Common Goldeneye Wingflap.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Most of the waters have now frozen over up here, but some areas where the water is fast moving it stays open year-round and attracts the over-wintering goldeneyes. The goldeneyes hang out here every winter and concentrate on those areas of open waters...the only time we can get close to them as they are skittish. Even then one needs to be patient as they either fly a few hundred yards away or wade to the far bank of the river. Good thing that after a while (a good 20 minutes or so) they slowly drift back close...it does get cold lying on the ice waiting! This fella was kind enough to offer a nice wing flap from close range after an icy bath...

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/640s., f/7.1, ISO 800, natural light, handheld while lying prone on the ice, more than FF (added canvas left and top), a few larger and undesirably placed snow flakes removed on the face and wings, removed some sort of twig on the bill.

[Henry Domke]

Wonderful image.
Your post processing works extremely well!

[Jamie Douglas]

Love winter tones here Daniel and good to see a bit of brrrr weather doesn't keep you at home. I always check out your images to see what shutter speed and DOF you use to give me a sense of where to start from.

Cheers

Jamie

[David Salem]

Nice shot Daniel. I like the snow falling on this nice looking Drake. Exposure and details look great. Well done. Stay warm up there.

[Sameer Shah]

Excellent efforts in processing! Detailed information you provide helps a lot! Thanks.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Awesome pose and eye contact. Perfect exposure and composition. Would love to see and photograph this species some day.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, wing position, eye contact, IQ, winter feel and composition. Excellent image Daniel!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Fantastic! The Wing Flap, slightly turned head, water droplets and focus on the eye make this.... ummmm, (not to be trite).... wonderful. It would be a true showpiece in any "up north" living/great room.

[Holger Leyrer]

Wonderful image. Fantastic wing flap and details
A photo of Goldeneye is my goal this winter. Ok, is in every year my goal but the birds a very very shy.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Excellent wing position with perfect exposure. I like the falling snowflakes & great details & HA. I'm not sure, but feel it needs a little CW rotation. Cheers