clangula

Pair of Long-tailed Ducks displaying on a melt water pond in Barrow, Alaska.

Long-tailed Duck traversing dry ground in Barrow, Alaska. To purchase images go to pictorem.com/profile/mike.ross or mikerossoils.fineartamerica.com

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, Arrowhead Marsh (Oakland, CA, USA). Another photo of this goldeneye. The late-day winter lighting has been very flattering for the birds and seems to hit a sweet spot with my camera.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, Arrowhead Marsh (Oakland, CA, USA). A photo that puts the "eye" in "goldeneye."

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, Arrowhead Marsh (Oakland, CA, USA). While I think the buffleheads are beautiful (especially the males), I'm a sucker for the female Common Goldeneyes and their complex pattern.

Taken near the Sundial Bridge (Redding, CA, USA). Was trying to photograph the Goldeneye in a crowd and the best photo I had also happened to have the coot. Interesting contrasts

Taken near the Sundial Bridge (Redding, CA, USA). We've seen female Goldeneyes regularly near our home in San Leandro, but in 2+ years of bird photography, we never realized they were sexually dimorphic. We'd apparently never seen a male Common Goldeneye before! So I know the serious birders...

Taken near the Sundial Bridge (Redding, CA, USA). We see these often near home, but fun to see familiar species when away from home too.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at about 30m. Caught this lovely lady bathing, frantically diving, flapping, and preening. Flap-flap-flap that water off.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at about 30m. Caught this lovely lady bathing, frantically diving, flapping, and preening. She was about to push-off and dive into the water in this photo.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at about 9m. This duck was just thrashing the heck out of whatever it caught. Some kind of crab or crayfish, if I had to guess. She was seriously creating a scene with it, and gave herself a bad hair day. All the photos I took of her made...

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at about 9m.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at about 9m.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.