Brand New Birds!

Spring and early summer are exciting times for bird photography because I never know when I’ll come across baby birds. The juvenile Hooded Merganser flew into a pond in front of me while I was on a boardwalk at Nisqually NWR. Her mother and sibling were resting but this young female - identified as a female by her eye and bill color - was ready to explore. Hooded Mergansers breed at Nisqually, nesting in bird boxes or trees. The young mergansers follow their mother down to the water within hours of hatching. They are precocial, meaning that they can swim, walk and feed themselves although they cannot fly right away. This female and her sibling had obviously hatched weeks earlier because she was adept at flying.

The Rufous Hummingbird had fledged a day or two before this photo was taken and was resting in the sun while waiting for Mom to bring food. There were at least five Rufous Hummingbird nests identified at Nisqually this year - fun to watch and photograph from a distance.

I photographed the Wood Duck baby this spring at McLane Creek in Olympia, a beautiful wooded area that surrounds a pond and creek. There are nest boxes over the pond that Wood Ducks use, as well as cavities in trees for nesting. Within 24 hours after the ducklings have hatched the mother calls to them to drop down to the water or ground where she waits. They follow their mother to find food in the water. LIke the Hooded Mergansers they are precocial and I often see ducklings exploring on their own at McLane Creek, sometimes running across lily pads. I’ve heard mother ducks calling repeatedly and searching through the pond until they locate their babies.