An old dog learns something new…. Does the term “intersex duck” intrigue?
Please note: some of the photos are high resolution and take extra time to load on a slow computer. ALSO: IF YOU’RE VIEWING THIS ON AN iPad,I recommend that you turn it sideways to landscape view then tap the AA at the top of the toolbar and choose Show Reader: I think you’ll enjoy the enhanced reading experience! If you’re using a Mac from 2020or newer, I also recommend that you click on the reader view icon on the left side of Safari’s address bar. I have no idea whether you can get enhanced reading from other systems on non-Apple devices….
Large Belmont Pond, March 23, 2020.
Unusual Mallard, Large Belmont Pond, Kelowna, BC. Check the female bill on this otherwise male-looking duck….
I noticed a strange looking duck, resembling a Mallard drake, sitting calmly on the south-end raft where various species, but mostly Mallards, preen and sun themselves from Spring through Autumn. As there were other Mallards in the pond, it was easy to compare/contrast. What I noticed first was this one’s “white eye,” or more accurately, its closed white lower eyelid.
The plumage wasn’t quite right, either, but that’s not unusual as we move from Spring through Summer. Of course, on this day, we were just at the official beginning of Spring! Remember, too, that this was the first Covid year….
Above is what I thought was (foreground right) aMallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and (upper left) a hybrid Mallard-Gadwall (aka Brewer’s Duck so named by Audubon in 1822) in the Large Belmont Pond, Kelowna, BC. Umm, I got the ‘Mallard’ part right….
Then I noticed the newcomer’s bill: orange with black streaks or spots, like a Mallard hen’s. The head was streaked only on the top side with the green that completely covers other Mallard drakes’ noggins. And the new duck’s sides resembled both a female’s and a male’s.
At the time, I was very puzzled by the combination of male and female physical characteristics. I had nothing in my lexicon to describe it. On my way home, I recalled having seen a reference somewhere to a “Brewer’s Duck” that Audubon had named sometime back in the 1800s that had eventually been shown to be a hybrid of a Mallard and a Gadwall. At home, I looked up BD on the Internet, and found this:
Audubon’s Brewer’s Duck, which he first identified in 1822 as a “Bemaculated Duck,” a misspelling of ‘bimaculated’ and named in honour of the same ornithologist for which the Brewer’s Blackbird and Brewer’s Sparrow are named, Thomas Mayo Brewer.
Then I did what no effective birder, student of Nature, or anybody, really, should do:I jumped to a conclusion without asking enough questions / doing sufficient research. The bird with the fake blind eye (I had already named it Homer, in honour of the blind Greek poet/historian) was, I surmised far too easily, a Brewer’s Duck — a Mallard-Gadwall hybrid! After all, I had seen Mallard hybrids before, particularly a Mallard-Northern Pintail cross that I’d observed in 2013 in White Rock (South Surrey), BC. And I’d learned at that time that Mallard hybrids are not rare, in fact not all that remarkable, really, except for their “enhanced appearance.”
Mallard-Northern Pintail hybrid, January 31, 2014, South Surrey, BC.
Still, Brewer’s Ducks, my research showed, were certainly uncommon. I noticed that Homer didn’t fit perfectly the description of BD’s I was reading, but blithely chalked that up to the idiosyncrasies of hybridism. And then, as I am wont to do (!), I began “sharing the news” of my discovery — on Flickr, and with friends and acquaintances who live in the area and likely to see Homer themselves.
For that impulsive transgression, months later, I humbly apologize. In a moment, you’ll be picking up on the fact that from here on pretty much every use of the male pronoun appears in quotation marks. If you haven’t guessed already, soon you’ll understand why….
‘Homer’ hung around Belmont Pond for a week or so and, even with the sudden onset of Covid-19, friendly neighbours on the east side of the pond allowed me access to their back yard on the pond’s east side to photograph ‘him’ at closer range than in my first encounter.
The original comment, below, turned out be NOT TRUE!! “Mallard-Gadwall hybrid, aka Brewer’s Duck, named by Audubon in 1822. A rare find and a welcome addition to the large Belmont Pond, Kelowna, BC. “ (‘Homer’ was the original spelling; the name has since been adjusted to reflect more recent ‘information.’ Read on!)
Then suddenly, as April arrived, ‘he’ was gone from Belmont Pond. Forever, I suspected; off with the other Mallards to Northern destinations for the breeding season.
I was very pleasantly surprised, therefore, when I “rediscovered Homer” in a channel of Thomson Marsh on April 4 and again on the grass near Teal Pond during the week of April 13.
The main core of my daily beat….
The April photos included extreme closeups that have become very important parts of an historical record. By mid-April, “Homer” had “disappeared” once more. Forever, I thought, again(!).
‘Homer’ in the Channel just north of Teal Pond, Thomson Marsh, April 9, 2020.
Naturally, I celebrated the find, anyway, and persisted in trumpeting the re-arrival of the “Brewer’s Duck.”
Not who I thought ‘he’ was…. But certainly very friendly in this ‘new’ location….
By May, however, Homer was no longer to be seen, at least by me. Not until Autumn, October 29, 2020, when ‘he’ magically reappeared in Belmont Pond, then, as in the spring, in the Southeast Sector of Thomson Marsh, between Teal and Raptor Ponds.. Imagine my surprise!
” ‘Homer’ returns. I had observed this duck in the Spring of 2020 and was surprised and delighted to see ‘him’ again in Belmont Pond in late October 2020. No doubt about ‘his’ being the same bird!”“Gettin’ back to my roots….”
