Wood Ducks on the Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond, Lincoln Park, Chicago

On Golden Pond: a pair of Wood Ducks, dabbling in the Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL; 11/5/2011.

Wood Ducks are always a treat to see as they are so colorful and photogenic. While Val and I were exploring the Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond, a very beautifully landscaped area adjacent to Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, a pair of Wood Ducks (Above) landed and explored the Lilly Pond as well. The setting was particular striking as the vibrant golden foliage of the surrounding Maples reflected into the pond. I particularly liked how then pond rings created by the Woodies' motions, alternately showed off the reflections of the golden Maples with the blue sky.

The reds and greens of the colorful male Wood Duck contrasts with the golden and blue pond, Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL; 11/5/2011.

With all the colors portrayed in the (Above) photo, I still am enamored of the male Wood Duck's piercing red and black eyes. It is even more prominent when contrasted with a cool background, as (Below) when the Woody floated out into the open free from the Maples' golden reflections.

The Male Wood Duck, Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL; 11/5/2011.



A female Wood Duck, North Pond, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL; 10/30/2010.

The female (Above) doesn't posses the brilliant plumage of the male nor its bright red eye, but she has its own beauty with the gigantic white eye patch almost looking like a a white Zorro's mask, and in the right light the back and wing feathers givbe off an irridescent managerie of turquois blues and violets.