Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Doug, As others have said, these are masterworks, and the last picture, Victory dance is beautiful to conclude the work, Cheers Lluis El 09/01/2010, a las 17:56, Doug Herr escribi?: > Friday morning I spent a few hours at the state fish hatchery at > Nimbus Dam, a few minutes from home. The hatchery's water outflow > often contains small fish (or portions of fish), a fact not lost on > the local birds. A portion of the outflow is let into a settling > pond where it eventually makes its way through percolation and > direct flow to the American River, a few meters below the hatchery. > > Many of the local birds consider the settling pond to be a prime > feeding area so among some species, the Common Goldeneye among them, > 'turf' wars are fought over the best locations. Yesterday two pairs > of Goldeneyes plus one bachelor male staked claims to the pond. > > When a neighboring Goldeneye gets too close to your claimed area, > the first level of threat is to lower the head and aim toward the > interloper: > > http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/cogo04.html > > Both male and female Goldeneyes use this threat posture, but if the > neighbor doesn't back off the male will go to level two threat, > where he tosses his head back and makes a sound that is best > described as a mix of a purr and a soft growl: > > http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/cogo03.html > > Note the female of this pair has maintained the level one threat > posture. A physical battle often takes place underwater which is > out of the range of my camera's design parameters. Once the winner > is decided (home court is a big advantage) the loser makes a hasty > retreat: > > http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/cogo06.html > http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/cogo07.html > > which is followed by the winner's victory dance: > > http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/anatidae/cogo05.html > > all photos: R8/DMR, 560mm f/6.8 Telyt, shoulder stock & monopod. > All comments welcome. > > > Doug Herr > Birdman of Sacramento > http://www.wildlightphoto.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information