Saturday we went to a place called Sweetwater. Kathie....of Kathie's Birds....had told me about this place the last time I was out here but we couldn't find it. My sister finally found it last year, and I am so glad she did! We saw lots of water birds and many songbirds. I hope to go back on Wednesday before we leave.
There were some large fenced off ponds that were full of Shoveler Ducks. I had never seen so many in one place.....100's!
This is just a small section of the shore line and those are all Shoveler Ducks along the edge.
A few were in the smaller ponds that we could get near. Here are a pair of males with a Bufflehead male gliding by.
Mrs. Shoveler. (I'm using a laptop and having trouble telling when my color and light balance are right...sorry)
Shoveler male
The Bufflehead and a Cinnamon Teal
These ducks sure look strange from the back!
Not a good shot, but this is the female Bufflehead.
A Ruddy Duck......I saw more kinds of ducks this trip then I ever see at home!
Adult breeding Ruddy Duck....note the blue bill.
They like to sit with their tail feathers up .
Blue-wing teals
Blue-wing and Cinnamon Teals
Blue-winged Teal male
Love those Cinnamons! But the red eye is sort of eerie in all that cinnamon color.
Cinnamon male
Cinnamon pair
Cinnamon group
Solitary Sandpiper....maybe?
Coot....I liked the arty water around it :-)
Moorhen
Moorhen....I've never seen one before.
Black Phoebe?
A sparrow but don't know which one and not a great shot.
Warbler....don't know for sure. I think we saw both male and female Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Don't know.....something yellow :-)
Just as we were leaving I came across this turtle. It was really concentrating and let me walk around it.
Is it laying eggs????? It was sitting in a little muddy spot with the backend down.
If we go back, I hope to get better photos of some of these birds.
We got rain and hail today and there was some snow up in the mountains! Will be cold the next few days. We had to go out and buy some jackets to wear since we were expecting 80 degree temps.
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7 comments:
Thanks for sharing these lovely pictures. The Cinnamon Teal are stunning.
They are a wonderful array of ducks.
And the turtle, must be laying eggs.
Great photos, wonderful trip!
Greetings from Cottage Country!
HI Mary...You must have went all quacky seeing all those ducks..; ]
There sure are some different ones there ..I have never seen the Cinnamon,they are very pretty!!
The reflection one of the Sandpiper is great and the swirls of the Coot!!
Good thing you finally got to find this place, full of birds!!
Enjoy
Grace
Yes the turtle is laying eggs...boy, oh, boy--you sure saw a mess of birds. I haven't clicked them yet...just wanted to comment first. But got to go through them now in the larger version.
Great photos at Sweetwater! As I write this, it is a few days later and I have met you guys to there myself this morning and had a wonderful time!
This place was absolutely fabulous! We went back a second day and met Marie there....so good to meet her and I wished we lived closer and could meet more often. I haven't posted my second bunch of Sweetwater photos yet. We saw several "critters" on that visit as well as birds. I will be catching up the rest of the photos eventually :-)
I am so glad you found this place. It is just amazing, isn't it? You are correct about the black phoebe. the sparrow looks like a song sparrow but the photo is a bit fuzzy. I think your first warbler is a yellow-rumped but the second one may be an orange-crowned warbler. What a wonderful place and what a good time you had. I am always amazed by all the ducks that gather here in winter! What a wonderful series of posts!
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