I spent some time Wednesday through Saturday last week photographing ducks. One of the days was bright and sunny, but the other times I had to contend with fog or heavy overcast. Fortunately, modern digital cameras do a decent job of controlling noise, even at high ISO. Almost half of the photos here were shot at ISO 3200 out of necessity.
I spent most of my time inside a mile diameter circle centered near where the Ompompanoosuc River flows under I-91 in Norwich, VT. In fact, all but one photo in this blog was taken in that small but productive area.
Mergansers were present with common mergansers outnumbering hooded mergansers. Here is a photo of the female of each species.
Feeling a bit left out, the males joined them.
The groups I saw had slightly more male than female common mergansers.
But most mergansers seemed to be in pairs.
Using my car as a blind and hand holding a heavy lens, I managed to get a sequence of a common merganser running on the water to get airborne.
The male hooded merganser is a very handsome duck.
But it is hard to beat the male wood duck. Here are three photos from Campbell Flat.
Still, the red-breasted merganser gives these guys a good run for the money.
The preceding photo was taken last week, but not in Vermont. The red-breasted mergansers near Kilowatt South were simply too far away to photograph the two times I visited that spot.
Turkey lovers or haters might enjoy the preceding blog that you can get to by clicking the link below.