Immature Hooded Merganser Male in Early Morning Fog

            This is taken in pretty thick fog, it's not as bad as it may look... It's a low light mood shot.  :) I could've made this to where it looked better, but this is as I saw it that morning, true to life.

This male Hooded Merganser was in dense early morning fog, about 15 minutes before I saw ducks starting to swim, the fog (of course) rolled in, I assumed that the day was going to be overcast and dreary, but I saw some real beauty in front of me, even though it was not what I had started out wanting to shoot. He had just come from below after diving for fish, hence the bubbles, he saw me, and was startled, but didn't fly. Instead, he stared at me for maybe 10 seconds, then slowly turned around and went to his cohorts, who were waiting for him, none were scared, slightly wary possibly, so maybe they could just barely see me too in all of the fog. :) Even though I was in a camouflage photography tent, the ducks knew I was there, even when I was as quiet as could be, but, most didn't think I was a danger to them, I feel. I had many ducks that fed in front of me for a few hours.
When I say that these ducks are wild, I mean, they were not at all used to seeing humans, they were, and are, the most skittish that I think I have been around period, they were scared, or very aware of a human's presence at around 100 yards/meters.

Sorry about the crappy Flickr low-res background, it's too soft of a gradient... :)

(Lophodytes cucullatus)

Shot in Texas.

Taken on: February 17, 2015

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1DmkIV

1Dmk4

100mm

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560mm

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Randy E. Crisp

Randy Crisp

Randy E. Crisp Photography

Irving

Texas

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Camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, f/7.1, 1/1250 sec, 600mm, ISO 1250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Lens:	TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011
Aperture:	f/7.1
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length:	600mm
ISO:	1250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
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