Northern Shoveler (Male)

I am now locating and photographing birds faster than I can process and post them. How wonderful!  I will soon be looking toward setting up a full-blown web site to better showcase the images that I have collected.  The new lens makes a huge difference in the quality of the shots and is a great motivator to keep shooting.

In the Fall I was able to photograph a female Northern Shoveler, but I had never seen the male of the species until this weekend.

Through the Discussion Group I located these two males at Forest Pond in Goulds. Over the weekend, there was one other reporting of a lone male Shoveler in the Central part of the province. It is amazing how the different species seem to all arrive at the same time but in different places.

This pair was skirting around the edge of the pond to feed but they did not welcome people into their activities. As soon as I would get near them, they would swim out toward the center of the pond. It took some patience to get these few shots.

This image shows the uniqueness of the Northern Shoveler's bill that prompts some people to call this bird a "Spoonbill".

In a sudden burst the Shoveler lifted off to get further away from my camera lens, I think. I was lucky to get a full and clear shot of its spread wings to show its full coloring. The male of the species is much more colorful than the female.

I have included a copy of a previously posted image of the female Northern Shoveler for your convenience. I have yet to see a pair together. These birds are not documented in the field guides as being a bird of Newfoundland, but they certainly do seem to show up here fairly regularly.

Update:  I added four new birds to my 2010 list this weekend:)