Soon, others were noticing and photographing ‘him’, too. Still, no one I knew ever had a “better” identification of ‘him’ than mine. Then one day, on an umpteenth Flickr post, Paul Anthony Baker, a colleague from The West Coast, wonderful photographer and birder who went by the handle “ebirdman,” whom I’d known since 2013* , wrote a simple question/comment in a response: “Lovely shot, Keith! Have you ever done any reading on intersex birds? This bird looks very much like an intersex Mallard. Take a look (at this link) and see what you think. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/intersex-ducks” And that kind prodding, as we say, changed everything! *(Very sadly, Paul passed away in January 2021: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ebirdman/51842381242/in/dateposted/ For much of a year, we did not know what had happened, until his son chose to update his blog.)
Here’s what turned up, in part, on the site Paul referenced: Note on iNaturalist website by Reuven Martin (project createdon January 26, 2018): “Intersex” birds are those that show plumage and bare-parts colour seemingly intermediate between male and female. This is commonly seen in Mallards and is also known to occur in other ducks and perhaps other birds. Such birds are often confused with hybrids. As far as I know, the phenomenon is not well-understood or studied. I use “intersex” in quotes because the term has quite a different meaning to how it’s used in humans.
Reuven continued: This project is for any ducks thought to be or to possibly be “intersex”. I’d like to get a better handle on how their plumage can vary. Other interesting questions: * Can these birds reproduce, and if so which sex are they? (Generally thought to be female, but I’m not sure how well-supported that is). * Is behaviour and voice typically more male-like or female-like? * Does the plumage remain consistent over the birds life? (The answer is at least sometimes yes.)
The screen shot below shows some of the locations of interest to Reuven on the iNaturalist blog….
I had written “Homer, the Brewer’s Duck (Audubon, 1822), a Mallard-Gadwall hybrid near Teal Pond, Thomson Marsh, Kelowna, BC, shows how to clip the grass with precision…. “Not so fast,” my friend Paul replied. “Have you ever done any reading on intersex birds?”
As I probed for information on the Internet, I was overwhelmed by what I found. The earliest data I encountered came from a cooperative website, Bird Hybrids http://birdhybrids.blogspot.com (apparently coordinated by Dave Appleton from North Elmham, Norfolk, United Kingdom). It enabled me to find the site of another Flickr member in Sweden, Carl Gunnar Gustavsson, that is also devoted to hybrids and birds that might be mistaken for hybrids, such as the duck below that so resembles “Homer.” Mr. Gustavsson’s post is dated December 27, 2008! And these are his images:
Under his photos, he had written: _63I8334 Mallard Intersex 1 “Malmoe, Sweden 27 December 2008. This is the most masculine out of 2 or possibly 3 individuals at the same pond today. At two other ponds there were only normal birds. I saw this one also about 2 weeks ago when it was accompanied by a normal male and a normal female. Today it seemed to be accompanied by a female only when it at times separated from the flock. I presume that this is a pure mallard with poor sex definition alternatively a masculinised [sic] female. Arguments in favour of other origin?? I uploaded this picture because I think it might add something to the discussion if a bird is a hybrid or an abnormal individual of a pure species.“
While clearly NOT “Homer,” Carl Gunnar’s duck in Sweden 12 years ago certainly represented the same natural phenomenon I’ had’ been viewing in Kelowna, BC, Canada!
Besides his own photos I found a useful opinion Mr. Gustavsson had offered on on someone else’s work, as well, that sets out his criteria of judgment in the hybrid vs intersex argument (quote copied and edited to remove Internet links that no longer work): “I [d]on’t think it is a hybrid at all but what we call an intersex, i.e. a pure Mallard with both male and female features. Odd but not too uncommon. This one is the most extreme that I have heard of [dead link removed]. It was ringed [banded?] as a typical female but 10 years later looked like a rather typical male except for the bill which is still of a female type (it is the bird in the front I am talking about!!!!!!!!!!!). Some other examples, mainly my own [dead links removed]…. As you can see there are different degrees of masculinity and I think yours is rather typical. Black on the bill like in a female, green on the head green from the eye and backwards/downwards reminding on an american wigeon [sic], a mixture of male and female feathers along the side of the body and more or less obvious male type “hooks” on the tail.Moulting [eclipse] male birds is the big pitfall but should not be a problem at this time of the year, [as they] do usually not have black on the bill or only a black mid rib on the culmen [upper ridge of a bird’s bill] and usually have a more mixed pattern of colour on the head — not the typical limited one that your bird has.” [bold face and square brackets – [ ] – are mine – KAR]
As I delved deeper into Dave Appleton’s Internet page on hybrids vs intersex ducks, I came across other opinions. One of the most interesting is authored by Laura Erickson, a birding expert and writer from Duluth, Minnesota. One of her first references to “intersex ducks” appeared on her Flickr site on February 3, 2009. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/lauraerickson/3251558114] where it attracted a comment from Joern Lehmhus. (He is still actively chasing this issue as shown by his comment on one of my Flickr posts in December 2020 pointing out that I had found an intersex duck, not a Mallard-Gadwall hybrid!) In 2009, Mr. Lehmhus was questioning whether the duck Laura had labelled “intersex” was perhaps a Mallard-Black Duck hybrid. It was not as we learned from yet another post by Cathy Sheeter, another Flickr member who discussed the Mallard-Mexican Duck hybrid vs iDuck issue on Appleton’s Bird Hybrid’s site on April 1, 2013 (and no, I don’t think there’s an April Fools prank involved here!). https://birdhybrids.blogspot.com/2014/04/mallard-x-mexican-duck.html
Cathy’s duck, she concludes,isa hybrid, not an intersex. This discussion continues below the sidebar in red below.
SIDEBAR! This “hybrid/intersex/eclipse drake distinction” became important to me when I came across a second duck at Thomson Marsh on December 1, 2020, that was also difficult to identify, one I eventually named Socratease. More on her (shown just above) later..
