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Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) A little duck
Feb 4, 2019 20:34:45   #
unlucky2 Loc: Hemet Ca.
 
Rain...Rain...Rain
We have a neighborhood catch basin, locally referred to as "Lake Maybe". When it rains a lot the basin fills and the ducks, geese and coyotes all head there. Lake Maybe is locally famous for its mosquito crop, more than enough for all. Yesterday between rain storms I dashed over to see what might be happening. The light was soft unidirectional due to the cloud cover and the lake water was the expected runoff color..brown. Pond ducks are normal,every day visitors and Wigeon are our normal winter visitors. Yesterday we enjoyed the rare visit of Buffleheads, and I had my camera. I didn't have much time as it was starting to rain again so I set the app wide open ( f5.6 on my 100-400 @ 400mm) with ss @ 500. I had to go to ISO 500 to make it all happen. I thought about a setting of f8 but I worried my ss would be to slow for motion, as it turned out 500 was a bit slow. The following were shot hand held in poor light at a distance of about 120 yards. I know it is a poor craftsman that blames his tool, but I need a bigger, faster lens.

Adult male in breeding colors
Adult male in breeding colors...
(Download)

The only shoot I had of a female and she was not holding still
The only shoot I had of a female and she was not h...
(Download)

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Feb 4, 2019 20:49:58   #
wings42 Loc: San Diego, CA
 
I enjoyed your photos very much. My camera is a Nikon D7200 and the lens usually on it is a Nikon 18 - 300, so I almost always don't have enough light. I know how active these little ducks are and appreciate the photo of a takeoff.

There are large rafts of buffleheads here in San Diego in the winter (but far less than even a few years ago). These amazing small, beautiful ducks migrate all the way to the high arctic to breed, and then back here for the winter.

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Feb 4, 2019 21:37:08   #
Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia
 
Very nice set, unlucky2!

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Feb 4, 2019 22:04:33   #
unlucky2 Loc: Hemet Ca.
 
Thanks for looking wings42, I did not know they migrated that far.
wings42 wrote:
I enjoyed your photos very much. My camera is a Nikon D7200 and the lens usually on it is a Nikon 18 - 300, so I almost always don't have enough light. I know how active these little ducks are and appreciate the photo of a takeoff.

There are large rafts of buffleheads here in San Diego in the winter (but far less than even a few years ago). These amazing small, beautiful ducks migrate all the way to the high arctic to breed, and then back here for the winter.

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Feb 4, 2019 22:09:39   #
unlucky2 Loc: Hemet Ca.
 
Thanks Swamp-Corky, the ladies just don't stick around anymore.
Swamp-Cork wrote:
Very nice set, unlucky2!

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Feb 5, 2019 01:21:55   #
MichaelEBM Loc: Los Angeles CA
 
Buffleheads are such cuties. You really captured it in #1.

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Feb 5, 2019 09:58:46   #
unlucky2 Loc: Hemet Ca.
 
Thank you MichaelEBM. If the rain stops, I might have chance today for a rematch.
MichaelEBM wrote:
Buffleheads are such cuties. You really captured it in #1.

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Feb 5, 2019 16:12:43   #
MichaelEBM Loc: Los Angeles CA
 
unlucky2 wrote:
Thank you MichaelEBM. If the rain stops, I might have chance today for a rematch.



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