Friday, April 11, 2008

Vertical Take-Off, Leaping Quackers


No pattering here, a Mallard Drake appears to leap vertically into the air as I approached with my boat.

Boating for waterfowl this spring has been great fun. I have found the take-off techniques of the various species most interesting. Many ducks must patter during take-off while some like this Mallard are fully capable of near vertical flight.

11 comments:

Michele said...

WOW, that's a fantastic action shot!

Scarlet said...

Beautiful colors on the wing!

Angie said...

A beautiful photo.Mallards are so common that it is sometimes easy to forget what a lovely bird they are.I often think the same thing about starlings.I don't like the noise they make when there is a large flock of them but when you look at their feathers and see the iridescent colours there, well that is something else!

Anonymous said...

Nice shot, Salty. Not many times can I get a shot like this one. You did and stopped things just about right. It looks like action. I bet there was quite a racket.

imac said...

Nice one Salty, come and catch my odd shot take off.

Tom said...

Great Country Capture for sure Salty.. reminds me of our RAF Harrier Jump Jet..

Stacey Olson said...

It must be really peaceful out there on the boat. Thanks for sharing..

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: What a great capture and very hard to do. I love the way you are able to get these shots.

Lori said...

How pretty! I love the blue on his wing.
You always get the best shots!

(My computer was down earlier this week so I missed Friday's skywatch this week...:-(

Misty DawnS said...

You captured the beautiful and vibrant colors and the action wonderfully! Great shot!

If you are interested, I'd like to invite you to a new Sunday photo meme all about animal photos. The premier sign-in post is open now at Camera-Critters

Anonymous said...

amazing photo. after I comment, I'm going to look at it large size. the blu eon the wing, the orange leg, green head: what beauty here that you captured. Your technique is insightful for me.