Common Merganser/Goosander female

[Subhajit Chaudhuri]

Earlier Sandipan Ghosh has posted same species from the same location Gajoldoba, Teesta Barrage. I took the boat ride on 7th & 8th Jan 2017 and posted Bean Goose photograph before.

Here is a take off shot of Common Merganser flock of female.
exif : f/8, 1/2500, ISO-500, F-length - 330mm with Canon 70D & 100-400 II handheld.
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[Sandipan Ghosh]

Fantastic shot......

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

How many were there? Would have preferred a shorter focal length that includes the whole scene. I imagine this scene would look nice and serene when all the goosanders are included, along with some of the habitat. When there are tight flocks, singling out a few birds results in others getting clipped along with the splashes, making it somewhat distracting - unless one is careful enough (and skilled enough) to compose very carefully in the split second when the action happens.

There have been reports of some photographers making very close approaches to the birds in Gajoldoba, in order to get flight shots. Hope these practices stop.

[Subhajit Chaudhuri]

How many were there?

In my Dec 2016 trip I found 4 male & 4 female. While in Jan 2017 I found 12 females in a group and surprisingly no male.


Would have preferred a shorter focal length that includes the whole scene. I imagine this scene would look nice and serene when all the goosanders are included, along with some of the habitat. When there are tight flocks, singling out a few birds results in others getting clipped along with the splashes, making it somewhat distracting - unless one is careful enough (and skilled enough) to compose very carefully in the split second when the action happens.

Agreed , it needs greater patience , skill , cooperation of fellow bird photographer and moreover the ethics of approach. Last one is kind of controversial these days in all forums.


There have been reports of some photographers making very close approaches to the birds in Gajoldoba, in order to get flight shots. Hope these practices stop.

You are absolutely correct. On that very particular day I gave up approaching the flock and tried to minimize the disturbance caused to the birds after few minutes. There were three more boats and eight photographers apart from me. To my surprise , I found that they were not sure how the male looks. Hearing that I left that spot and before that requested them not to be too close for comfort. I'm sure they got closer pictures and all of them got posted in some forums and facebook.

[Subhajit Chaudhuri]

Abhishek , perhaps you were looking something similar to this? A non-flight swimming shot though and am not that skillful :-).
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[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice to see this. Wish you had clicked a bit wider as the beak of the bird on the extreme right is cut off. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Sandipan Ghosh]

Nice to see this. Wish you had clicked a bit wider as the beak of the bird on the extreme right is cut off. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Thanks for the valuable comment.....