Along the River

I finally got out on the river with the kayak, and a camera of course. Managed to get reasonably close to these pelicans and find an eddy to park the kayak while I took photos. It's a fun challenge to hold a telephoto steady while you're bobbing around in the water. Many fuzzy photos!



By this time of year most of the goslings and ducklings are getting bigger. Some of the ducklings were almost as big as their mothers.





I got a kick out of this family group. Although the male in the background probably isn't actually the father.



Some of the Mallard families had a lot of ducklings. I count 12 in this group.



These ones appeared to be having a nap in the sun. Mum was on a nearby rock, as were another bunch of ducklings.



Pausing in the eddies behind the bridge pier, I noticed a number of dragonfly nymph exuvia (the skin they leave behind when the adult dragonfly emerges). I would have thought the river flowed too fast for dragonfly nymphs, but obviously some of them find their way to the eddies.



I wondered about the significance of the white threads and did some searching on the web. Apparently, as they emerge they have to transition from using gills underwater to breathing air and the threads pull out of the tracheal openings to open them for breathing.

Just at the end of my kayak I noticed something bright green on one of the piers and found a couple of newly emerged dragonflies. (I'm guessing that based on the bright color and the wings that don't look fully extended.) There was another one on the pier but this one was easier to photograph. If you look closely on the right hand side of its perch you can see the exuvia it presumably emerged from.



[Update] A few days later, out kayaking on the river again, I found a couple more emerging dragonflies. The one I really wanted to photograph hadn't expanded its wings yet. But unfortunately it was in a spot where I couldn't keep the kayak in place without paddling, which made it impossible to take photos. This one was in an easier spot to photograph.



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