Northern Shoveler

[Mangru Minz]

Image created in the month of march this year at Bhopal, Ayodhya nagar lake. One thing I must say about Ducks and Geese, needs long lens to photograph .

Canon 7D, 400mm DO I with 1.4x II at f/7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO-500, EC:0 , 60% Cropped Image .

[Mrudul Godbole]

I agree ducks and geese can be difficult to photograph as they usually move away from the shore. Nice eye contact. Due to the crop some noise can be seen the background. In such scenario creating an environmental composition showing the habitat would be nice instead of cropping. Thanks for sharing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice eye contact. hides are quite effective with water fowl if you set them well before dawn and wait ...patience is the key.
TFS
Roopak

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I agree with Roopak regarding hides. No matter how long your lens is, there would be situations when birds will be far from you. It is important to choose an ideal spot and then set up hide well before dawn.

In Rann of Kutch, myself and Mrudul were shooting flamingoes. We were kneeling down to keep a low profile. It was dark and the flamingoes were feeding close to the lake shore. The moment it brightened up a bit, the flamingoes moved away, even though we were not making any abrupt movements. With a hide merging with the landscape, it would have been a different story.

And if you want to move close, then you need to learn the art of crawling and moving slowly with adequate stops inbetween not just to take breath but to ensure that the bird is not disturbed. Unfortunately, I haven't seen people master the art of crawling, despite some boasting in photo sharing sites.