RHH's photos with the keyword: female

The ponds near our home and the lake are full of ducks at present, many of them looking for nesting sites. We've seen Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Redheads, Buffleheads, Blue-winged Teal, American Coots, Mallards and probably some others I've forgotten. This pair of Ring-necked Ducks was on the pond just down the street from where we live.

These small woodpeckers have been regular visitors at our suet feeders. This is the male. The female, shown in one of the insets, lacks the red spot on the crown.

This is a male Downy Woodpecker, the smallest of our native woodpeckers. The female, who otherwise looks just like this, lacks the red spot on her crown.

This is a female Downy Woodpecker, the smallest of our native woodpeckers. Her lack of coloring on the back of her head identifies her as a female. She is perched on one of the railings of our back porch.

The three photos here are of the female Northern Flicker, more often a visitor at our suet feeders than the male, though both have been coming (I'll post photos of the male tomorrow). They are very shy and fly away as soon as there is any noise in the house or movement at the windows. They are very common in our area, however, and I do not even know if it is always the same pair that shows up at our feeders - I counted fifteen of them a few days ago when I was out for a walk. We see only the Red-shafted variety, once known as the Red-shafted Flicker, though now lumped with the others as the Northern Flicker. The reference is to the shafts of the wing and tail feathers which are red (there is a Yellow-shafted variety as well, found in eastern USA) and which are just visible on the underside of the tail in this photo and in one of the insets. Last, for those who don't know, Flickers are in the woodpecker family.

Here is the female Northern Flicker, the red-shafted variety. The red "shafts" of the tail feathers are visible in the photo, but the shafts of the tail feathers are also red. The male is somewhat more colorful with a bright red "mustache" but both come to our suet feeders.

There have been reports of several moose in our area and our daughter saw them when driving to our house a few weeks ago. I've been carrying my camera when I'm out hoping to see and photograph them, but without success until yesterday. I was taking a walk - without my camera - and spotted a cow and two calves, ran home to get my camera and my wife and went out again looking for them and saw them just down the road from where we live. This is the cow and the insets show her and the two calves that were with her. I'm interrupting my series on Joshua Tree National Park to post these and adding them to the group for Pam since I know how excited she would be to see these.

This is a female Black-chinned Hummingbird photographed at one of our feeders. They are very active in the morning and evening but will soon be migrating to Mexico.

This is a female Black-chinned Hummingbird perched on one of our feeders. She is one of three kinds of hummingbirds that we see and by far the most common. It will not belong now before they make their annual migration to Mexico.

This is a female Black-chinned Hummingbird, one of three kinds of hummingbirds that come to our feeders and the most common of the three. I think she caught a glimpse of me on the other side of the window and stopped feeding to see what was going on. The male is shown in one of the insets.

Photographed at the Barron Falls overlook, the dragonfly has been identified by my friend, Fizgig, as a female Scarlet Percher. The male of this species is red but the female is this yellowish color, a great example of sexual dimorphism.

The Downy Woodpecker, Dendrocopos pubescens, is our smallest woodpecker, under six inches (15 cm). The male has a small red spot on the back of the head, which is lacking in the female. This was photographed in a neighbor's garden.

Dendrocopos pubescens

Photographed at the Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle.

Photographed in Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia, along the Yellowhead Highway during our recent trip to Edmonton. The American Black Bear, Ursus americanus, ranges over the whole of the North American continent. More information about our trip can be found at the following blog: ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/british-col... .

Photographed at the Gaiser Conservatory in Manito City Park, Spoikane. More pictures of the park and its delights can be found on my blog: ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/08/manito-city...

Another bird photo from Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/02/birds-flowe...