In her piece, Cathy Sheeter emphasizes the importance of the appearance of the bill. When I suggested that Socratease (above) is an intersex Mallard, my Flickr friend Jody Wells, on Vancouver Island, challenged me, claiming that it was just an eclipse drake, using the bill and other features to explain why he thought so. At first, I was inclined to agree. Over time, and having managed a couple of times to find Socratease again, I became more sure of my judgment. Jody was apparently unfamiliar with intersex ducks at that time, and is learning about this phenomenon along with me…. Eventually, I concluded that Socratease is also an iDuck!
Now back to C Sheeter’s case for why the duck in the photos below is NOT an intersex Mallard: (Note: as I cannot copy the individual photos, I’ve had to use a screen shot from her site.)
This discussion shows how easy it is for some of us to mix up hybrids and intersex ducks….
I also want to return to Laura Erickson’s blog from Minnesota for a moment. Although she first discussed intersex Mallards on herFebruary 2009 podcast, she returned to that story in her blog post of February 13, 2016 where the audio has been transcribed. I encourage anyone interested in this story to read it here: https://blog.lauraerickson.com/2016/02/intersex-mallard.html. Part of what makes it interesting to me is her attempt to link aging to sexual characteristics, not just in Mallards, but in other birds, and even people.
To hearthe original 2009 podcast click the link below then follow my instructions. Her audio podcast is a bit hard to get to, but worth the effort: https://www.lauraerickson.com/radio/?year=2009 Scroll down and click 2009 (on the list on the left), AND THEN in the next window, scroll down again to the February 4th entry – “Intersex Mallard” and click the audio link THERE to hear her short and fascinating podcast:
PLEASE NOTE: as time/opportunity permit and more information and thoughts develop, I am continuing to update this post and add others related to it!
These are the main areas I go to; there are many others as well. This map is included to show the distance between Belmont Ponds / Thomson Marsh and Munson Pond and Park.
UPDATE: In January 2021, at Munson Park, as the ducks fly, about 3.6 km north of where Homher resides, I found a third iDuck. To keep things simple, I named her Muncie. She was hanging out with a pair of mooching Mallards near a well-known bird feeding station catering to passerines. The ducks help clean up the spillage. The drake of the pair was somewhat mean towards Muncie, but she handled his harassment cleverly and found efficient, somewhat sneaky routes back to the treats. I observed her several times through the remaining winter of 2021. At one point, she had met a single Mallard drake whom she was dominating! Here is a little gallery tribute (Click on a photo to enlarge it and enter the gallery; to close it, click the x in its top right corner.) In the fall of 2021 she appeared again and is still to be found in the same location in February 2022 and in Spring 2023:
Another Intersex Mallard, I believe! A little over 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles( northeast of where Homher resides. “Had I known you were coming, I’d have cleaned my bill, and made one for you!”Muncie the iDuck of Munson Park, 2021. My last ‘spring photo’ of her at Munson Park was taken March 1. However, on a visit to the feeding station there on November 13, 2021, a very dull afternoon, I found her again — literally ‘same time, same station’! I have since seen her in January and February 2022 and 2023. I did not follow up in 2024, unfortunately.Muncie the Intersex Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) of Munson Park, March 1, 2021
For the full record of Homher, the gorgeous iDuck star of Thomson Marsh (below), take a quack at my growing Flickr album of Homher here: www.flickr.com/photos/8666250@N02/albums/72157713743926477 Here’s one of our “venerable lady” in February 3, 2021, and below that three and a half months later, and below that a link to a new post following her through to a full year after that — February 2022.
Intersex Mallard, Homher, SE sector, Thomson Marsh, Kelowa, BC, February 2, 2021.
Update November 4, 2021 Homher disappeared again in April but reappeared on May 18, 2021 at Belmont Pond (where I had first seen her over a year earlier and where she had been seen by another Kelowna photographer, Roberta Snow, as far back as June 2019).
Intersex Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) Large Belmont Pond, Kelowna, BC, taken May 18, 2021. It appeared that our venerable lady had decided to hang out here for the summer. Latest spring sighting was June 1. After this she went AWOL again — until she reappeared near Teal Pond in Thomson Marsh, over a kilometre to the east on October 27! She continues to hang out there into 2022!
Yoo view larger sized images in a new tab, click on the photo. Use your browser’s back button to return to this post.
Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) /(Bucephala islandica) Mission Creek, Kelowna, BC.
Haven’t posted since last March (2019)! But now that the gloomy days of winter are upon us again, I’ve got some writing to do! Lots to cover, but one topic at at time, and not necessarily in order of importance.
I’m slowing down. Turned 75 in June. Have been letting myself go, sadly. Until this week when I decided, once again, to get a head start on New Years Resolutions starting with a weight loss diet. Working great after three days! Lots of other activities as well. Those stories another time, perhaps….
I need to “straighten up,” as my dad would have said, if I want to keep doing what remaining beloved activities I can still do. Watching and photographing the ducks in Mission Creek in winter is one of those, and I need to be in better shape to get there!
For the past five winters, Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) have been my main target. They share the water with Mallards and Canada Geese, as well as late in the season, mergansers, both Hooded and Common. But for a couple of months, the COGOs are the main performers. This year, for the past couple of weeks at least, they’ve been joined by their Barrow’s cousins.
Common Goldeneye pair (Bucephala clangula) in Mission Creek, cloudy day, Nov. 26, 2019
Saw the first COGO this season on Nov. 11, Remembrance Day in Canada, while walking with Nana, my good luck charm. Didn’t take the camera so that helped, too, one tends to think….
