Camera Labs

Could this be a mallard-muscovy hybrid?

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Canon DSLRs: 5D Mark III, 7D
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it definately could be as mallards are known to breed with other species of ducks... Im not sure what other types of ducks you have in norway though so cant really say.... nice to see you guys have snow as well

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
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This is taken in a park in the city where we have loads of mallards and >10 muscovies. There are two ducks I believe are hybrids, a male (in the photo) and a female, and the female has sort of a hoarse out-of-tune mallard quack. Afaik muscovies never quack

And yes, there is snow

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Canon DSLRs: 5D Mark III, 7D
Canon lenses: 17-40/4L, 24-105/4L, 24/1.4L II, 50/1.4, 85/1.8, 100/2.8L Macro, 70-200/2.8L IS, 100-400L
Other stuff: Canon Extender 1.4x II, Canon 580 EX II, Canon 430EX II, Velbon Sherpa 600R
Apple: MacBook Pro 15", iMac 27", iPad III, iPhone 4S, Apple TV

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Tundra swans, pictured below, and trumpeter swans have for me consistantly been the hardest bird to approach... this takeoff set was taken last week the day before we had the snow. This was the second small flock which I had attempted to approach that evening the first of which spooked from my approach when I was at 160 meters. The group pictured below knew something was up as I was approaching but didn't spook until I was at 105 meters. I managed this set at that point as their angle of takeoff brought them to about 90 meters at the closest point away from me...







The cloudbank in the back was the front to the storm which dropped the 40cm of snow on us 5 or 6 days ago and it was the last time I seen the sun since then. This may have been my last waterfowl pic of the year as the temperatures have dropped and the snow has stayed but as mentioned previously Im keeping my fingers crossed for an indian summer and maybe a few ducks and geese that are a little late in leaving... If not this last pic of the swans taking off near sunset with the first storm of winter brewing on the horizon and a backdrop of leafless fall trees aint too bad to end the year on as far as waterfowl pics go.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
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Hi Wolf
I envy you your ability to get so close to wildlife and then to get the photographic results that you do. This is a cracking set and I agree with your sentiment at the end. Nice way to round off.

Now I look forward to seeing your winter pics of Canada's Critters.

thanks warth... its nice to know that ppl out there appreciate what I do ... most of my friends just think Im nuts for spending the amount of time I do "chasing around animals" as they put it ... the rest think Im nuts for getting as close as I do to a lot of the not so gentle things I encounter and keep telling me that they are amazed I havent gotten seriously hurt from some of my encounters... and they all think Im nuts for doing what I do as far as environmental issues go ... .. Man I love my friends

And yes... the more I look at the last pic of the swans the more I think it will become one of my favorite pictures.. not because of the quality of the shot as I think in that regard it is a bit above average at best... but because of the the hike it took to get to them and the biting wind that was in my face the entire hike to them, the stormfront in the backround and the snow it dropped the next day... the setting sun with the swans flying directly into it... and this will more than likely the final tundra swans I will encounter this year... this is one of those pics that every time I look at it it will bring back those memories and that to me is more important than anything regarding the "quality" of a pic will ever be... either that or Im just getting sentimental at my old age

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
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great shots keep up the good work, i certainly dont think your nuts.

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...

Earlier in the week we had our first sunny day in 2 weeks so I managed to get out if even only for a few hours... Driving along I took a swing past a pond I have had a lot of luck at in previous years even though I wasnt expecting anything. Although nearly frozen solid I was very surprised to see maybe a dozen geese along the ice on the far shore so I stopped for a while just to watch. Over the next 1.5 hours I watched over a dozen large flocks fly over and 4 of them land. Last year at this same time it had been almost 2 weeks since I seen the last goose sighting so this encounter made my day as I was fully expecting the migration to be long over with the weather we have had to this point.

Also, if you take notice in the following pics, you will see that even though the underside of the geese are partially shadowed the shadow is not near as dark as one would expect. This is a perfect example of what I wrote about in the winter photography post I did just a bit ago which is posted below in this forum. Snow acts as a great light reflector diminishing the effects of shadows greatly while making for more balanced imaging. One of the perks of shooting in the winter.







This guy caught my eye as soon as I seen him fly over the first time as he stood out from the rest... on the first flyby I got the perfect pic of him with wings wide spread but unfortunately another goose flying lower and in the opposite direction of him ended up ruining the pic.... I did manage this one a few seconds later though... my guess is it is a cross between a Canada Goose and a Snow Goose due to the leading white wing feathers as well as some other unusual whiter markings on him...



And without a doubt my favorite pic of the day as well as probably one of my top 10 bird pics of the year to date....

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
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Great shots Wolfsong! I really liked the last one, good job!

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
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thanks pierovera, I usually think about a pic for a few weeks after processing before I decide to put it on my site but the last one will make it there for sure at some point.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

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Beautiful, clear pics wolfsong, and quite inspirational. What kit was used for these? Were they taken hand-held?

thanks warth... 7D with the 100-400 handheld. Most important thing is they were taken from within a blind which was located just right for the time of day, light and wind direction. I have been going to this pond for years and the land owner has allowed me to set up several permanent blinds around it which are really not visable unless you know where they are or you are looking for them. So I have 3 blinds on this pond which cover most circumstances... Any large water bird needs time to take off and wind helps so you will always see them landing and taking off into the wind if they have the chance... once you got that figured out, if possible, take sun angle into account and if you can find a location where these 2 factors can be taken advantage of shooting waterfowl becomes relatively simple if you have the patience.

Actually sun and wind direction to me are for the most part the 2 most important factors in a successful wildlife photography outing along of course with at least a basic understanding of the natural instincts of the species you are after and knowledge of the habitat which it prefers. The taking pictures part is the simplist part of the equasion for me.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

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Love the flock captures, in a recent oz photo mag a guy sent in a shot of 3 pelicans in line for comment. The so called expert reviewer said it looked like it was photo shopped and he did not like it, looks like some don’t accept anything if they haven’t shot it.

I enjoy looking at your posts even though I don’t respond to all of them.

Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

Have a quick pair of cygnets... testing out a used 28-135 on 5D2 a few weeks ago. My last duck as main subject was... in August! How times change... a few years ago I was going to the local park a few times a week, now I'm not even sure I'm averaging once a month. I guess I should get down there this weekend and see if winter waddles (Canada geese) are around in great numbers yet.



Found one of my last ducks... this one wasn't sure about me sneaking up behind it with the big-ish Sigma...


Oh, janern, didn't see your green duck earlier. I think it is more likely to be either an escaped domestic, or a mallard-domestic hybrid, as there's a couple of domestic duck breeds which have that green plumage. I can't remember their breed names right now...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
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love the fact that the cygnets kinda look like they are marching along

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
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