Hooded merganser

Another session at the pond. Lots of different kinds of ducks, but no luck on the Sapsucker. I took a lot of shots, unfortunately to get anywhere near the birds I have to go full tilt on zoom, and I'm just not happy with the shots. I got a telephoto lens for Christmas, but wanted to first get to know my new camera before putting that on. I think if I do any more pond shots, I need to test it out.

The shot that almost made it was the female Northern Shoveler who actually had her beak out of the water today. The female common merganser took off before I could get even a crappy shot of her. The ring necked ducks were somewhat cooperative, and they almost made it as well. I chased around a little something trying to figure out what it was, and got home to meh shots, just good enough to identify her as a female bufflehead. The gadwalls surprised me again, they look so plain when I'm there so I'm not paying attention, but I get home and when I've caught them they're quite photogenic.

Stopped off at the store and picked up a few feeder supplies, hopefully I can get that all set up this weekend so I can get more birds back into my yard.