On the 26th, with only limited light, went back again and there they were — the usual raft of COGOs plus, I noticed almost accidentally as they’re quite unexpected here this time of year, a single pair of Barrow’s Goldeneyes, just waiting to be recorded. The COGOS seemed more hungry than were wary on this occasion and gave me pretty good access. The BAGOs were much less secured, but allowed a few shots. The light, however, was not what it can be, and the results while okay were not great.
Barrow’s Goldeneyes (Bucephala islandica) Mission Creek, Kelowna, BC. Nov. 26, 2019The light gives the drake a purple cast in his head plumage…. Nov. 26, 2019
Three days later, I returned on a gorgeous sunny day and had some great fun with the COGOs. Sadly I saw the Barrow’s only in rapid flight heading downstream. I thought they might be heading south…. Hope you enjoy the COGO images. As you’ll see, I was beginning to get a sense of a dramatic relationship….
Titania (COGO) asks, “What iceberg?” Mission Creek, Kelowna, BC. Nov. 29, 2019Common Goldeneye drake: “Toughest map ever!” 191129Juvenile Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) Mission Creek, Kelowna, BC. 191129The Lady of Cawdor and her Thane. Remember your Shakespeare?Lady Macbeth sips her bathwater….
So the scene was set for another visit. The good light, however, didn’t return for several days and it was the end of the first weekend of December before I got back to the raft. On this occasion, I was, I must confess, looking mainly for the BAGOs. I wasn’t disappointed. First I found a pair with a tagalong female. And a little while later, I found her bashful mate a little farther upstream. I spent over an hour during two sessions (went off looking in vain for a Dipper I’d seen in November) with both species.
“Cool place ya brung me to.” 191208“Worried? Me? Never?” 191208“I wish I knew where Bashful got to….” 191208“Well this is illuminating!” 191208“I keep em both on a string!” 191208“What? What! I don’t see anything!!” Someone’s confused….
Well, if you thought there was some connivery going on with Lady Bago, these shots of Lady MacCogo should give you pause….
Lady MacCogo. 191208Dark thoughts….Common Goldeneye hen (Bucephala clangula) Mission Creek, Kelowna, BC. 191208
I was quite fortunate to get this shot of a BAGO and COGO drake almost side by side. Better shots of the COGO can be found below this one. One of my favourite features of this creek is the way the light plays on the water. In some cases, I’ve played with colour, too, to get the images the way I like ’em. If you’re a Purist, that’s your problem….
“We brrrr-o’s but not brrotherrs….”“They call us Common, but don’t you believe it!”Just reflecting….“I enjoy reflecting on all kind of things….”
I’m finishing this post with a whole bunch of BAGO drake shots that I like. First, I was able to see more differences between the two in individual shots than in the pair takes. Camera angle may explain some of variance.
BagowunBagotwoPretty boy…. (aka Bashful the Wanderer, Bagowun)“Ask me if I care….”“Dang! Got a feather outa place!”Random thoughts….Bagotwo again….“What iceberg?”“It’s a challenge to be this cool!”“What is that thing, and what does it want?”“Don’t wanna think about it anymore!”
Hope you enjoyed the ducks. There will be more over the course of the winter, I’m sure….
Separate shots of the same drake processed differently just for fun….
IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL PHOTOS IN THIS POST CAN BE OPENED, ENLARGED, IN A NEW TAB. JUST CLICK THE IMAGE!
Sparrow Haven, in The Brush Pile behind CNC, adjacent to Kelowna Rec Field, Kelowna, BC.
After five full years here in Kelowna, I’ve come to realize that every year is different from a birding/photography standpoint. Just when I think I’ve figured out a pattern, something happens to disrupt my generalization. This past winter was a doozy.
Start with the weather: December and January were wonderful, above average temperatures, no snow to speak of, the Marsh unfrozen: who didn’t appreciate climate warming?! Click on the graphs below to open them, enlarged, in new tabs.
Then February arrived: this graph shows how our Feb. temperatures have changed over the last three years. We had only a little snow in 2019-, but, as you can imagine, it did not melt until mid-March. Click to enlarge.
February has gotten much colder!
More important, from a birding/photography standpoint, was the accidental creation of an environment that was very much appreciated by our local Song Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows, and four (some claim five) accidental tourists who normally spend their winters east of the Rockies — Harris’s Sparrows:
Blackbeard, the adult in his/her winter plumage.White Bib, the second most easily identified.Whiskers, more difficult to ID until you know what to look for….Tawny, perhaps the most difficult to spot and identify because she is similar to White Bib and Whiskers — again, until you know what to look for….
So how do we tell them apart? Well, as I indicated, Blackbeard and White Bib are pretty easy to differentiate. I came to know them first:
Blackbeard looks just as you’d expect!White Bib has a a lovely white bib with a well defined Fu Manchu moustache. The black slash on his upper breast runs down and right from our perspective.
Whiskers was so named because in the bib area s/he from the beginning he had some darker streaks unlike White Bib who had none. In time, however, I also noticed two more distinguishing features: a small black dot below each eye and near the back of the bill, and a faint black spot on the breast just below the dark slash, which on Whiskers runs from right to left as we are facing him.
Also note that Whiskers’ black slash on the upper breast runs down and to our left.
Here we can see Blackbeard and Whiskers together:
Blackbeard on the left, Whiskers on the right. The faint spot on Whiskers’ breast (under the dark streak) has become darker as have his/her whiskers!
And finally, Tawny, the most difficult to distinguish from White Bib but easily distinguished from Blackbeard and Whiskers:
Tawny has a bib that’s less white than White Bib’s, but is not nearly as dark as Whiskers’. The crown is not as black as the other Harris’s either….
