Blue Winged Teal

On a recent trip to Presque Isle we had planned on spending some time at an inland pond hoping to get a look at a couple of  huge beavers that seem to reside there.  We had also previously watched a muskrat swimming the length of the pool in light that was dimming quickly.  Today as we sat silently on the banks of this pond our attention was drawn towards a shallow cove just opposite to where we were positioned.  As we watched through the binoculars we were delighted to see a male and female duck with colors and markings that indicated they might be Blue Winged Teal.  We spent some time jockeying for a better position and hoping the Teals would offer us a better look.  Our patience paid off as we finally got into a location where we could get some decent images and also confirm that we were looking at a male and female Blue Winged Teal.  They are beautiful ducks and definitely display the teal color nicely when they are in flight. 

There are 4 major migrating flyways in North America.  These are the flyways that migrating waterfowl and shorebirds use year after year for their trip south in the fall and north in the spring.  Presque Isle is positioned precisely on the Atlantic Flyway so it's a tremendous place to photograph waterfowl and shorebirds.