Bufflehead Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: Waterfowl in general are extremely difficult to get close to in South Dakota. They're extremely wary, and typically flush long before you get within photo range. The vast majority of the waterfowl photos out on my website were taken from some kind of blind, be it my chair blind that I sometimes plop down on a shoreline and wait for birds to come by, or very often, just using my car as a blind. However, at Dewey Gevik Nature Area, there's a wonderful permanent blind that sticks out into a large wetland complex, complete with slots with windows that flip up so you can see out and take photos. In the spring, it's an absolutely fantastic place to get close photos of waterfowl. Bufflehead are perhaps one of the less shy waterfowl in the state (although it's all relative), but still...there's little chance I could have gotten a photo like this without the use of some kind of blind. This was on a wonderful, calm, sunny morning at Dewey Gevik just after dawn. It's not only one of my favorite Bufflehead photos, it's one of my favorite photos of all time, with the warm morning light keeping contrast down enough that I could maintain some detail in both the blacks and whites, and get some of that gorgeous iridescence to show up. Taken on April 4th, 2015.

Bufflehead 13 - Bucephala albeola


Bufflehead 1	Bufflehead 2	Bufflehead 3	Bufflehead 4
April 11th, 2010	April 11th, 2010	December 18th, 2008	December 18th, 2008
Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California	Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California
Drake on cloudy morning, showing iridescence	Male spreading wings, with reflection	Profile of a female on rippled water	Profile of a female on rippled water

Bufflehead 5	Bufflehead 6	Bufflehead 7	Bufflehead 8
April 11th, 2010	December 18th, 2008	December 18th, 2008	April 11th, 2010
Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California	Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota
Male taking flight, with splashes from the feet	Side profile view of a female, with reflection	Female profile	Two drakes vigorously fighting and splashing

Bufflehead 9	Bufflehead 10	Bufflehead 11	Bufflehead 12
April 11th, 2010	April 11th, 2010	April 11th, 2010	April 1st, 2012
Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota
Two males fighting and splashing on the water's surface	Drake and reflection on a sunny morning	Drake spreading its wings on the water's surface	Profile of a female on a cloudy morning

Bufflehead 13	Bufflehead 14	Bufflehead 15	Bufflehead 16
April 4th, 2015	April 4th, 2015	April 4th, 2015	April 4th, 2015
Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota
Drake on sunny morning with bright iridescent plumage on head	Profile of a drake on a bright sunny morning	Profile of a drake on a bright sunny morning	Drake showing iridescence on head and neck on bright sunny morning

Bufflehead 17	Bufflehead 18	Bufflehead 19	Bufflehead 20
April 4th, 2015	March 29th, 2020	March 29th, 2020	March 26th, 2017
Dewey Gevik Nature, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Female on sunny morning, with partial reflection	Male bird on slightly rough waters	Male on slightly rough waters	Female profile on rippling waters