Winter ducks are settling in here at the lake. Some of them, like these scaups, will ham it up for the camera if you even LOOK like you might be scattering some breadcrumbs:
(Lady scaup: "Crumbs PLZ!")
(Dude scaup:"A bit full actually, but I'll loiter just in case.")
Canvasbacks will come up if there's enough safety in numbers:
And I got a very nice shot of this ring-necked duck and her blue striped bill:
But a few of the winter ducks are MUCH more skittish, almost impossible to get close to--especially for my little point n' shoot. They can tell if you are looking at them. They can tell if you're not looking at them, but you ARE pointing your camera at them. And they HATE it when you do that. It's like they think James Bond trying to find them and destroy their space satellite or something.
So... you have to stalk them. Out in the park there's not really any "cover" to speak of, so my method today was to try psychology.
1) Find some other ducky that's about as far away as the goldeneye is and use it to set the focus:
Thanks, Mallard.
2) Walk toward the goldeneye, but don't look at it. Look at whatever is farthest away from it:
3) No seriously. Do NOT look at the goldeneye. Walk forward nonchalantly, thinking about how much you don't care about ducks. And hold your camera at hip level (still keeping the focus button depressed...)
4) The goldeneye (here, the lady goldeneye, depicted by the lovely Xenia Onnatop) will swim away from you anyway, using their characteristic "Russian Submarine" posture:
5) At the last second, look at your viewscreen out of the corner of your eye and put the goldeneye in the frame. You might get lucky and get a shot that's at least good enough to show the Golden Eye.
"I AM INVINCIBLE!"
The same method can be used for buffleheads:
(Lady:)
(And dude:)
And a golden-shy:
I also caught a bufflehead grooming and looking goofy:
Moments like this show you the colorations of some lesser-seen parts, like the secret black bowling pin shape on the back...
...and the bubble-gum-pink foot...
Ahem. Back to dignity.
(Dude scaup:"A bit full actually, but I'll loiter just in case.")
Canvasbacks will come up if there's enough safety in numbers:
And I got a very nice shot of this ring-necked duck and her blue striped bill:
But a few of the winter ducks are MUCH more skittish, almost impossible to get close to--especially for my little point n' shoot. They can tell if you are looking at them. They can tell if you're not looking at them, but you ARE pointing your camera at them. And they HATE it when you do that. It's like they think James Bond trying to find them and destroy their space satellite or something.
Thanks, Mallard.
3) No seriously. Do NOT look at the goldeneye. Walk forward nonchalantly, thinking about how much you don't care about ducks. And hold your camera at hip level (still keeping the focus button depressed...)
4) The goldeneye (here, the lady goldeneye, depicted by the lovely Xenia Onnatop) will swim away from you anyway, using their characteristic "Russian Submarine" posture:
5) At the last second, look at your viewscreen out of the corner of your eye and put the goldeneye in the frame. You might get lucky and get a shot that's at least good enough to show the Golden Eye.
"I AM INVINCIBLE!"
(And dude:)