Several years ago, I used to frequent a popular birding forum in BC. I was new to wildlife photography and at first had less than ideal equipment. I needed all the help I could get! The forum was valuable for a great variety of information, not least of which was access to some excellent images of BC birds. I learned a lot about birds and even more about quality photography — just by observation. No one was anything but supportive of those who posted (a fact that seems to apply to most photographic sites I visit). Sometimes, however, it was pretty obvious that some posts were of substantially higher quality / value than others.
The basics came quickly — the rule of thirds, issues of exposure and colour balance, clarity, capturing motion in a still, and of course, processing (both over and under)…. Besides these considerations, it was obvious that different folks have different tastes and different tolerances for defects. While I’m inclined to be a perfectionist, I’m a failed one who is often far too tolerant of my own “near misses”….
This piece is a reflection on shots taken recently at Kelowna’s Waterfront Park, a place I visit only a few times each year. Also know as Rotary Marsh, this spot is a 15-minute-drive from home, all of 6–8 km away, depending upon one’s route choice. Sure, I’ll go in early Spring just to see what’s there, or on Canada Day just to be patriotic. But in late October / early November, on a sunny Second Summer late morning, it’s for the light, and the Gadwalls….
Probably one or two photos would have sufficed to show why I like the place. I’ve chosen, however, to post the near misses as well as the ones that come closest to the quality I had in mind when I pressed the shutter button.
Let’s begin with the best of the bunch, then take a look at others and examine why they don’t work as well:
I like the way the bird is centred so that it’s half in light and half in shadow. Even the shaded side, however, offers some detail and trace of light. The reflection on the left tip of the bill is a nice touch. With its saturated tones, we realize that the photographer is aiming for art not merely a record or snapshot. There is effective clarity throughout. The water bokeh is informative but not distracting. Although the duck is not looking directly at the camera, we get a sense that he’s aware of what’s going on.
Contrast the shot above with the next two near (or, perhaps, not so near) misses:
Can you see the missing quality?
If you’re going to show the reflection, make sure you show it!
In the shot just above, the distribution of light and shadow, compared with the image we like, is off target, not 50-50. The plumage detail on the sunlit side is beautiful, but, sadly, we’ve got only halfaduck here!
In the set below, viewer preferences will determine” the better shot.” I’ve been quite surprised, sometimes when my peers’ selection of the “quality one” differ from mine.
In this set, while both are near misses, in my opinion, each still has some appeal. I like the greater simplicity in the photo on the bottom. I wish the drake didn’t look so sleepy, but that’s a minor consideration for me. The upper photo has an orange tint, the lower one more blue. The water is less distracting in the lower shot. Finally I prefer to see the whole foot rather than its fragmented image.
Yet I have friends who see what I consider defects as positive attributes. Sometimes, it’s simply a case of my being more sensitive to some flaws than others rather than finding certain attributes more resonating than others. Critical vs affirming mental approaches….
One more point about quality and perceptions of it. Since we’re viewing our photographs on monitors, it behooves us to make sure the latter are set for optimal viewing. Back in my consulting days, I saw way too many monitors that needed to be recalibrated — corrected for brightness and colour…. I’m sure that some over-saturated photos I see online were produced on monitors that were too bright, and some diluted-toned images developed on monitors that were too dark….
Finally, two shots below remind us that the photographer is to some degree as much responsible for the way a pond looks as nature is. Change your angle and you’ll change the photo. We all know this, I think, and sometimes, there’s no opportunity to find the optimal shot location — we have to shoot what we’re served. But when we have a choice, make it!
The shots below were taken in the same pond only minutes and metres apart. The outcomes, however, are remarkably different….
On golden pond? Click photo to enlarge in a new tab.
Or in another dimension? Click photo to enlarge in a new tab.
So that’s it for the moment. If you’re a young photographer or a neophyte to this genre, I hope you’ve found something worth thinking about. I wish you well. I hope that you will continue to study, explore, and pursue the best results you can come up with!
I’ve often remarked on the wonderful cooperation among diverse waterfowl species on a pond. I’ve also noted moments of remarkable conflict, frequently involving Mallard ducks. Usually, we see this in breeding season, often between male and females. Sometimes there are horrible conflicts between hens over whose brood is going to be raised on a particular pond. And, certainly, there plenty of anecdotes about rivalries among drakes.
But it’s nearly the end of October, 2018, for goodness sake! What I witnessed the other day at Teal Pond, TMarsh, took me by surprise. A little quarrel rapidly escalated into a probable duckicide. To be sure, in the end, one drake was driven away and a Victor declared, but I have to admit I was holding my breath as I pressed the shutter….
As I hadn’t wanted to disturb the ducks on the log, I wasn’t as close as I could have been. That ghost of a cattail in the lower left of the frame is annoying and should have been avoided. But being too close might have kept the conflict from erupting. I’ll leave it to viewers to decide whether or not I did the best thing….
The aggressor is the drake on the left…. We’ll name him at the end of the series….
Notice the leverage with both bill and foot…
Over they go….
It’s all a blur! Who’s got the upper bill, so to speak?
The bill-neck clamp hold!
It’s becoming very serious!
Is a drowning about to happen?
No question who’s in control!
The victim makes a break….
The Victor regains control and submerges the victim….
Wild thrashing!
Only a few moments later, Victor poses — revealing no signs of the near carnage just attempted!
I’m often quite dissatisfied with the photos I take. This set, however, turned out quite well, in my opinion. I’ll add more about the species and this particular bird as I have time:
Solomon searching….
Solomon thinking….
Solomon listening….
Solomon profile….
Solomon wondering….
