Tuesday, February 19, 2008

How about a Cool Harlequin While you are Waiting

I am currently working on the pics that I took during the Sax Zim Festival of Birding but with over 20 GB of pictures to download and sort through, it may take me a day or two before I begin to get them posted. In the mean time here are some shots of the harlequin duck, which has been hanging around Prescott, WI, that I photographed last week before I left for Duluth.
Harlequin ducks are typically northern coastal birds which is why people get excited when they occasionally show up in our area.
This bird has been wintering here. This is the fourth time that I have been able to find him and get some pics since the first time, which was before Christmas.
One shore bird that I have not seen in Minnesota, but I did photograph quite extensively last year when we were in California, is the surf scoter.
The surf scoter is a sea duck that breeds in Alaska and Northern Canada and spends its winters in the waters of the Atlantic or Pacific coast.
The photos of both the male, in the first shot, and the female, above, were taken in the Moss Landing Harbor February of 2007.

2 comments:

RuthieJ said...

Wow, beautiful pictures of the Harlequin Duck! Thanks for sharing.

Ecobirder said...

Thanks RuthieJ