A puddle jumper doing what puddle jumpers do.
Puddle ducks, also known as dabblers, are those that feed in shallow water, don’t dive, and have large wings relative to body size so they take off vertically from land or water rather than needing the long takeoff “runway” required by diving ducks. Puddle ducks include Mallards, Gadwalls, widgeons, pintails, shovelers, Wood Ducks, and teals – including Cinnamon Teals.
When I was growing up in Montana we used to call puddle ducks “puddle jumpers” because when disturbed they would jump from one prairie pothole to another. Five days ago, along the approach road to Bear River MBR, I documented a drake Cinnamon Teal doing just that – puddle jumping.
All ten of the photos in the series below are sequential without any skips.
I missed his vertical takeoff because the small puddle he was on was completely hidden by vegetation, so I didn’t even know he was there. This is the first shot I got of him after he launched.
Apparently he didn’t like how close I was so he wanted to put some space between us. His intended destination was another small puddle, perhaps 50′ away, but to get there he had to clear a couple of large patches of white-flowering plants. He didn’t clear them by much.
If anyone knows what these plants are, please let me know in the comments. I have no idea and I’m curious.
At times he seemed to be almost touching some of the flowers.
This shot shows his bright iridescent bronze-green speculum better than any other in the series. There’s a fly of some kind below the tip of his right wing and if you look very closely there’s also a mosquito or midge very close to the trailing edge of the same wing. It’s tiny.
Here he’s cleared the first patch of flowers but…
there was another patch of them directly in front of him.
OK, now he’s mostly in the clear so he can begin…
his descent.
Putting on the air brakes as he approaches the puddle.
This flight posture is almost identical to the previous one so I’ve cropped this last photo with the teal much smaller in the frame to allow us to see part of the puddle he was flying to. This is the last shot I got before I completely lost focus on him.
In the past, Cinnamon Teals in flight have been a very difficult subject for me to get sharp so I was pretty happy to get as many sequential sharp photos of this drake as I did. The Canon R5 deserves a significant portion of the credit.
Ron
Notes:
- Image techs for this series are in the range of 1/5000 – 1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc.
- It’s beginning to look like the flowering plant in these photos is a variety of pepperweed. Thanks, Yuriko and Shirley.
The white flowers could be a bee bush or whitebush
He really didn’t clear those plants by much. I love the term puddle jumper (and the reason) which I hadn’t come across before.
“I love the term puddle jumper”
I like it too, EC. It has a nice ring to it.
Beautiful series, Ron. 🙂 All the teal are beautiful little birds – often hard to tell apart at times for me! I hadn’t thought of them as “puddle jumpers” but then we don’t see many in the immediate area. Do see Mallards in the “prairie pot holes near the highway on a regular basis tho.
Judy, many of the prairie potholes I was referring to were near Browning, especially on the way to East Glacier. But some of them were elsewhere too.
Sensational series!
Thanks, Charlotte.
Possibly Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed, tall whitetop.
If it is Lepidium latifolium, it is a noxious weed in moist places along roadsides, streambanks, and in pastures and other moist disturbed places. It spreads vigorously and poses a serious threat to many native ecosystems. Control of this weed is very difficult because the creeping root system negates most mechanical control measures.
Shirley, that’s pretty much what I read about this plant. And the habitat it was in fits perfectly with the habitat you mentioned.
I took a screenshot and uploaded it to Google Images. The suggestion was Pepperweed.
Thanks, Yuriko. I’ll check it out. Much appreciated.
What a fantastic series! I don’t recall seeing many shots — if any — of Cinnamon Teals in flight on your blog. Those wings are pretty spectacular, color-wise and lift-wise. As for giving the R5 so much credit, I’d say that the operator of the equipment deserves most of the kudos here.
And I’m with Everett regarding how enticing puddles are. (I may or may not still jump in them. 😉)
Marty, I’ve posted a few Cinnamon Teal flight shots fairly recently but I sure don’t have very many of them.
Excellent photos as always and some new education as well. Thanks Ron.
I remember being a puddle jumper myself during the rainy summer months back in my native Pennsylvania.
Thanks, Everett – you ol’ puddle jumper you. 🙂
Your “artists eye” brings birds alive . I find you to be gifted in so many areas.
I am grateful.
Take Care,
Kaye
Thanks for the very kind words, Kaye.
Thanks– I found the info about the size of wings being related to dabbling/
diving life- way very interesting-makes sense! I was intrigued also about
those white-flowering plants– don’t remember ever seeing them before….
“don’t remember ever seeing them before”
Nor do I, Kris. I’ve asked around a bit but so far their ID is still a mystery to me.