Bath time

[Steve Maxson]

This is a drake long-tailed duck bathing in a small tundra pond. The image was taken at a remote camp near Cape Churchill, Manitoba in June a couple years ago. 20D, 500 f/4, 1/750, f/8, ISO 400. Comments are welcome.

[Fabs Forns]

Fantastic action, love the water drops reflecting the blue water. I may sharpen the face a little more.

[Steve Canuel]

Hey Steve,
I like the head angle, BG, view and color of the eye and the flying blue water drops. The blur of the wings and resulting lack of detail makes me wish for a more interesting position of them to compensate.
Steve

[Arthur Morris]

Good job of framing and getting the eye between the drops. The bird looks more brown than black--odd for a drake.

[Steve Maxson]

Good job of framing and getting the eye between the drops. The bird looks more brown than black--odd for a drake.

Hi Artie. I think the brown color is partly due to the way the light is hitting the bird. This is the same drake that was in my post yesterday and in that image the bird looks darker. Also, the "black" that our brain sees in these ducks and other diving ducks (e.g., scaup, ring-necked ducks) is really a dark brown rather that a true black (I expect you already know this). :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie. I think the brown color is partly due to the way the light is hitting the bird. This is the same drake that was in my post yesterday and in that image the bird looks darker. Also, the "black" that our brain sees in these ducks and other diving ducks (e.g., scaup, ring-necked ducks) is really a dark brown rather that a true black (I expect you already know this). :)

Do not know that as it is not true in this case. In breeding plumage, the scapulars are brown but all of the dark feathers, the breast for example, are black (as per SIbley,etc.) :) :) Your bird may very well be a one year old male.

[Steve Maxson]

Do not know that as it is not true in this case. In breeding plumage, the scapulars are brown but all of the dark feathers, the breast for example, are black (as per SIbley,etc.) :) :) Your bird may very well be a one year old male.

Hi again Artie. Maybe I need to clarify what I mean by "black." I will grant that this drake, as presented, certainly looks very brown. Unusually brown. I don't know the age of this bird, but it was paired with a hen so I assume it was of breeding age (i.e., at least 2 years old). Sibley doesn't show a first-year male so I don't know whether there is a plumage difference as the birds age. My point was that parts of the bird that we think of as black, and are even described in identification guides as black (e.g., Sibley), are in reality a very dark brown. You may need to have the bird in your hand to be able to see that it isn't black (i.e., jet black). I have had 9 2-week stints at the Cape Churchill camp as a waterfowl biologist and have seen and photographed many long-tailed ducks. Invariably, when you get a close look or closely examine a photo taken in good light, the "black" areas are revealed to be a dark brown. That's all I'm trying to say. :) :)