Redhead
Hamilton is a great place to look for winter ducks. As areas to the North freeze over, the ducks make their way South. Many of them stop in the Hamilton area until it starts to freeze over here. Lake Ontario takes a long time to freeze over, so there is usually enough time to see them during their stop over.
Redheads and Canvasbacks come in good numbers, usually fairly early. When I first saw a Readhead, I thought I would have trouble telling them from Canvasbacks due to their very similar colouration. After seeing Canvasbacks a week or so later, I realized it would be very difficult to miss that distinct profile
Canvasback
Long-Tailed Ducks are always around in extremely large groups. The males are always loud and boisterous, and the females strike me as cute. I first saw them through a scope off Fruitland Road in Stoney Creek on a very grey winter day, but have subsequently seen them at La Salle Marina, the Burlington Lift Bridge, and Spencer Smith Park. It turns out you don't usually need a scope to see this social duck - at the lift bridge the other day they were diving in the canal right at my feet. Their group diving fascinates me - a group of twenty-five or so will all dive within seconds of each other and resurface within seconds of each other.
Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup are probably my biggest identification problem among the ducks seen in this area. One of the best ways of telling them apart (as far as I can tell) is the colour of the heads of the males, and that can vary a huge amount depending on the light. The first sentence from this page - Identification guide - Greater and Lesser Scaup - is not very encouraging: "Except for the wing marks, Greater and Lesser Scaup appear nearly identical in the field." This is something I will have to work on, and fortunately there are plenty of Scaup here to try to identify.
Long-Tailed Duck
I am always happy to photograph White-Winged Scoters and Surf Scoters. White-Winged are more common around here, but if there is a big enough group there is almost invariably a Surf Scoter in with them. The Surf Scoter's clownish appearance is always delightful, and the shy-but-not-too-shy nature makes them a challenging-but-not-too-challenging target. The Black Scoter is occasionally reported around here, but I have yet to see one.
Two White-Winged Scoters
Surf Scoter (centre)
When approaching a group of ducks at La Salle or the canal I am usually initially dismayed if there are Common Goldeneye among them. These extremely shy ducks will flush at the slightest perceived provocation, often flushing other ducks in the process. My desire to see the much more rare (around here) Barrow's Goldeneye and the challenge of getting better shots makes it worthwhile to try to get closer to a group of Goldeneyes.
Mergansers are another shy target. We get Common Merganser, Red-Breasted Merganser, and Hooded Merganser here, sometimes in good numbers, but are often out past the range of a good shot for my equipment. Last winter an American Wood Duck overwintered at La Salle, and several pairs of American Wigeon showed up fairly late in the winter. I don't think I have ever been to Windamere Basin and not seen a Northern Shoveler, nor have I ever seen a Shoveler anywhere else. Talk about your local speciality. Ruddy Ducks are often to be found in small numbers either at La Salle or Windamere.
Canvasback
Long-Tailed Ducks are always around in extremely large groups. The males are always loud and boisterous, and the females strike me as cute. I first saw them through a scope off Fruitland Road in Stoney Creek on a very grey winter day, but have subsequently seen them at La Salle Marina, the Burlington Lift Bridge, and Spencer Smith Park. It turns out you don't usually need a scope to see this social duck - at the lift bridge the other day they were diving in the canal right at my feet. Their group diving fascinates me - a group of twenty-five or so will all dive within seconds of each other and resurface within seconds of each other.
Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup are probably my biggest identification problem among the ducks seen in this area. One of the best ways of telling them apart (as far as I can tell) is the colour of the heads of the males, and that can vary a huge amount depending on the light. The first sentence from this page - Identification guide - Greater and Lesser Scaup - is not very encouraging: "Except for the wing marks, Greater and Lesser Scaup appear nearly identical in the field." This is something I will have to work on, and fortunately there are plenty of Scaup here to try to identify.
Long-Tailed Duck
I am always happy to photograph White-Winged Scoters and Surf Scoters. White-Winged are more common around here, but if there is a big enough group there is almost invariably a Surf Scoter in with them. The Surf Scoter's clownish appearance is always delightful, and the shy-but-not-too-shy nature makes them a challenging-but-not-too-challenging target. The Black Scoter is occasionally reported around here, but I have yet to see one.
Two White-Winged Scoters
Surf Scoter (centre)
When approaching a group of ducks at La Salle or the canal I am usually initially dismayed if there are Common Goldeneye among them. These extremely shy ducks will flush at the slightest perceived provocation, often flushing other ducks in the process. My desire to see the much more rare (around here) Barrow's Goldeneye and the challenge of getting better shots makes it worthwhile to try to get closer to a group of Goldeneyes.
Mergansers are another shy target. We get Common Merganser, Red-Breasted Merganser, and Hooded Merganser here, sometimes in good numbers, but are often out past the range of a good shot for my equipment. Last winter an American Wood Duck overwintered at La Salle, and several pairs of American Wigeon showed up fairly late in the winter. I don't think I have ever been to Windamere Basin and not seen a Northern Shoveler, nor have I ever seen a Shoveler anywhere else. Talk about your local speciality. Ruddy Ducks are often to be found in small numbers either at La Salle or Windamere.
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