After this post I have only one or two readers’ wildlife contributions left. So if you have photos, please send them in! (In truth, I’m amazed and pleased that we have gotten such a great reader response and so many photos.)
Today’s photos come from Christopher Moss in Nova Scotia, who labeled the contribution “Aix sponsa subfusc”. Aix sponsa are, of course, wood ducks, and “subfusc,” if you don’t know it, can refer to either “dusky and dreary” or to “the gown worn by [UK] students during examinations.” Either is appropriate for the drakes ducks out of season. Christopher’s text is indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
We have some moulting wood ducks (Aix sponsa) on the pond. The females don’t look too different from their usual drab selves, but the two males are much reduced in glory.
Females:
Molting drakes:
Here’s a drake in full plumage from 2022 for comparison:
Here’s a picture I (Jerry) took of two wood ducks who temporarily resided in Botany Pond several years ago. Frisky, the male, continually courted Ruth, but since she’d doubtlessly already had babies, she rejected his advances (it was the end of summer). Both are in full season plumage, and the sexual dimorphism is striking.
And my (JAC’s) close-up of Frisky’s head. (Wood ducks are America’s most beautiful duck, though the imported Mandarin duck is even prettier.)
Since they cut down both trees in Botany Pond, we will never see this species again 🙁
A beautiful, yet slightly somber, dusky and dreary, RWP…. I think it’s the backgrounds!….
Not that that’s necessarily bad… it’s a little soothing….
… I always thought “subfusc” was a foreshortened word,.. short for I don’t know what…
Great pictures. I guess that even ducks aren’t always dressed in their Shabbat best.
Great duck pics! 🦆🦆🦆
The photos were taken with a Nikon D850, a 500mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter (effective focal length 700mm). That weighs about 3.5kg and 500mm long.
Tomorrow I should receive a micro four thirds lens of 400mm focal length (equivalent to 800mm on the Nikon because of the crop factor). And next month I may be able to buy a 2x teleconverter for it, giving a full-frame equivalent focal length of 1600mm!) So the sensor is only a quarter of the full frame size, but it weighs only 1.6kg with a camera body and it does have 8 stops of image stabilisation. I’m hoping the photos will get a bit better, or at least, I’ll have the strength to take more of them!
Technology has allowed for cameras and lenses to become much lighter. 3.5kg!? Oh my, that would be an effort for wildlife photos. Good luck with your new kit, sounds like a great upgrade.
Thanks for the photos, very nice.
Thanks for these!
Even subfusc (or even female) they are such beautiful ducks!