This visit to the pond in the later afternoon, found it quiet and tranquil until...
Overview of Tranquil Pond - Home to Many Ducks
My driving by and slowing down alerted the ducks to my presence and many took flight. There was a family of ducks resting on a log close to the shore which they vacated to the safety of the water.
With My Appearance at the Pond Ducks Took Flight Momma Ducks Took Ducklings to the Safety of Water
Luckily I have a zoom lens on my camera so even though the ducks moved further away I could bring them right up close.
The duck that I saw bringing her ducklings onto the water was the redhead duck with her cute yellow ducklings. She had moved out to deeper water where there was a family of bufflehead duck, a smaller duck, who had her ducklings out. They have a black and white coloring just like their mom.
Female Redhead Duck with Her 4 Ducklings Bufflehead Ducklings Resting on Water in the Background
Female Redhead Duck Stretching Wings 3 of Her Yellow Ducklings Also Bufflehead Duck Family
The next picture shows the tiny little wings of the bufflehead ducklings. Obviously they are not capable of flight with them so I see how vulnerable they are and why they seek the safety of the water which is out of reach of land predators but what about the predators of the sky? I guess that is why they often have large hatches of ducklings.
Young Bufflehead Duck Stretching It's Tiny Wings
The buffleheads are diving ducks. Watch them bobbing under the water in the video below...
Ducks can rest on the water. They just tuck in their heads by their wings and will let themselves float along on the water or keep one foot down paddling to keep themselves from drifting to much. The little ducklings picked this up real young too and seem very relaxed resting on the water. When they let themselves float along in a group they are called a raft of ducklings and that is just what they look like, a raft of fuzzy little bodies.
Close Up 9 Bufflehead Ducklings Head Tucked In Resting on the Water
Meanwhile back on the sandbar out in the water ducks were coming in to rest including a pair of bufflehead ducks.
Close Up Male Bufflehead Stretching It's Wings Female Beside Him & Coots Resting
Here both families of ducks were settled in resting and gently floating down the pond.
Female Redhead and Bufflehead Ducks Resting on the Water With Their Ducklings
Bufflehead and Ducklings in Foreground 2 Pairs Ringnecked Ducks in Background
Close Up Male Ringnecked Duck Stretching Wings
And still there was another duck out on the water with her ducklings. This was the goldeneye duck...
Female Goldeneye Duck with 8 of Her Ducklings
The goldeneye ducklings and the bufflehead ducklings look fairly similar with their black and white coloring but the buffleheads are a little smaller.
Close Up 13 Goldeneye Ducklings
I have one more duckling, well this actually is not a duckling for it belongs to the coot which is not a duck. According to the Natural History Journal -
Coots are not ducks. That's probably one of the first lessons in waterfowl taxonomy you ought to learn. In fact, they're not even kind of sort of related to ducks.
American Coots (Fulica americana) belong to the Rail family (Rallidae), along with rails (naturally) and gallinules. Going one taxonomic step above family, they belong to the order Gruiformes, which also includes the crane family. Ducks, geese and swans, however, are members of the order Anseriformes, quite a different branch of the avian family tree.
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The coot has a very comical looking baby which she had hidden securely in the reeds and had brought the food to it. Once she noticed me she shooed her baby back into the reeds. Coots are known for being very defensive with their babies. This one must have been pretty young for it had a bald head and was pretty tiny.
Momma Coot Bringing Food To Her Bald Headed Youngster
Colorful Coot Baby Heading Back Into Safety of the Reeds
Close Up Coot Stretching It's Wings
So although there were ducklings already hatched the grebes were just building their nest. It was interesting to watch as they dove under the water pulling up clumps of weeds which they tucked into the branches of what looked like a submerged bush. They worked diligently at it and it came together fairly quickly. Check it out..
Grebe Bringing Material to Mate For Building Her Nest
Grebes Checking Out Newly Built Nest
In the video below you can see the grebe gathering material and placing it onto the nest area. He was pretty busy...
Another kind of duck pairs I saw that didn't have any ducklings were the ruddy ducks. Although there were no ducklings the males are very territorial and have a funny behavior of slapping their blue beaks on the water while making a funny noise. You definitely know when he is around.
Pair of Ruddy Ducks With Another Male Moving In
Male Ruddy Duck By Female Slapping Beak on Water By His Chest
Close Up Male Ruddy Duck Slapping Blue Beak on Water By His Chest
In the video below you can see the ruddy duck displaying his territorial behavior...
Meanwhile in another part of the pond there was another duck putting on a display chasing a duck around
Duck Chasing Another in the Water Coots Looking On
And one more duck giving another bird heck. This time it was to a shorebird which must have been getting too close.
Ringnecked Duck Giving a Shorebird Heck for Coming To Close
As the day went on more and more ducks came to the sandbar out in the water to rest.
Redhead Duck Walking Onto Sandbar Coots in Background
2 Pairs Ringnecked Ducks and Shorebird Resting on Sandbar
Coots Resting and Grooming Themselves on Sandbar
That's all folks except for this little guy who woke up to wave goodbye...
Big shout out to @ace108 for running the Beautiful Sunday tag every week supporting the accounts. Also to @c0ff33a for the Sublime Sunday tag for your random Sunday posts!
Bird images are for the #FeatheredFriends community hosted by @melinda010100
The photos were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX60 HS.
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It's such a wonderful place. Perfectly sunny day.
Good photos, wonderful walk
Thank-you! I love visiting this pond!
So many precious babies! They have so many hazards to avoid as they are growing up. You got some wonderful photos!
I love that you got so many of them spreading out their wings hehehehe
what a great action shot that is! especially the ones in the water - they look like they're gonna levitate right up off the water hehehehee :)