Waterfowl on the Skokie Lagoon in Spring



After seeing a wood duck fly over me while biking by the Skokie Lagoon,
 I decided to go on an expedition to photograph it. I hiked along the muddy
 banks of the Winnetka half of the Lagoon for about two hours, and I did
find a family of wood ducks but they hid in the shade across the water, which
 was too far and dark for my 300mm telephoto to capture. Despite this, I also
 happened upon some other springtime waterfowl.


I noticed waterfowls slowly floating down the Lagoon, so I quickly hid 
behind the nearest tree and patiently waited for them to pass by. It was sunny 
and the water reflected the bright green leaves of the trees, which gave a nice 
background to the waterfowls. After doing some research online and consulting
 some birding forums, I discovered that the top birds are male and female
 blue-winged teals and the bottom bird is a pie-billed grebe. The teal are somewhat
 common, but this is my first time seeing or even hearing about a pie-billed grebe. 
Both look really interesting.

Winnetka
Taken in April 2012

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