WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2025   |   SUBSCRIBE    ARCHIVES   

BACKYARD BIRDING
 
Water attracts a greater variety of birds than all the bird foods combined – and it’s essentially Free for you to provide fresh water every day. During summer, most birds are feeding on the abundance of insects, including larvae such as caterpillars, and spiders. Therefore, with many birds getting their food from sources beyond your feeders, water becomes an even more important magnet to attract birds to your yard. With new birds on the move after the nesting season, it’s a great time to attract recent fledglings and adults on the move from their nesting territories.
BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
 
Finding a bird to photograph within camera range is the hard part, and almost any bird will do in most cases; but sometimes you get lucky and come within range of an especially impressive species. Most people don’t encounter Ferruginous Hawks, so to have an impressive female standing on a perch nearby was especially exciting. Seeing a Ferruginous Hawk is one thing, but photographing a Ferrug is quite another prospect. There is no way of sneaking up on these raptors, so to get close enough to take a portrait-style photo becomes a question of whether you can find an individual that is especially trusting.
BIRDING NEWS 1
 
From Alabama to Alaska, August provides a resurgence of Birding Festivals, which are truly celebrations of birds and birding, shared by participants that range from every age to every level of interest in birds. During August, you can observe resident birds, early migrates, and endemic bird species on field trips with accomplished birders, including bird photographers, and learn more about birds and bird behavior during a variety of programs, workshops, and keynote presentations, children’s events, and possibly a birding marketplace where you can shop for optics, field gear, books, and more from vendors.
BIRDING NEWS 2
 
The 143rd Annual Meeting of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) is scheduled August 11 to 15 in St. Louis, Missouri – the Gateway to the West – hence the theme: Avian Gateways, Connecting Ornithology and Conservation. The 2025 meeting will provide a great opportunity to share and discuss scientific research on a variety of birds. The AOS envisions a broad discussion of research that spans the breadth of modern ornithology through contributed papers and posters, symposia, workshops, and roundtable discussions.

EDITOR AFIELD
 
There is a lot of avian action surrounding my area, yard, and region, but I first I want to share a First State Sighting for me, that is a First Yard Sighting too – a Carolina Wren that I observed Sunday on the trunk of one of the mature elm trees in my front yard! I grabbed my camera and photographed it for documentation, then followed its movements to the ground, on to the elm tree next to my feeding station, then to sumac branches, to a lattice opening, back to the sumacs, then gone. When I checked eBird records, they showed that this is only the Third Documented Record of a Carolina Wren in North Dakota!
GEAR
 
Popular among birders, Vortex Viper HD 8x42 Binoculars feature a premium HD (High Density) extra-low dispersion glass lens system. The HD system improves image quality by increasing brightness, sharpness, and contrast with outstanding edge-to-edge clarity that provides quality views of birds. Ergonomically designed, the Vipers are among the lightest, most compact, full-size 8x42 Binoculars on the market, and they are protected by a rugged, rubber-armored housing colored classic Vortex green – and they are on sale now!
PRODUCTS 1
 
Patagonia is well-known for stylish clothing and outdoor gear for birders, ranging from summer shirts, pants, and hats to backpacks and duffels. Known for a dedication to using recycled materials and fair trade construction guidelines, Patagonia shares birders’ interests in protecting healthy environments. If you are planning for an afternoon getaway or a birding tour beyond our borders, Patagonia is a great place to start your shopping, and there are discounted products available throughout the year as well as website specials.
PRODUCTS 2
 
Popular during any season, the Observer Window Feeder provides an open, clear view for the closest views of birds as they feed right outside your window. While everyone appreciates a good window feeder, the Observer Window Feeder is ideal for sparking children’s curiosity and helping them learn about birds. This Droll Yankees feeder features open side areas and clear UV-stabilized plastic construction. It holds ½ pound (2 cups) of seeds, fruit, jelly, or even suet; and the 3 strong suction cups attach the Observer directly to your window with ease.
RARE BIRDS
 
A Juan Fernandez Petrel observed off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts created the Second North American Record and a First State Record; in fact, it is the first Juan Fernandez Petrel to be documented in the north Atlantic Ocean! Another rare petrel sighting also created a First State Record when birders found a Hawaiian Petrel in Alaska, and another seabird made a rare appearance in southern California, where the sighting of a White-winged Tern created a Third State Record. Another Third State Record was established in North Dakota where a Carolina Wren was documented – and there’s more.
 

BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

New broods of ducks have been hatching every day since mid-June, but I only observed 5 different species of duck broods until July 6th, when the first Gadwall brood appeared less than 2 miles north of my office at Bobby’s Lake. It’s always exciting to see a new species of ducklings as summer progresses, and it was doubly exciting because this was a mega-brood of newly hatched ducklings – there were 19 downy little ducks with the Gadwall female! That’s the largest Gadwall brood I’ve ever seen, by far.

This photograph shows the female Gadwall with 18 of the 19 ducklings feeding peacefully on the water surface. One duckling was positioned a bit farther behind the others and was not included in this image to show the others at a little larger scale (600mm zoom lens, f-14 aperture, 1/640 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

Some species of ducks are prone to “dump nesting,” which is a term that describes when a female duck lays her eggs in another female duck’s nest, leaving her eggs for the first hen to incubate and raise the ducklings. Female Redheads are well-known for dump nesting, as are Canvasbacks, and to a lesser extent Blue-winged Teal, but I’m not aware of Gadwalls practicing this very often – at least I can’t remember ever seeing a “double brood,” and I live and work in Gadwall central.

One other thing that seemed unusual about this recently hatched brood was that the ducklings began diving in earnest. Gadwalls are not usually “diving ducks” – Redheads are, but Gadwalls feed on the surface of the water almost exclusively. And the ducklings made really spirited dives with the ducklings diving straight down with a plume of water flying above them as they disappeared from view below the water surface. However, during subsequent observations of this brood the ducklings foraged on the surface as expected, prompting me to wonder if the ducklings were bathing during the diving episode, rather than foraging.

Photographing the mega-brood of Gadwall ducklings was pretty straightforward: The sun was positioned directly behind me, with the ducks spread out broadside before me, and the time was 6:30pm – realistically when the best light was available. Those lighting ingredients ensured the truest colors, the least amount of shadow, while providing the best options for optimizing the aperture and shutter speed.

With 20 ducks in the photo frame counting the female, I wanted to be sure to get as many ducklings in focus as possible along with the female, so I really ramped up the aperture to f-14, which still left an ample shutter speed of 1/640. The resulting photo shows the entire brood in focus, which brings to mind that it’s best to focus on the closest bird to ensure it is in focus, and hopefully the sharp image extends to include most or all of the rest of the group.

This brood of 6 Blue-winged Teal shows that from a photographer’s standpoint, fewer ducklings in a photo frame means showing more detail in each of the birds, while emphasizing just how cute downy ducklings really are, especially when there is a group of them (600mm zoom lens, f-9 aperture, 1/1250 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

While the mega-brood photo is more of a documentary photograph, so you can count the number of ducklings as they forage, I also wanted to share how thrilling it is to have the chance to take a close-focus photo of a duck brood. Therefore the second photograph shows a brood of recently hatched Blue-winged Teal ducklings that really shows the details of the little ones and illustrates how cute downy ducklings truly are – now imagine 19 of them together!

Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad

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