Blue-billed Duck...male

[PhilCook]

A bit of a rarity in my part of Australia, possibly this one and it's mate the only pair in South Australia so pleased to of been able to shoot lots of images of this species. This is part of the courtship display the male puts on for the female...basically it involves racing around at high speed, abrupt stops, and splashing as much water up with his bill and tail as he can to impress the female....and the bigger the bubbles the better it seems

Canon 7D + 500 F4 + 1.4 X tc.....700mm, f7.1, ISO 400, 1/500sec, tripod used...probably should of tried for a higher shutter speed with this particular shot.

[dankearl]

Nice look at this duck and especially because its a rarity.
The bubble is a nice touch.

[Satish Ranadive]

Phil:
Magnificent image of this rare bird.Seeing for the first time.I like the composition.
Love the maroon color of duck,nice bubbles and background.
How about little bit off the bottom?

Regards,
Satish.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Cool! Looks and behaves alot like our Ruddy Ducks here in North America. Good exposure, colours, bubbling action. Needs some CCW rotation, and more sharpening for web presentation. I like the idea of taking some off the bottom. Congrats on photographing this rarity!

[Marina Scarr]

The bubble makes this one special. Needs more sharpening, rotation and I think your subject would have more attention if it were cropped tighter.

[Lorant Voros]

Nice behavior image. I agree with more sharpening and rotation; I'd also like to get a little more details out of the black in the head. Thanks for sharing this special one.

[PhilCook]

Thanks for looking folks....agree on all suggestions, however trying to bring out more detail in the blacks resulted in more graininess.....my PS skills are not great

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the bubbles, colours and clean BG. I agree with the rotation and sharpening comments. Nice image Phil.

[Robert Holguin]

Very nice shot.
Love the bubbles, great background, and nice light.
Well done.