View allAll Photos Tagged preening
This is the only time I am able to get some chances to shoot them, when they preen themselves. I am beginning to wonder is this why they are called ladybirds. Watching them for 3 hours, can't help but feel they are very lady like in all manner.
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) preening on Cayuga Lake yesterday. Hooded Mergansers are very small ducks and it is difficult to get close to them. However, I have had some luck the past two times I've been out. What I'm finding is that it just requires patience, and maybe a little camouflage. Yesterday I had been so focused on the Canvasback that I almost missed the Hoodies that started coming close after nearly an hour. Last week I was having no luck with them so I draped a camouflage cloth around my equipment and myself, poking my lens through a hole. And in less than five minutes I had a Drake Hooded Merganser nearly filling my frame. Camouflage and patience are very powerful tools. Robert H. Treman State Park. March 24, 2015.
This is the avian equivalent of Naomi throwing her cellphone at her maid, aren't birds such utter primadonnas.
One of several females Common Merganser wintering in a town lake. I love her gesture and expression as she is preening. The birds were nowhere as tame as the 'wild' Ring-necked, Mallards and Wigeons wintering at the same location. Theystayed further out and never came to feeding. However, they were used to people enough that they would not swim or fly away when one stopped. Reid Park, Tucson, Arizona, USA.30 January 2017
I am at a loss to explain the pale eye color. The eye of the species is described as dark brown, except for juveniles from July to September. Apparently all male birds have assumed their breeding plumage by January. So I will call this one an immature female.
When I was living in Singapore, I use to have a tough time photographing this creature. They were rarely seen in the daytime. Not so in HK, I found a huge flock preening on a tree before roosting for the night.
Type: Black-crowned Night Heron
Scientific Name: Nycticorax nycticorax
Seen: Hong Kong
The bigger one, on the right, was singing while the smaller one listened. And then he (she?) started preening the smaller one.
Like a tabby cat, I could look at Camilla's stripes all day long. The breed dates back to the late 19th century and is one of the most popular "dual-purpose" breeds.
A video clip of a 0.2mm long Megaphragma spp. parasitoid wasp preening after emerging from some water. Depth of field is minimal owing to the magnification required for such a tiny subject, but you get a reasonable impression.
The Humboldt penguins were as adorable as ever, especially during their moulting season. This one was preening his smooth belly.
He doesn't get that you don't have to preen the feathers that aren't attached anymore LOL
So I've had requests for more videos of Pasha chatting. He wasn't in a real chatty mood tonight, but right before bed he did get into it a bit. So here he is: Pasha talking