Long-tailed Duck

A few weeks ago we searched for the Long-tails they were way over the other side of the channel due to hunters blasting away at them and other waterfowl. Duck hunting season is over thank goodness it finally ended! Our seabird/waterfowl counts are way down this year on the east coast of Vancouver Island why kill the few that have managed to survive? A rant for another day :) We had better luck on Monday counted about 2 dozen in total but none would come close so this is a big crop taken at 700mm using the 200-500 f5.6 with the 1.4x

Hoodie

A Hooded Merganser takes a moment from preening to have a look at me.

Hoodie female

Lots of cloud cover when I took this shot and of course, the female does not have as dramatic colouring as the male. Her hood will expand out similar shape to the male's she was busy fishing at the time and flattened it prior to a dive.

Dunlin portrait

The Dunlin stopped took a moment then continued to walk right up to my lens I often wonder if it is the sound of the shutter of the actual movement they see looking into the lens. To have a bird or animals trust is always a magical moment for me so worth the time invested : )

Not your average portrait of a Pintail.

Bath time was a rather strange and wonderful experience, water splashing everywhere. It seemed to be a bit of a competition with the nearby Wigeons on stirring the water up. Something I had not noticed before the Pintail did a repeated silent gesture with its bill, it looked as if it was part of the bathing routine. I was going to title this Tonsil Check but as I read today, ducks do not have tonsils.

Green-winged Teal

The upside of spending time in the weeds and dirt is you can catch the spookiest of ducks if you stay still for about 2 hours. This is with my 200-500mm plus the 1.7mm a reach of 850mm. With a moving target I believe I only managed to get 2 sharp shots the other one is on my website https://www.melanieleesonphotography.com/Recent-Photos/Winter-of-2018-Dec-Jan-Feb-Mar/ of 2018-19. BTW anything I take worthy of posting will be placed in there shortly after my shoot, along with photos that don't always make it to Flickr.

Surf Scoter female

She popped up in front of me paused had a look around, dove and returned for another visit, rare to see a Surf Scoter so close. I think she is gorgeous more of an understated beauty, not flashy like the males.

Horned Grebe winter plumage.

If you're lucky a Horned Grebe can be a little curious, this one saw me but continued to dive in the vacinity. It was kind enough to face me while it fluffed up.