Sarita Yeola
January 2021 - Scooter
About the Image(s)
I watched a pair of scooter diving for food one cool morning in the San Mateo Bay, This female came back with a shell and I was quite excited to take a picture before it swallowed the shell. I cropped the image in post processing.
Nikon D500: 300mm, ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/640s
This round’s discussion is now closed!
5 comments posted
Sarita
Ive never seen this species of duck...I'll have to look up more info on it...but it sounds like it swallows the shell whole....is that correct? I am presuming that the duck still had its nictating membrane closed since the eye looks peculiar, it is something I see in other birds. I like your placement of the duck in the frame and love the water droplets showing the action. I think it could use a little noise reduction. Or is might be that the shutter speed was not quite high enough (which given the water droplets doesn't make sense) so I think that less likely.
Posted: 01/10/2021 16:32:48
Ive never seen this species of duck...I'll have to look up more info on it...but it sounds like it swallows the shell whole....is that correct? I am presuming that the duck still had its nictating membrane closed since the eye looks peculiar, it is something I see in other birds. I like your placement of the duck in the frame and love the water droplets showing the action. I think it could use a little noise reduction. Or is might be that the shutter speed was not quite high enough (which given the water droplets doesn't make sense) so I think that less likely.
Posted: 01/10/2021 16:32:48
Hi Sherry,
Thank you for your comments. The surf scoters (I misspelled scoter in my original post) do swallow the bivalves in its entirety. They prefer smaller bivalves probably because they are more energy efficient to digest. The female scoters have dark brown eyes so with the membrane the eye does look very peculiar. I tried noise reduction in Lightroom but it didn't really help the image. As you mentioned a higher shutter speed would have helped the image be sharper and crispier. Posted: 01/15/2021 20:03:08
Thank you for your comments. The surf scoters (I misspelled scoter in my original post) do swallow the bivalves in its entirety. They prefer smaller bivalves probably because they are more energy efficient to digest. The female scoters have dark brown eyes so with the membrane the eye does look very peculiar. I tried noise reduction in Lightroom but it didn't really help the image. As you mentioned a higher shutter speed would have helped the image be sharper and crispier. Posted: 01/15/2021 20:03:08
This is a very interesting waterfowl. I have never seen one before. I struggle with high enough shutter speed also. I love that you caught it eating its bivalve. Posted: 01/23/2021 13:12:11
I enjoy seeing the water droplets on the back of the duck, and from the splashing in the water. Online it is difficult to determine if the eye is tack sharp.
Is that the reflection of a lighthouse or buoy above and behind the duck's head? Posted: 01/23/2021 19:03:34
Is that the reflection of a lighthouse or buoy above and behind the duck's head? Posted: 01/23/2021 19:03:34
Thanks Peter. The reflection is of the male surf scoter. I couldn't get him sharp enough so I cropped him out. Posted: 01/23/2021 19:09:16