JimB

I saw three young Hooded Mergansers this morning on a shallow creek in Ohio which I think is a bit late in the season for them to still be here.

Your field technique resulted in some great close-ups! Slow and low is the way to go. I watched a friend of mine slowly approach an American Bittern, took him almost a half hour inching his way through two feet of water on his knees, in waders, just as he was within good camera range another photographer came sloshing through the water, standing up making all sorts of splashing sounds, needless to say the bittern took off before any shots were taken! The verbal exchange afterwards was quite impressive! Yes, it's interesting to see all the fine details you can miss until you study detailed images like yours.

Henslow's Sparrow (left click for better view)

Cerulean Warbler.

Black-billed Cuckoo. It's hard enough to find one of these birds but I saw three of them in the same area this morning.

Red-eyed Vireo

Chestnut-sided Warbler from this morning (5-11)

Magnolia Warbler

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Virginia Rail in Ohio.

Wood Duck wing flap.

Northern Shoveler ~ female.... I bought a new "wetland/marsh" patterned camo netting that allowed me to blend in pretty well with my surroundings at a local wetland here in Ohio. A number of waterfowl species came in quite close including: Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, Bufflehead, Ring-necked, Wood ducks and a muskrat! All giving me good photo ops. My previous post of the Green-winged Teal was taken at the same area.

Green-winged Teal

Bufflehead are fairly common this time of year in the Great Lakes region where they can be found on relatively small ponds to large lakes (not saltwater). You can have a frozen pond one day have it thaw the next and find Buffleheads on it the following day...which is a good thing!