Female mallard

If you’ve been reading for a few months, you will know that ever since I learned of their existence after moving to California, I have been slightly obsessed with finding a burrowing owl to photograph. I was eventually successful a few weeks ago, but I didn’t love the photos I got because he was pretty far away. As the East Bay burrowing owls are migratory (those in the South Bay and further east from the bay are apparently year-round), time is running out as I believe they leave around February or early March, so the other weekend I returned once again to a location I’d been tipped off about, which is conveniently pretty near my home: Hayward Regional Shoreline. I looked and looked for that owl, but failed yet again to find him. Don’t feel too sorry for me because as you will see in upcoming posts, that weekend ended up being one of the best I’ve had for wildlife photography in a long time. Not quite, but nearly bobcat-exciting. Anyway, this is not a burrowing owl, this is a couple different female mallards:

female mallard shaking her head

female mallard

female mallard in flight

female mallard in golden light

I think it is adorable when ducks other other birds balance in one leg like this. It’s like duck yoga. (My cat also does this same pose, maybe she thinks she’s a duck?)
female mallard balancing on one  leg

Written by:

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *