Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Bridlewood Wetland

One of the American Coots I was photographing yesterday afternoon within the city. They are not ducks. "Coots are medium-sized water birds which are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica. Coots have predominantly black plumage, and, unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water. They are close relatives of the moorhen." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coot

She's beautiful, even if she is "just" an everyday female Mallard : ) I never get tired of photographing Mallards, or seeing photos taken by other photographers.

I so rarely get to see Ruddy Ducks and when I do, they are too far away for photos. As it is, this image is heavily cropped, but it is still the closest image I've taken so far. Just love the beautiful blue bill! Wish its tail had been sticking up, though, in a typical pose. I sometimes have a good chuckle when I think back maybe seven years or so, when I thought that a duck was a duck (i.e. a Mallard). I had no idea that there were SO many different species!

Just a classic side view of this handsome male Northern Shoveler. Another duck that I see quite a few of, but almost always from a long way off. Could say the same about most species of duck that I see, LOL. I always love the colouring of the Shovelers.

Though Scaup are not uncommon here, I don't usually see them close enough to really "see" what they look like. I was lucky to have this male swim close enough for me to get a photo yesterday. I had taken a few shots of a Scaup in the same place three days ago. However, I discovered last night that the photo above is of a Lesser Scaup and my previous photos (not yet posted to Flickr) were of a Greater Scaup, so I was happy with that. The duck in this photo has a slight purple iridescence on the back of the head, and an almost-crest. The Greater Scaup has a more rounded head. I have SO much to learn, LOL!