The Eye of the Bufflehead (or not)

Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) are beautiful little diving ducks that I don't get to see all that often. They aren't all that rare, but the lack of really favorable habitat nearby (large lakes and marshlands) means they are all that common. So my pictures (when I can get them) tend to be far afield.

This time I was up north in Washington for the holidays. On my morning walks along the shores of Lake Washington I had some good views of a variety of shorebirds and the Buffleheads were close, but once again because of the dreary weather I didn't get their eyes.

All the guides to photographing birds say that catching the reflection of the eyes makes the picture, but Buffleheads have black eyes on a pure black face. One other feature that can challenge Bufflehead photographers is catching the iridescence of the feathers around the face. But one really needs sunlight for that. So the challenge remains for me. One of these days....

Buffleheads are among the smallest of the ducks, and they typically dive when they are foraging for food, spending a great deal of time underwater (that's an additional challenge in photography). They spend very little time on land other than nesting or leading nestlings from one body of water to another. They nest in the hollows of trees excavated by other birds, especially Northern Flickers.