After a cold blustery and snowy morning the afternoon turned out to be clear and mild. I headed over to west side of Santa Fe and a series of ponds near Las Campanas Golf Club. I sat by the pond trying to get the perfect pic of a Violet-green Swallow. I failed on the swallow, although I think you will be able to see why they have that name, but did get some cool shots of this male Ruddy Duck.
I knew when the male was going to dive because just over a second before he would lower his head and flatten out his tail - atually below the water as you will see.
Check out the image of his "footprint." There are two very noticeable "bumps" of water where his powerful legs and feet are pushing up water as he dives deep. He would stay down an average of 27 seconds. Actually this was pretty consistent.
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Lowering his head
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| Cocking his tail and pointing bill straight down |
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| There he goes! Note how he is pushing down with his tail to lift body up. |
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| Heading straight down. |
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| Just a bit of the tail and the two water bumps! |
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| The "footprint" including the two bumps of water pushed up by the feet. |
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| Violet-green Swallow showing how it got its name! |
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| Violet-green Swallow - a gorgeous bird! |
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