This little guy and most of the SOSPs I know tend to inhabit relatively small territories throughout the year, often in small groups that may or may not be family-based. Solomon is often accompanied by a less bold “mate” (take this in whatever way you like), but he is the one who comes out looking for action….
Here’s a note on Song Sparrow subspecies (and coloration) from Cornell’s All About Birds site:
Scientists recognize 24 subspecies of Song Sparrows and have described some 52 forms: they are one of the most regionally variable birds in North America. In general, coastal and northern birds are darker and streakier, with southern and desert birds wearing paler plumages.
As promised, as long as Patience is in the neighbourhood, I plan to keep updating B&M with recent shots. Probably, most will be quite similar; still, I’m interested in compiling a record of her over time…. The group of shots below were taken on October 24, 2018.
Click on any photo to enlarge it. To enlarge it furtherin a new tab, scroll down to the bottom of the enlargement and click “View full size.”
I’ve long been fascinated by hawks, especially Red-tails. Since coming to Kelowna in 2014, this species has been high on my list of great birding moments in our neighbourhood — Thomson Marsh. I’ve written about these experiences many times, especially here.
Spike, adult Red-tail who visited for a couple of days.
In the past four autumns, the hawks arrived back from their summer breeding locations earlier, it seems to me. I’ve noticed a few around Kelowna, and we did have one adult drop in for a visit back in August. Another, likely a returnee from last winter, turned up near Michaelbrook marsh in September (more on him later, probably), and I got some good shots of a juvenile at Munson Pond on September 25 as well. In October, we began seeing the familiar kettles of migrants drifting by, had quick glimpses of unfamiliar kestrels, a Merlin, and Cooper’s hawks. Kessie, the resident American Kestrel, is “around,” but not as prominent as she will likely become in a month or two.
Patience, juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
But the real star of October, and, I hope, of this hawk season, is a beautiful juvenile that is affording all of us who walk the Thomson Marsh beat unparalleled views of her beauty and grace. She loves to pose, especially on lampposts, but occasionally on trees. She’s foraging successfully and appears to like it here. I have been guardedly optimistic that she’ll stay the winter, giving us the opportunity to watch her develop. I’ve named her, for her proclivity to tolerate people, Patience. I met her for the first time at our Community Garden plot on October 3. She flew in along the north edge of the gardens, across the road, and into the willows that line the north end of Thomson Brook. There she gave me the once-over you can see above.
When I took my eyes off her to check my camera, she left the tree and lit on a nearby lamppost, one frequently used by Kessie over the past four winters. I was surprised by her tolerance of the camera, and indeed, her willingness to pose.
A thinking hawk? October 3, 2018October 11: eight days since Patience first appeared, and I’ve been able to locate her every day I’ve gone looking, though not always on the first try.
Here are a few of my favourite images of her:
Patience in pine, October 6, 2018.
That tiny bit of red on her forehead needed some explanation, and that came about 30 minutes later, after she moved to a lamppost nearby and then disappeared for a few minutes.
October 6: Patience on a lamppost at the opposite end of the marsh walk from where I first encountered her.
Having lost her to her hunting, I continued my walk counterclockwise around the marsh. When I entered the far southeast sector of the marsh, I spotted her again, and quickly ascertained the reason for the red spot mentioned above:
Patience at the kill site. How long since it happened is anyone’s guess, but by the time I got there, she had returned and was just finishing her last morsel, leaving nothing but feathers….
She showed no fear of me, indeed no concern for my presence or the camera. In fact, after finishing her last bite, she hopped up onto a nearby stump and posed for posterity:
One of many cool poses she struck while on her pedestal.
It was a great day! Clearly, she’d found a winter home. Or has she? I’ve seen hawks show up for a couple of weeks, only to decide that they could do better in another location. She won’t stay forever, I know, but I’m crossing my fingers that she’ll stick around until next spring and give the folks who frequent the marsh a chance to watch her grow.
I haven’t photographed her every day that I’ve seen her. Sometimes the light was poor, or the lamppost poses were pretty much the same as before. A couple of times when I checked in the morning, I didn’t see her, but there hasn’t been a day where I didn’t encounter her at some point.
On October 10, I missed her in the morning. After our anniversary lunch, Nana and I decided to stop by the garden, the marsh, and check again. And sure enough, she showed up, this time in the big Weeping Willows that line Lexington Road and Michaelbrook Creek — the same area where I had first seen her. Nana figures that this is where she roosts at night, which seems very plausible to me, too.
It was great to get shots of her in a natural perch, especially on a sunny day. She had just caught some lunch and allowed me to photograph her devouring it:
Yum!
My favourite portrait of Patience so far. Is she posing or just surveying?
Of course, it’s likely the latter, but I can’t be quite sure.
Take a look at the next shot, in a different perch, where clearly
she’s had enough of this playing for the paparazzo.
“Look, enough’s enough, don’t you think?!”
Wednesday, October 10, 2018. Near the Community Garden, Kelowna Rec Field, Kelowna, BC.
Continued good hunting, Patience; I’m looking forward to keeping this connection going!
I will post, in separate entries, more photos of Patience as I acquire them.
Thoughts on The US OPEN TENNIS FINAL, September 8, 2018
To many spectators both at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center and watching on television, the US Open Women’s Final Match of 2018 was a great disappointment.
The match should have been historic — the first Japanese-Haitian, 20 year old challenger in her first Grand Slam final, and more importantly, her brilliant play against an opponent widely described as the best-ever women’s tennis champion (who had won her first Grand Slam tournament before her younger opponent’s second birthday) attempting, in the year after her daughter’s birth, to equal the record for most US Open victories by a female.
Young Naomi Osaka handily won the first set (6-2) against Serena Williams, amazingly back in this final 18 days short of her 37th birthday,. What happened in the second set, however, became historic for unexpected and regrettable reasons.
