Autumn's Migrating Bufflehead

 

"Fall comes with many colors, to challenge a green summer."

~Neamat Alishiryan

The prettiest of the migrating ducks, the pretty little Bufflehead! They are fast little diving ducks, and they are the smallest of that class, weighing only about a pound. They are great fun to watch, and quite a challenge to photograph, as they dive down really fast, and bob back up only when they feel like it. They are gorgeous birds, the males with the colors of the rainbow around the head, and the females have a beautiful white streak on both sides of their head. Their migrating flight brings them from Alaska and Canada, flying at night to reach the Pacific coast and sometimes spots inland, like Cosumnes River Preserve. It's nature like this, that makes me thankful that I moved out to the San Joaquin valley, because I never saw them when I lived in the Bay Area. They are all over the place here, but now that I know I can find them in Bodega Bay, I will visit more often. That will be especially convenient if we move somewhere near the upper coast, of Sonoma, or Marin Counties, or even somewhere on the western Delta.