Wood Duck Pair . . .

[RJSorensen]

Found this lovely pair of Wood Ducks flirting in a small opening in the ice this morning. They are starting to color up nicely . . . spring can not be too far behind.

Taken with my 20D and 100-400 Canon zoom.

[Scottes]

Great shot. Those are beautiful birds.

[TammieO]

Gorgeous pair. New 100-400L?

[RJSorensen]

LOL, yes Tammie . . . I had to get my own 'long lens' and return the borrowed Sigma 50-500. I really like the new lens, lighter, faster, sharper and IS to boot. It is a much better lens for me, even giving up a 100mm of length.

[sw2001]

Great detail of beautiful ducks

[ssim]

Great shots. I really like the reflection in the water. These are not normally very easy to get close to.

[PacAce]

Love the color on the ducks. Very nice! :)

[sparker1]

Beautiful shots. Congrats on the new lens. I'm thinking about that one, and you're adding to the evidence in favor of it.

[boomer1959]

Very nice :D Love that lens :D

[RJSorensen]

Thank you guys . . . boomer, you are part of the reason I got mine, so if I help sparker . . . then the good news keep moving on. There is no way to say how pleased I am. It is near night and day, for me at least, in the quality of photograph the Canon 100-400L IS takes. It makes my time worth more. I get more 'keepers' with it than the Sigma 50-500 I had borrowed. I shot near 7k shots with it in the three weeks I had it. I will start throwing out most of those and replacing them with Canon shots. It is that much different. My thanks to CDS for his advice and help on selecting the new lens.

It might not be worth it to some, we all are different in our needs and what is 'ok.' But for me, to spent the time to take them, I want them to turn out . . .

[CyberDyneSystems]

I'm so glad to see this excellent shot,. I never would have recognized the Female on her own.. Now I know :)

they are such amzing looking birds,. they look a fantasy stylized version of a duck.. literally unreal :)

[zach]

Beautiful shot! Rarely do you get to see the hen with that much color. I bought my daughter a Hen/2chicks carving of woodducks and that shot is about dead on with the carving in color.

I just had a 100-400L rented for the weekend and I'm sold on it. Should be ordering it withing 2 weeks, can't wait to get a keeper!

[RJSorensen]

Thank you and good luck zach with your lens. We had a two inch snow storm followed be a cold front that took overnight temps to single digits. These are good days to follow up with a camera. The open water gets 'squeezed' down and a lot of birds will sit a little longer for you. I always get the best shots when the landing places are limited due to ice.

I am tickled that your 'carving' and my photo of the hen were close. I get a lot of bad hen shots because the contrast is not great enough to lock focus on. We have mostly gray sky, fog, over cast conditions this time of year so the soft hens are hard to get . . . at least for me.

[Mills]

Beautiful. The colors. Really something.

[Airedale1]

Just amazing, simply beautiful.

[yason]

nice shot RJS, love the colors of the ducks... ;)

[Reigh Higgins]

Absolutely Gorgeous!

[canondslruser]

Nice catch. I think the male Wood Duck is one of the most colourful ducks I have seen (I hear Mandarins are quite colourful too).

I caught a recent Wood Duck also with the Canon 100-400L IS:
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/image/40206244

[MarkoPolo]

Great shot RJ! I love my 100 to 400 too. I would be curious to see if you have some issues with the dreaded 01 error if you move the lens quickly when the IS 1 is engaged. I have had this happen when I am trying to follow action and forget to turn off the IS. Since the lens is less than a year old I am considering sending it to Canon to have that checked. Anyone else have similar problems? Mark

[thomascanty]

Excellent, as always. I've seen a few wood ducks before, but your picture just made me realize I've never seen a female wood duck. I wonder why that is?

[RJSorensen]

LOL, thank you guys . . . a lot of people do not know that, in my part of the world anyway, NOW is prime color season. It is soon time to nest up the eggs and everyone is looking for love or trying to keep the one they are with. Without the touch of color the hen has here now . . . she would be hard to see, lol in her dirty summer color. I always try to get pairs, if I can and this is the best time of year for that as noted above.

I love to watch them neck dance and bob and strut their stuff . . . a wonderful time of the year. Almost makes the drab weather worth it.

[Maureen Souza]

Beautiful!!! the colors are terrific. I want that LLLLLlens.............

[stoneylonesome]

WOW! RJ that is one nice shot. really sharp, and the ducks are beautiful.

[RJSorensen]

Thanks guys . . . my wife looked at it close and said I posted a 'fuzzy' one again? I don't know. seems only she can see. I know I can't. I will never blame the lens, lol.