Spring is Coming

I got out yesterday to play with my camera, and see what the birds may be up to.  My local birding website listed some waterfowl sighted down at the river, so I decided to check it out.  There is a spot where some water is released into the river, resulting in a small bit of open water all year.  I thought that may be a good spot to find a stray duck.

Well, I can safely say that spring is on the way, because the area was covered with hundreds of geese, ducks, mergansers, and other waterfowl.  I even saw a red-winged blackbird.  It seems rather early for those guys, at least to me it does.  But nothing says spring like the call of a red-winged blackbird singing to his mate.  Of course, I think his mate is still somewhere in southern Ohio at this point.

Here are a few shots I collected.  I hope they are ok, I used this opportunity to test out a new program I am trying, and I have not learned much about it yet.

“Hey, this is MY ice!”  Geese can be mean suckers, can’t they.

As you can see, there is still snow and ice around, but that does not seem to bother these guys.

Hooded mergansers.

These ducks are chillin’!  (Ok, ok, that was bad.  Sorry).

I love the iridescent green heads of the mallards.  I think the lone female is getting a lot of attention from the guys.

Common mergansers

This shot reminds me of that bit from the children’ show…”One of these things is not like the others”

Here is proof that even waterfowl can have a bad hair day.  (Another common merganser)

It was a great morning to get out and see that spring is in fact on the way.  The waterfowl are definitely migrating.  I hope I can keep catching them and sharing them with all of you.