Lesser Whistling Duck standing on one leg

[Atul Sinai]

I was surprised to see this fellow standing on one leg for around 35 mins. Not sure if the other leg was injured.

Location: Carambolim, Goa
Canon 600D. 400mm f5.6
Manual Exposure
Manual Focus
Manual metering
Shutter Speed 1/320
Aperture 7.1
ISO 400
Focal Length 400mm
Cropped by 30%
Tripod Support

Thanks!

Regards,
Atul

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Looks as if this fellow lost his right leg. Nature has taught him to survive with a single leg, amazing. The vegetation around gives a nice feel of its habitat.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Lovely image and pose Atul. I don't think the leg is lost or injured. This is typically posture in many birds. Here's the info for such a posture:

Birds’ legs have an adaptation called “rete mirabile” that minimizes heat loss. The arteries that transport warm blood into the legs lie in contact with the veins that return colder blood to the bird’s heart. The arteries warm the veins. By standing on one leg, a bird reduces by half the amount of heat lost through unfeathered limbs.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Thanks for that information Praveen.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Very nice habitat shot, Atul. The details have come out very well. Nice catchlight. If it were possible to go lower, the image would have looked even better.
TFS

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice habitat image. Praveen Bhai has is absolutely correct.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Atul Sinai]

Thanks guys. Below in the close-up shot (100% crop) we can see the second leg more clearly.

Felt it could have been injured as it was away from the rest of the group and on one leg for a long time.

Praveen, thanks for sharing the info.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice environment composition. Good eye contact. Thanks for sharing the close-up, this behavior can be seen in lot of birds. Look forward to more.