South Georgia Pintail

[John Chardine]

This is the endemic subspecies of the Yellow-billed Pintail, the South Georgia Pintail. As the same indicates, this species occurs only on the remote Southern Ocean Island of South Georgia, and is the sole fresh-water bird that breeds there. With the exception of the South Georgia Pipit, all other birds breeding on this amazing island are seabirds. South Georgia has an extreme environment and this duck must break the record for living in one of the worst places I can think of for any bird species let alone a "puddle" duck!

I made this image at the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken on the north coast of the island. The birds are trusting are quite easy to approach.

Am posting from my ship using the Mac laptop so cannot vouch for the colours at your end. Comments welcome.

Canon EOS 50D, 400mm f5.6
capture date: 11 November, 2009 5:18 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 640
shutter speed: 1/320
aperture: f5.6
exposure bias: +1.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[Norm Dulak]

John:

Fine image! But how amazing to find ducks there!

I'll look for them next year when I visit. Meanwhile, what ship/expedition are you on now?

Norm

[John Blumenkamp]

Love the detail and the look back you are getting... I like this angle too, as it shows off detail in the body, etc.

[John Chardine]

John:

Fine image! But how amazing to find ducks there!

I'll look for them next year when I visit. Meanwhile, what ship/expedition are you on now?

Norm

Norm- I'm working as ornithologist/wildlife photographer on the Fram. She is a Norwegian ship and is owned by the company that runs the ferries up and down the coast of Norway (Hurtigruten).

It is indeed amazing to find ducks there, and although I've not seen this, they are known to be scavenging carnivores as regular duck food is rather limiting on the island.

[Steve Maxson]

Excellent photo, John. The colors look great on my end. The sharpness and detail in the plumage is very good and I like the look-back pose. The water droplets on the belly are a plus. I've heard that these birds scavenge seal carcasses - very unusual for a duck. Hope you are enjoying your trip.

[John Chardine]

That's right Steve. It reminds me of the attack of the killer rabbits as portrayed by Monty Python. After all, we are talking about a duck!