John Chardine
01-18-2009, 02:03 PM
We have had three days and nights of sustained cold with night-time temps of -30°C and highs of -17°C. This is unusual for the Maritime provinces. Species adapted to the cold seem to be doing fine but ducks that for one reason or another have decided to stay around, seem to be suffering. I found several hundred Mallards and assorted other species in the open-water corner of a small pond in Truro, Nova Scotia. Of course there is very little food for them and they seem to spend most of the day dabbling in vain. The result is an iced-up head as this male Mallard is showing.
Soap-box- it's not generally a good idea to feed ducks in city ponds because they may stay too late in the season to leave. Then they are dependent for the rest of the year. Many cities and towns in Canada have bylaws prohibiting duck feeding but it goes on nevertheless.
I removed a dark reflection in the water from the top left of the image, cropped and sharpened. As they dabble, they shake their heads rather quickly and in failing light I had trouble stopping the action. This one is on the edge.
PS It's supposed to warm up tomorrow.
PPS The Canadians in the audience might remember a rather terrible sparkling wine called Cold Duck!
Canon EOS 50D, 500/4
capture date: Saturday, 17 January, 2009 3:15 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/320
aperture: f7.1
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF
Soap-box- it's not generally a good idea to feed ducks in city ponds because they may stay too late in the season to leave. Then they are dependent for the rest of the year. Many cities and towns in Canada have bylaws prohibiting duck feeding but it goes on nevertheless.
I removed a dark reflection in the water from the top left of the image, cropped and sharpened. As they dabble, they shake their heads rather quickly and in failing light I had trouble stopping the action. This one is on the edge.
PS It's supposed to warm up tomorrow.
PPS The Canadians in the audience might remember a rather terrible sparkling wine called Cold Duck!
Canon EOS 50D, 500/4
capture date: Saturday, 17 January, 2009 3:15 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/320
aperture: f7.1
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF