The male Shoveler has just about regained his plumage after eclipse. |
| Shoveler (Male) |
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| Shoveler (Male and Female) |
You can just about make out the underside of the female Shoveler's large beak in this shot.
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| Shoveler in flight |
The Shoveler look even more colourful in flight.
Below, three males and a female
Another colourful Duck, the Teal has a variety in its plumage.
This time of year it tends not to be very active and apart from feeding, it huddles together in small groups sleeping.
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| Teal |
The Gadwall is a little more subtle in its plumage, but the male has a lovely brick red patch in its wing bar when open, which you can see in the second poor quality shot below. |
| Gadwall (Male in Centre) |
Another colourful duck is the Goldeneye, both male and female although different in colour, are equally so. These distant shots below are of the male.
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| Goldeneye (Male) |
The Mallard although very common, can match any duck for its overall colour.
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| Mallard (Male) |
HI Roy Lovely lighting in all the shots but the flight shots are tremendously good. yes the ducks have now all got their breeding plumage so I suppose they will be thinking of courting soon!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret. From what I have seen I think they are already at it.{:))
DeleteWow! You are lucky to have such interesting waterfowl. I never see birds like this except at distance so photography is impossible. Haven't seen a Goldeneye since I lived near Geneva where they winter on the lake there. I don't think they visit Brittany. Lovely photos as usual. :-)
ReplyDeletenice pics Roy. The one compensation for this time of the year is seeing the boys come into their full colours. Someone once said to me that if Mallard's were rare they'd be much more appreciated........
ReplyDeleteThanks Pete. Yes the Mallard is much overlooked.
DeleteThe moorhen is a very underrated bird...some wonderful colouration when you see them close up
ReplyDeleteThey are Simon.
DeleteOh Roy. Tous ces canards.... une merveille. Le Garrot à oeil d'or n'est pas facile à voir. Et cela fait longtemps que je n'ai pas vu le canard chipeau. Quelle chance.
ReplyDeleteBonne soirée Roy
Bonjour chère Nathalie
DeleteMerci. Je vois beaucoup de canard chipeau, mais vois rarement Goldeneye.
bisous
Great photos all 'round. Very nice to see such good ones of the shovelers.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wilma.
DeleteBeautiful sequence of images, Roy!
ReplyDeleteIt feels good to be back here ...
As I was absent from my blog for a long time, since I returned these first times were dedicated to make some posts for my blog again have more visits.
But now I will return to my visits over here more often.
Have a great week, Roy!
A big hug.
Ana
Thanks Ana, glad you have returned.{:))
DeleteI love those Shoveler photos, Roy! I think...for the first time ever...I can find all the birds in your post, way over here! I love all these ducks! (Goldeneyes are a favorite as well.)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kelly, yes they really colourful ducks. I don't get to see the Goldeneye so often though.
DeleteWonderful photos Roy, I especially love the ones in flight. Thanks for the comment on my blog. I agree wholeheartedly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Denise.
DeleteHi Roy!
ReplyDeleteYou might not have see Pintails yet, but I haven't seen the Golden eye!
So we should exchange! LOL!
Brilliant photos of the shovelers in flight, I love this bird!
I just came back from the Atlantic shores and I had a ball with them!
Keep well, I hope you weather is not as miserable as ours is this week :( !!!
Thanks Noushka, unfortunately its probably just as bad as yours at the moment.
DeleteWow .... this is a very nice ducks blog with a variance of several beautiful duck. The shovelers, and wigeon but also teal and gadwalls.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helma.
DeleteGorgeous duck collection! Love Shovelers....so pretty and these look wonderful. I really like Gadwalls, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary, we have some colourful ducks.
Delete