Many Female Long-tailed Ducks: Nov. 16, 2022

Male Long-tailed Ducks are easy to identify because of the tail:

Long-tailed Duck (male)
Long-tailed Ducks

Females, however, do not have a long tail. In winter they have dark wings, and a white face with a dark cheek patch.

We saw many today at Ashbridge’s Bay:

Long-tailed Duck (female)
mostly female Long-tailed Ducks
Long-tailed Ducks (female)
Long-tailed Ducks (female)
Long-tailed Duck (female)
Long-tailed Ducks (female)

Other birds:

Ring-billed Gulls
Mute Swan and Canada Geese
Mute Swans
Red-breasted Merganser (female)
Mallards
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Mergansers
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Merganser (female)
Gadwall (female)
Ring-billed Gull

Some botany:

Elm Mushroom
Kentucky Coffee Tree (Gymnocladus dioicus)
Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)
Red Ash (Fraxinus pensylvanica)
Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra)
Evening Primrose flower (Oenothera)
Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia0
Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
Silver Maple (Acer sachharinum)
Hawthorn (Crataegus)
Spindletree (Euonymus europaea) also called Burning Bush
Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
Silver Maple (Acer sachharinum)

Park scenes:

Squirrel nest

Some squirrels including one with no tail:

Gray Squirrel
Gray Squirrel
tail-less Gray Squirrel

Today’s group:

NATURE POETRY

November, month of mornings, misty-bright
With golden light—
Month when the many-tinted leaf
Lies thick upon the moss below,
While to and fro
The breezes moan, as if in grief.     – Mortimer Collins (1827–76)

Miles Hearn


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