite a while.
So instead of a some new pictures from today, I'm posting some images of a Wood Duck I took at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden on the 9th. Male Wood Ducks have the most amazing colors on their plumage. I never get tired of watching them.

Wood Ducks - Female

Wood Ducks were plentiful in the ponds of Bois-de-l'Île-Bizard Nature Park.
On two different occasions I saw both Wood Ducks and Mallards obscured amongst trees in a marsh. There was a strange call coming from that general area. I'm pretty sure it must have been the Wood Ducks as it was reminiscent of what Cornell has on their site.

Wood Duck

One of my birth families favorite parks to camp was Itasca State Park. During my stay with my sister and her family, we took a day trip to the park. One of the highlights of the park is Itasca Lake which serves as the source of the Mississippi River. I would imagine millions of people have had their picture taken walking across the stepping stones at the point along the lake shore where a small stream starts its thousand plus mile trip to empty into the Gulf of Mexico.
I have fond memories of camping there and hearing the eerie call of the Common Loon at night on the lake. While I only got one sighting of a distant Loon, I saw a few broods of Wood Ducks such as the one above near the shore.

Wood Duck

A male (top) and female (bottom) Wood. I shot these back on March 13 at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.