A One Legged Mallard and Portrait of a Duck

I found this Mallrd last week ( November 30). He appears Ok and managed well even though he has lost a leg/foot. His greatest difficulty appeared to be when he would stand from a sitting position. He is a good flyer so the wings are ok.In the first shot you can also see some fairly deep scars in the face below the eye. Perhaps he had a brush with a Musky in the Rideau River.

Two additional Mallard portraits and what I suppose is a Mallard in eclipse mode? ( All brown with regular green irredescent head) Any feedback on why the brown one has no grey feathers would be appreciated.

Scarface

What a poor little guy Gary,and we think that we have problems?

Faine study Gary, that's the way we must photograph them ducks !
* Do it right with your camera and lens. Then you will not need any PP !
* Wait for the right light to be cast on irridescent plumage. Otherwise it will look garrish and no amount of PS can fix that !
* Look for a unique pose or angle. Ordinary duck shots abound.
* Look for your own reflection in the duck's eye. If it's there, the image (at least the eye) is sharp.

Thanks Dimitri.........it will be a tough winter for him if he hangs out here.

Thank you Peter. Geez I forgot to check if I was reflected in his eye. Thanks for that reminder. Any thoughts on why the last duck is brown like that? Imature perhaps....first time I have seen one like that.

That would be my first guess too, although does not seem like juvenile drakes I have seen. Do not really know.

He is hybrid. Cross breeding between mallards and black ducks causes the green head brown or black body. The two ducks are very closely related.

That makes absolute sense. There were a couple of Black Ducks with the Mallards and yeah this Hybrid's plumage does very much resemble the Black Duck's. I am attaching a shot of one of the Black Ducks from that day. Thank you very much. I would never have thought......excellent​!! And a big welcome to the forum!

Good exposure, particularly on the hybrid. The irridescent plumage shows nicely.

Very nice Gary, love the last 4 shots but the 5th and 6th I really like