Taken yesterday in my local pond.
Highly unusual for Hoodies to be here in June!
A family of them which is maybe why they have not left, because it is noT normal at all
unless they have decided to join the local year round Wood Duck flock.
A Juvenile male, I have never seen one at this stage of life.
At first I actually did not know what I was seeing until I saw the Parents
and a sibling female.
A real treat.
Nice find Dan. Dont think I have seen drake a hoddie at this stage of development. Nice pose and HA. Exposure and details look great and I like the earth tones of the duck. The beads of water on the duck and the floating flowers add to the image. Well done.
Duck is sharp and nicely exposed, eye looks very good as do the droplets on the back, flowers add a nice touch....but no so keen on the brighter backdrop on the right compared to the green water band on the left ...what caused that ?
Always nice to see and capture a rarity, and you caught him perfectly. I've never seen a hoodie of this age. Lovely low POV, sharp, beautiful water. Well done.
A new plumage for me too. Well done, especially the head angle. Are they flowers or leaves? The one(s) closer to the merg are somewhat of a distraction.
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Very nice Dan. It is quite nicely coiffed compared to others of this species! Nice details, and I like the leaves in the water. I'm OK with the bright part of the BG, but not so keen on the larger bright wave between the subject and bottom edge.
IQ looks great, I like the leaves/flowers. I actually like the setting quite a bit. Knowing what the hood normally looks like, the merganser looks like a kid with long hair who just got out of the shower.