March 15, 2015

I visited the waterfowl marsh at Delaware Wildlife Area near Delaware, Ohio this afternoon. It was a productive trip and I am glad I went. There were several waterfowl species present; Canadian geese, northern shovelers, mallards, hooded mergansers, common goldeneye, and a pair of American coots. I normally don't spend much time on mallards or geese, I just don't find them too interesting because there are so many of them around.

I could not get close enough to the shovelers to get a good shot; nothing to post on the shovelers. I got a couple  shots of the hooded mergansers, they were really skittish and would not stick around to be photographed, so a couple shots but nothing to be very excited about. There are some pretty nice shots of the hooded mergansers in an older post in my blog. I flushed out a common goldeneye that was hanging out with the mergansers, I am disappointed I could not get a shot of the goldeneye to share with you all.

Best shots of the day were the coots. Most times they are not too exciting but I do find them interesting. I did just a bit of research at:

 http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id

I was surprised the coot is not really a duck but a closer relative of the sandhill crane, I did not know that fact; this has become a fascinating hobby! There is so much to learn it should never get boring.

Comments on any of the posts here are very much appreciated, so feel free leave your thoughts and thanks for visiting. Enough chatter lets get on with the show!

Hooded Merganser

American Coot