Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
A female lesser scaup scans the skies while swimming in the soft light of a winter’s morning. I love photographing when the waters are this still and found her expression almost whimsical, but there’s a good reason the ducks keep an eye on the skies above Ridgefield.
A male ring-necked duck swims through duckweed in Bower Slough.
After watching me from closer in, this harbor seal popped up further off in the gentle waves before finally swimming out of sight.
I don’t even know how it happened.
I was happily photographing ducks back in the fall when I pointed my camera at the confluence of yellow and green reflections and suddenly a white spot appeared in the water and I felt the universe start to come apart at the seams. This wood duck drake swam by and its wake seemed to close the disruption and life as we know it was spared. All hail the mighty wood duck, silent guardian of all that we hold dear.
Today’s temporal disruption comes courtesy of an out-of-focus downy duck feather in the foreground
On this rainy Christmas day here in Portland (it did snow earlier so we had a shot at a white Christmas, but alas our more typical wet Christmas won out), here’s one of my favorite wildlife shots of the year, a mallard drake resting amidst the reflected colors of the fall leaves.
The picture was taken in late October at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden here in Portland.
Boolie 