The hitherto “distinguished chair umpire,” George Ramos, made questionable choices that interfered with scoring in the match, and threw shade over Osaka’s victory in the minds of Williams’ fanatics. Why the United States Tennis Association chose a male umpire to officiate in this match is a mystery to me. The more significant mystery, however, is why he chose, in a final match, to rule against “coaching from the stands,” which, by the rules of the USTA, is “illegal” but apparently indulged by nearly every player and his/her team and almost never called. This issue has long been debated in the professional tennis community as you can see for yourself with a simple Google check. This online article is very informative: Wimbledon 2015 – Novak Djokovic: yes, I communicate with Boris Becker, but you can’t call it cheating | The Independent
[“In the last five years [2011-2015] 24 fines have been issued to male players at Grand Slam events for on-court coaching. Djokovic has been fined twice – at the 2011 Australian Open and 2013 US Open…
Rafael Nadal has also been fined twice for coaching over the same period. The Spaniard received the biggest coaching fine to be issued since 2010 when he was penalized $4,000 at last year’s Australian Open. Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet are among those who have also fallen foul of the rules.”]
When it was over, Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’ coach, admitted coaching with a hand gesture. During the match, commentator and former great women’s champion Chris Evert had noted that his action coincided with an adjustment in court position by Serena that helped her game. Evert also mentioned, after the chair umpire ruled that the signal was a “code violation,” that this penalty is rarely called.
Williams chose to perceive the call as an attack on her honour, protesting that she’s “not a cheater” and that she’d “rather lose than cheat.” It appeared to viewers that while the umpire understood her feeling, he was not about to reverse his decision. He did not, as he could/should have, warn her that a continuing outburst would cost her a game. Perhaps she might have calmed down if he had. Regardless, rather than put the incident behind her, it seemed to me that Williams, fuming, preferred to play the victim. Osaka, meanwhile, undaunted by trailing 3-1 in the second set, battled back brilliantly, and aided by double faults from Williams, broke serve and strove to catch up. She won the fifth game.
At this point, I’ll pick up the narrative from ESPN:
“Then, during the changeover at 3-2, the fireworks began. After Osaka broke her in the fifth, Williams smashed her racket and was penalized a point for a second code violation. Before the start of the next game, Williams walked to the chair to plead with Ramos again to tell the crowd she [had not been cheating at the time she was charged with the first code violation].
“I didn’t get coaching. You need to make an announcement that I didn’t get coaching,” Williams said. “I didn’t cheat. How can you say that? I have never cheated in my life. I have a daughter, and I stand for what’s right for her. You owe me an apology.”
At that moment, the boos — which had started after the initial warning — became so deafening they delayed play. On every serve. After a few points, Ramos stopped his attempts to settle the crowd. Through it all, Osaka impressively held her focus and won the next two games. At 4-3, she was two games from the title.
But Williams couldn’t let that earlier warning go. Again, she walked to the chair and exchanged words with Ramos. “You stole a point from me,” she said. “You’re a thief.” Before fans knew what was happening, Ramos called both players to the chair and docked Williams a game penalty for verbal abuse: 5-3 Osaka.
Had Williams let it go — or had Ramos let the match play out — maybe Williams could have forced a third set. The way Osaka was playing, it’s unlikely, but Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champ for a reason. She knows how to find that next gear. “It’s hard to say, because I always fight ’til the end, and I always try to come back, no matter what,” Williams said after the match. “But [Osaka] was also playing really, really well. She played an amazing match. She deserved credit, she deserved to win. At the end of the day, that’s what it was.”
So what’s my takeaway from this? I agree that the umpire badly miscalculated in his decision to penalize what he perceived as coaching. Although Williams’ coach acknowledged, at the end of the match, that he had been trying to coach his player with a hand gesture, he used the old “everybody does it” excuse.
I’m even willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this point. In fact, I think tennis must get rid of the “no coaching” rule that is so difficult to enforce and so blatantly ignored by the top teams in the sport. Tennis purists, who argue that the players should, like gladiators, play their own game with no outside input, are sleep walking. Coaching is allowed, for goodness’ sake, in the qualifying rounds at the US Open.
I can see that tennis fans don’t really want the kind of spectator “cheering” that’s common at baseball and football and soccer and hockey and rugby games (think Boston or New York!). Tennis is better enjoyed by watchers being able to hear the smack of the racket against the ball, or the ringing of the bell on serves that touch the net. Whether we need to hear the grunts of players is a topic for debate in another time and place. I don’t think we want to hear coaches calling out instructions to the players. I’m sure the players don’t either. But players do look to their coaches between serves either to plead excuses for mistakes or to read silent signals that will help them improve. Allow coaching!
Second, I applaud Serena for trying at the end of the match not to deprive Naomi of enjoying her historic moment. Although I doubt she’d ever admit it, I think Serena knew deep down that she was being defeated on this day by the better player. Could she have come back? Maybe. After the third violation, Serena won the next game easily (did Osaka let up for that game?) to bring the score to 5–4 with Osaka serving. Osaka’s game winning point, however, was a near ace that Williams just couldn’t handle. At the presentation, Serena did what she couldn’t do during the match — rise above her emotions and put sportspersonship ahead of “winning.” Remember what she said, post-match: “…[Naomi] played an amazing match. She deserved credit, she deserved to win.”
