Harlequin Duck

While at Clover Point I noticed some Harlequin Ducks. A male of the species is pictured above. These sea ducks dabble for their food in shallow waters but also dive for deeper prey such as crustaceans and worms. They often overwinter here but disappear in the summer. However, unlike most other migratory birds they do not fly north but breed and nest in the mountains, flying eastwards to their favored nesting grounds. This behavior is highly unusual - there's an interesting article about these ducks HERE.

Harlequin Ducks

Just as I finished taking Thursday's photo of the Trial Island lighthouse a small flock of Harlequin Ducks came zooming in and landed on rocks of the foreshore at Clover Point. In flight they are quite dramatic - those little white spots on their heads flashing like headlights. Above is a male and female pair, the male as usual being the more brightly colored.

Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus)

Sometimes it doesn't take much to make my day. While out for a dull, gray winter's day walk, amongst the seabirds poking around on the shore I spied the pair of Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) visible in the center of this photo. While they are not a particularly rare or an endangered species, I haven't seen any on the West Bay Walkway since 2012 and even then they were shy and few in number. Of course they are also a very attractive duck with instantly recognizable markings and colors. The trio on the right are Hooded Mergansers and a Black Oystercatcher is visible on the left.

Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)

When I was making posts about winter residents of the feathered kind I was aware that I hadn't included any Harlequin Ducks this year. The reason was that I had not seen any. However, some have shown up recently and here they are with their wonderful markings and colors. These ducks seem quite shy but I was able to sneak up on them for this photo. However, as you can see, they were churning the water to gain some distance from me when I stood up to snap the picture.

Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus)

Yesterday some other winter visitors turned up along the shore, these Harlequin Ducks, favorites of mine because of their wonderful colors and markings. Above are a male and female.

The Elusive Harlequin

Here are the latest fruits of my pursuit of the shy Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) that have been occasionally hanging out along the shoreline of the West Bay Walkway. Generally as soon as they see me coming they start paddling away from the shore into deeper water. On this particular morning I was armed with a mid-range telephoto (Minolta 100-200mm zoom) and used a digital zoom feature on my Sony to double the magnification to the equivalent of 400mm. The result is a little fuzzy and dark (handheld and shooting into the sun) but is my best capture to date of these wonderfully colored and patterned little ducks. On the left is another characteristic of these sea ducks that makes them challenging to photograph. They spend a lot of time cruising with their heads under the water like snorkelers, just raising their heads for a second or two to take a breath from time to time and diving whenever they see something worth investigating more closely.

Urban Environment and Mindfulness

I am so happy to see the wildflowers announcing spring that I tend to forget I am in a very urban environment. So yesterday I took advantage of a very low tide to walk around underneath the footbridge on the West Bay Walkway and photograph its lovely arches. What does this have to do with mindfulness? Those of you who read this blog regularly may remember that I have been attempting for some time to capture a good photo of a particularly beautiful duck, the Harlequin Duck, which is generally as shy as it is attractive. I took about a dozen photos of this bridge but it wasn't until I got home and looked at the photos that I saw the pair of Harlequin Ducks swimming around only a short distance away from where I stood to take the photo above. You can see these elusive ducks in the lower left corner. This reminds me once again that I usually see not what is really there, but what I expect to see. On the left is another reminder that despite its wealth of flora and fauna, the West Bay Walkway is part of the urban environment and as well as passing through woods and along the seashore, it skirts these towers and others like them.

Harlequin Duck

Here's a duck I've seen in many different locations but never close enough to make a good photo. This brightly colored and patterned beauty is the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus). This particular bird was seen off Victoria's eastern shore at Cattle Point.

Bird Problems

I mentioned yesterday that I went out to Macaulay Point looking for some different kinds of birds to photograph and I saw some. You can see them too in the above photo. Just look for some tiny dots about the size of a grain of sand swimming foolishly distant from the shore. Oh well, thanks to my telephoto lens I was able to get close enough at least to identify them and shoot the fuzzy photos below. Directly below are a trio of Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus)And below are a pair of nicely posed Bufflehead Ducks (Bucephala albeola). These ducks are much more attractive than my photos indicate - but there really is a problem getting close enough to them. More patience required! They are a delight to watch diving and popping up like little balls.