Waiter, I'll Have the Clams

[Doug Brown]

I'm pretty sure this is a Greater Scaup, but breakfast is a total guess; I just liked the title! :p Taken a few weeks ago in Southern California.

85717

Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held

[Chris Martinez]

Did he actually eat the shellfish?

His head and chest look a tad dark to me. I like the composition and the effect that the ripples have created.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Ah...Great stuff... Nice timing and very good detail and light!

[Humberto Ramos]

Wonderful shot, great detail and composition, I also agree that head and chest are overexposed.

[Stu Bowie]

Doug, exposure looks fine from here. I can clearly see the green sheen of the head, and if anything, you could maybe open the breast area a tad. Great HA to see directly into the beak, and the clam puts this over the top.

[Chad Caswell]

Exposure looks good to me too, unless you adjust the deeps separately just a smidgen, if you go too far it looks bad and I'm not a fan of that because it looks unrealistic, great catch!

[Doug Brown]

Did he actually eat the shellfish?

They swallow these things whole Chris!

[Chris Kotze]

Excellent detail, colours and well exposed.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi
Cant fault this, and it is indeed a Scaup (belly will be white), predominantly feed on Shellfish, notably Blue Mussells!

Lovely detail and exposure, and to be honest **** right annoying lol:)

Rich

[Danny J Brown]

Doug,

The clam makes a perfect scaup image exceptional. A fine catch! Amazing how they can digest these things. Awesome shot.

DB

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Doug wonderful light in this image. Exposure looks good to me, particularly like the detail in the open bill and green sheen on the head.

Interesting that they swallow the whole thing with hard shell as well.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, loved the light and the ripples. Excellent exposure. Clam adds a lot too. Yes, it definitely looks like Greater Scaup.

[Paul Guris]

Great image and great action. Head shape is perfect for Greater Scaup.

[James Salywoda]

Sweet Shot! Your timing could not of been better excellent detail and pose.

[Chris Martinez]

They swallow these things whole Chris!

Wow! That's gotta hurt on the way out.

[Rohan Kamath]

Excellent timing sir. Interesting to know they swallow them whole. Wasn't aware of that.
The exposure looks fine to me too. The drops on the bird add a nice sense of detail while the calm ripples mellow the image. I really enjoyed both.
:) :)
This is a very rare winter species here in India so a treat to see this image.


-Regards,
Rohan
__________________________________________________ _
Conservation begins at HOME... We CAN make a difference...

[denise ippolito]

Perfect timing and great looking pose. The clam is a great touch.:)

[Hendri Venter]

Wow!!! Perfect timing. Great photography Doug.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you all enjoyed the image as much as I did!