Falcated Ducks

So finally, it's my first post from Thailand. It's 32°C when I landed in Bangkok and 35°C when I arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday. It's such a sharp contrast between the temperature of the place where I came from. It was raining once again in Fukuoka on the morning I departed, after a period of extremely nice spring-like weather. I guess the city will be filled with cherry blossom soon. I was able to visit Fukuoka much more often due to my parents visit during the graduation ceremony. We mainly stayed in Fukuoka, since it's much more convenient to travel around using shinkansen. These photos of the stunning Falcated Ducks (Anas falcata) were taken on March 3, during my survey visit before my parents came to Japan. The same flock of this beautiful duck still remained in quite a good number exactly at the same area where I photographed them last time in January. I wasn't so satisfied with the photos I got that time, so I visited the place to give it another try and it turned out even better than what I expected.

Male Falcated Duck (Anas falcata)

Female

Another drake with bronzer gloss on the head

It was actually very dark and overcast when I first arrived at Imazu in the early morning. I tried to capture a flock of these ducks floating around in the middle of the river mouth, but failed to get any decent shot. After about an hour of hanging around in the area, the sun suddenly broke through and the sky suddenly became very clear. It was quite magical and I felt thankful for whatever factor that made all the clouds disappear. I finally got all the shots that I wanted from this stunning and endangered duck before I had to leave Japan.

My guess is that it was yawning!

I really like the elongated tertial feathers of the drake

The individual with bronzer head and one of its females

The drake with bronzer green glossed feathers seemed to be more popular than the one with normal green head. It was accompanied by 2 other females which followed around everywhere. The total number of the Falcated Ducks on that day seemed to be around 20 individuals, a little lower than last time but still considerably good. Only these 2 drakes and 3 females were close enough for me to get decent shots. Others seemed to be more satisfied staying in the middle of the river.

The colour shifted rapidly according to angle and light

I noticed how females also have slight purplish gloss on the head.

Another preening shot

A short handheld video clip of the drake to finish this post