Flying Ducks!!!

By Words | Published February 7, 2012

I don't know whether I'll manage it but I aim to keep to a single species today… mallard ducks. They were having a whale of a time on the ice at Falmer Pond, and with some decent light it was a perfect opportunity to capture some winter flying ducks…

Landings weren't always perfect though!

And heck, I do want to show a few other birds in the snow so here they are….

A pied wagtail:

And my favourite jackdaw 😉

And finally, a black-headed gull wearing the summer fashions.

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Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This entry was posted in Birds, snow, water birds and tagged , , , , , .

12 Comments

  1. RobinL February 7, 2012 at 10:02 pm #

    Words, great captures! That third shot is stunning! I love the look of surprise when they land on the ice and keep going or tip over like that!

  2. cakkleberrylane February 7, 2012 at 11:02 pm #

    WOW! Brilliant shots! And yes, the third shot is amazing! It must be a challenge to land on ice!

  3. SittingFox February 8, 2012 at 9:02 am #

    The world's most optimistic gull! Actually I saw one that was going a bit dark as well.

    Love the shot of the accidental skater!

  4. serola February 8, 2012 at 12:02 pm #

    Amazing duck shots :hat:

  5. derWandersmann February 8, 2012 at 9:02 pm #

    Mallards are good flyers, for ducks of their size, and they seem to enjoy the "play" aspect of flying.

  6. Words February 8, 2012 at 10:02 pm #

    Sami, thanks!

  7. Words February 8, 2012 at 10:02 pm #

    Lois, thanks! They do surprisingly well coming down to land on ice, but as you can see they don't always quite manage it.

  8. Words February 8, 2012 at 10:02 pm #

    Adele, there's one gull there with completely black/brown head. Very striking but it tends to keep at a distance from the camera. It might be embarrassed. :whistle: The ducks were fun. I was lucky with the timing of the 'skater'.

  9. Words February 8, 2012 at 10:02 pm #

    dW, they were mainly interested in the food that some people were throwing on the ice, but too lazy (or greedy) to walk all the way to get it.

  10. Words February 8, 2012 at 10:02 pm #

    Robin, thanks! I took a lot of shots to get these. Someone was feeding them so there was 'duck traffic' back and forth for quite a while. The difficulty was getting relatively clear shots without too much going on in the background.

  11. derWandersmann February 9, 2012 at 2:02 am #

    For awkward landings, albatrosses can't be beat … they resemble helicopter accidents.

  12. Words February 9, 2012 at 9:02 pm #

    dW, I can believe it. They're really not designed for walking.