I think, however, it’s time that in all sports, athletes recognize that it’s a privilege to “play” for the outrageous amount of money the “game” provides them, and that displays of “unsportsmanlike conduct” should receive wider sanctions for all — male or female, intensely emotional situations or not. Williams wants to argue that because men “act out” and get away with it, she and all women should, too. Logically, that makes sense. What I want to argue, however, is that violently smashing rackets and angrily calling out referees and umpires should be sanctioned consistently and forcefully in all sports regardless of the players’ genders. Athletes should accept the mantle of leadership that comes with their privilege and try to teach crowds and youngsters watching that abusive behaviour is never justified just because emotions have boiled over — especially in the public arena where a “game” is being played. The ideal of “winning at any cost” should be replaced with “winning with dignity”; we’re talking about a game here, not a war!
So, you ask, what should be done if a player smashes a racket? Should there be a penalty at all, and if so, what should it be? I think that any tennis player, regardless of gender, who “abuses a racket” should have to continue playing with it for the remainder of the game or through the next game, after which they could change to a new one. Rackets could continue to be changed during games only if they were not the result of player induced rage. Of course, most often a player could not hope to play with a racket as mangled as the one Williams picked up after hurling it into the hard court; the effect of the rule would be the forfeit of the game. (“Game,” here, in the tennis sense of game, set, match. Just forfeit the game). In golf, if a player destroys his putter (or any club) during a round, s/he doesn’t get to replace it. Would I like to see similar penalties to other athletes who destroy equipment in fits of pique? Yes! But this is not the time to digress into that morass. This piece is about tennis only.
“Verbal abuse” is a much more difficult matter to determine. Where is the line between an appropriate and sporting objection to a call and verbal abuse of another player or an umpire or line judge? Remember Serena’s outrageous threats against the line judge when she was assessed a “foot fault” at the 2009 US Open semi-final? My solution for this problem would be to make much better use of technology. Reduce the dependency on humans to call “faults” and let the same tech that is currently used to resolve disputes, such as the “Chase review” for line rulings, make every call. We’ll likely still need a chair umpire, but do we still need line judges? How silly would a player look arguing his/her case with a machine?
Some will argue that using technology this way will slow down the game. I disagree. The rulings will be just as quick as the display of service speed on the IBM monitor. The rulings will be called out instantly by a computerized voice without any trace of human emotion. No more half-second-delayed calls while the line judge tries to recall what s/he just saw….
Let’s apply my ideas to the 2018 US Open Women’s final. If coaching were permitted, Williams’ first code violation would have been moot. Serena would not have had a reason to go ballistic towards the umpire. If, after she lost the fifth game, she had smashed her racket in disgust at her own play failures, she would have been penalized one game (or allowed to continue for one game with the damaged one) which would have tied the match at 3-3. We don’t know how Serena would have dealt with her emotions, but if she had acted “unsportspersonlike,” at least she would have had only herself to blame…. Had Naomi continued to play with the cool she displayed throughout the entire match on Saturday — and won, she could have enjoyed her victory with all the honour she was due.
Postscript: As I was writing this piece, I kept expecting someone else to publish a similar response. Just as I thought I was finished (including the further research section below), it arrived — from none other than Martina Navratilova, writing in the Washington Post, September 10, 2018): Her piece echoes my thoughts, although she doesn’t cover all of the remedies I’ve outlined (we do agree on allowing coaching): Here’s the most important excerpt in my opinion:
“It’s difficult to know, and debatable, whether Ms. Williams could have gotten away with calling the umpire a thiefif she were a male player. But to focus on that, I think, is missing the point. If, in fact, the guys are treated with a different measuring stick for the same transgressions, this needs to be thoroughly examined and must be fixed. But we cannot measure ourselves by what we think we should also be able to get away with. In fact, this is the sort of behaviour that no one should be engaging in on the court ). There have been many times when I was playing that I wanted to break my racket into a thousand pieces. Then I thought about the kids watching. And I grudgingly held on to that racket ”(my emphasis).
If you’re in a mood for further research, I strongly recommend that you read the article listed below (and others) about The IceBorg, Bjorn Borg, the Swedish tennis superstar who won Wimbledon five times in a row (1976–1980) along with six French Open titles (1974-1981). He never won the US or Australian Opens.
“Borg was called a machine. His detractors, and some of his admirers, said he had no pulse (it was actually recorded at 35 bpm), no fear, no heart. How wrong they were.
His game was built on emotional restraint — an asceticism never since seen on court — and yet he was the most emotional player of them all. While his contemporaries raged and hollered, he internalized. Through his five Wimbledon triumphs and six French Open wins he barely uttered a word, let alone questioned a decision.
If he had not existed, Ingmar Bergman, his fellow countryman, would have had to invent him. There was so much going on in those silences. Out on court he seemed to be groping for the very meaning of life.
You just knew his silences were rooted in some deeper struggle. After he quit he admitted that at the heart of it had been his determination to master a suspect temperament. At 14 he had been punished for racket abuse and shouting. His parents told him he was finished with tennis unless he could control his temper “(emphasis mine).
While much of Borg’s post-tennis life was ‘a mess,’ he is today, at 62, a fine representative of the sport he loved. In December 2014 he was elected Sweden’s top sportsperson of all time by the newspaper Dagens Nyheter…. Arthur Ashe told Sports Illustrated (May 6, 1991) “I think Bjorn could have won the U.S. Open. I think he could have won the Grand Slam, but by the time he left, the historical challenge didn’t mean anything. He was bigger than the game. He was like Elvis or Liz Taylor or somebody. (From Borg’s Wikipedia entry.)
Finally, full disclosure, I have struggled all my life to control my temper — and often failed. That said, I make no excuses for thatfailing, and as I continue to try to reign in my own emotions, I urge everyone to find appropriate ways to deal with theirs….
![Patience (Red-tailed Hawk [Buteo jamaicensis]) -05.jpg](https://birdsandmusings.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/patience-red-tailed-hawk-buteo-jamaicensis-05.jpg)
birds & musings 