Hoover Reservoir Spillway Wood Duck

I've updoaded this image at 2000 pixels wide.  Click for a much larger image. 

Yesterday afternoon, I zipped down to the spillway below Hoover Reservoir.  You're looking at the drinking water for a major chunk of the Columbus area.  It also happens to be a place where waterfowl gather when much of the reservoir is frozen.  While yesterday's temps reached above freezing, we've had a fairly good stretch of subzero temperatures.

This drake wood duck stole the show yesterday.  It is just a simply stunning bird. This by far is the best look at one I've ever had, and it's simply beautiful.  Wood ducks are quite wary, and as this one approached, it had its eye on me the whole time.

The platform above the spillway is becoming such a popular and busy place, for both birdwatchers and fitness enthusiasts who climb the dam's long stretch of concrete stairs, that the ducks seem even less wary of people.  So, if you've never gone to Hoover, I urge you to, it's a great place to see waterfowl relatively closeup.

-Tom

New Purpose; At Least for Now

So, I know I wrote the post-mortem for this space, but maybe there's a little heart beat left.  After writing that post-mortem, I decided to systematically organize every natural history image I've photographed at my Smugmug website - tomarbour.smugmug.com.  Doing that has made me aware of species that I have yet to photograph.  And what did I decide I would do about that?  Well, photograph them!  And instead of just adding them to the gallery on Smugmug, why not share them here as well?

Today I went to Alum Creek to look for the eared grebe, and struck out.  A trip to the Oxbow Area at Hoover Nature Preserve, however, yielded three species I have not photographed, the golden-crowned Kinglet;







The Bonaparte's Gull;
   



And the Bufflehead.
   


Follow along, and let's see what else we can find in 2016.

-Tom

Veterans Day at Hoover Dam, Blendon Woods

-Tom

Wonderful Waterfowl

The valley of Big Walnut Creek, just downstream from Hoover Dam and Reservoir, part of the Big Walnut Audubon Ohio Important Bird area.

In the pool below the dam is one my favorite spots to photograph birds, and last Saturday this area did not dissapoint. The reservoir was frozen, so the the pool below the dam was full of waterfowl.

Common Goldeneye

Hooded Merganser with Fish

Ruddy Duck

Northern Shoveler

Gadwall

Mallard

American Wigeon, Male above, female below

If you haven't discovered how interesting waterfowl can be, the Hoover reservoir is a great place to start. During migration, thousands of ducks raft on the open waters. And in the winter, when much of the reservoir is frozen, just below the dam is a great place for close encounters with our quacky friends.

Tom

Raucous Ringbills

I froze my parts off photographing these ring-billed gulls today at Hoover reservoir while Megan and Weston ate snacks in the heated car. Why do I spend time photographing common birds? Well, they're great practice for photographing rare birds, plus, they're an extra special challenge. It isn't difficult to photograph ring billed gulls-just head to your nearest large parking lot. It is more of a challenge to get photos of them that are interesting- something that not only shows the birds, but also their behavior, and let's you in on little slices of their lives.

Tom

Capturing Motion

The theme of this post is capturing motion. Two things that have really gotten me into this type of photography- #1 My digital SLR and #2 My photography class that I'm taking right now at Columbus State. I had completely ignored moving subjects until I took this class!

Now, I'm not perfect, and my hardware certainly has some limitations, but I certainly enjoyed capturing movement at Hoover Dam and Blendon Woods Metropark this past Sunday.

When I went to Blendon, there were two serious wildlife "shooters" there. Of cameras, not of guns. They each had bigger lenses than I, so I had a we bit of lens envy shall we say? Well that all ended this evening when I picked up my rental lens for Florida. More specifically, the Canon 400 mm 5.6L. I'll be shooting this with my Rebel XTI, and I can't wait to get pictures with this lens. Florida, here I come. That being said, Megan and I are wicked busy getting ready for this trip. And to make things really complicated, Megan is driving to N.E. Ohio for an interview on Friday, and either coming back Friday night or very early Saturday morning. Throw in Jym Ganahl's prediction of a "possible" six inches of snow Friday night/Saturday morning, and our 11:00 a.m. flight, we are just a we bit busy trying to get everything ready! But it will most certainly be worth it! For now, I hope you enjoy these cold images of Ohio. Here we have a ring billed gull, Canada geese, Scaup (I hope you enjoy this montage), a pair of redheads, and finally, a black duck.



















P.S. Today at my monthly Goodwill browsing session during my lunch break, I picked up a $100.00 Canon scanner that does film and slides, in the box, wrapped in plastic, with the AC adapter and USB 2.0 cord for a whopping $9.99 plus tax. I plugged it in and the lamp comes on, now I'm downloading the drivers and we'll give it a whirl!(I should be packing!).

Tom

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The Fourth Aythya

 

Jim McCormac has great pictures of three Aythya species right next to each other- the ring-necked duck, the greater scaup, and the lesser scaup. This past Martin Luther King Day, I had the fortune to photograph a fourth Aythya species, the redhead (Aythya americana), at Hoover Reservoir.

I really enjoy watching waterfowl during the fall, winter, and spring here in Ohio. It was not until I came to Columbus did I realize that waves of really cool looking ducks make their way through Ohio. I'll never forget the first time I spotted a group of Canvasbacks (the fifth Aythya) on the Cuyahoga River near my home town of Munroe Falls. I was used to the dabbling behavior of mallards, but the canvasbacks dive straight down into the cold water in search of food. They are quite brave.

If you look carefully and click on the picture above to reveal the full image, you will be able to separate the males from the females in this flock. The boys do have red heads, and also have blue bills. The girls are more drab, but interesting none the less. Another name for the redhead is "bluebill". These fascinating creatures are welcome guests here in Ohio. Be sure to check out a large pond or reservoir near you to see winter visitors. And before you head out, take a look at the Ohio Birds ListServ to see where waterfowl are rafting near you.

Have a great weekend!

Tom

Waterfowl Friday

A pair of mallards flapping across Hoover Reservoir, near Columbus, Ohio.

Tom

More from Hoover Dam

The one in Ohio, not Arizona and Nevada!

Tom