Rare Egyptian Goose

[Milt Berko]

I was in Wakodahatchee Wetlands today and came across this Egyptian Goose which normally lives in the Nile Valley and deep into Africa south of the Equator. I understand that there is a pair in Wako but I saw this lone bird. It may be an escapee from a zoo or private collection. Sibley's notes that there is a feral group in southern California.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4NLShXXBD1g/S5HexME1wzI/AAAAAAABkxg/3fk55ico8YA/s800/P3058858.JPG

Olympus E-30
50-200 lens + EC-14 TC
ISO 200
1/500 sec.
f/8.0
EV -).30
Matrix Metering
Aperture Priority
283mm
Cropped
Hand Held
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[Lance Peters]

Hi Milt - Interesting - hope they dont turn out to be a environmental .
As presented - I would evict the stick - draws my attention away from the bird.
I am away from home - on a monitor that is not colour corrected - so cant comment there.
Techs look solid.
TFS

[Milt Berko]

Here is another photo without the stick. How do you like this version? BTW these are extremely aggressive birds that fiercely defend their territory. Another photographer told me that just before I arrived, there were two of these birds and they chased off an Alligator who came too close.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4NLShXXBD1g/S5HelOqq6cI/AAAAAAABkxI/c7n_aodFI_s/s800/P3058880.JPG
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[Richard Waas]

Milt, I agree on the cloning of the stick. It appears on my monitor that the point of focus is on the side of the bird and not on the eye. Maybe some more sharpening of the eye would do the trick. Nice BG. Congrats....

[Harold Davis]

milt, i only wished these guys were rare!! will mess up a golf course quickly!!! and i have to clean it up!!!!!

i wouldnt crop as much as you did in the repost. just work on the original. cropping so much loses detail.

[Bill Dix]

I've seen these guys on the banks of the Nile; didn't expect to see one posted from Florida. I concur that cloning the stick would work better than more crop. Some NR on the background would help, and on my screen the whites on the face look a bit hot.