American Black Ducks

[Ryan Schain]

I mucked around Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston from sunrise to 11:30 am today. Aside from many American Black Ducks the waterfowl action was slow. I did manage a harrier and some savannah sparrows as well though.

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS

8:22 AM

1/3200 sec
f/7.1
400 mm
ISO 400
+1/3 EV

[Don Lacy]

Would have been nice if you could have gotten some separation between the back two ducks as is I think I would clone out the back duck. The two remaining ducks would have the exact opposite wing position and I think would add some nice symmetry to the image.

[Tom Wilberding]

We don't see this duck in Colorado. Nice, clear picture with all the diagnostic field marks, black body, white underwings, even the purple in the secondaries. Nice head detail. I like the opposite wing positions front and rear, and don't mind the overlapping rear ducks, looks natural to me.

[Gary Jones]

Nice sighting. I see where Don's coming from the the back duck as well as the natural look that Tom sees - in two minds. Maybe worth a try cloning out the back one and see.

[Ryan Schain]

Would have been nice if you could have gotten some separation between the back two ducks as is I think I would clone out the back duck. The two remaining ducks would have the exact opposite wing position and I think would add some nice symmetry to the image.

Thanks for your feedback Don!

I actually don't mind the back duck for some reason. Cloning things out of the image isn't really my style :). I like to present a natural scene that looks as close to what I saw as possible.