Drake Gadwall close up, Salt Lake County, UtahDrake Gadwall close up – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

On the same day I photographed a pair of Hooded Mergansers this month I did photograph a few other birds that I saw.  While I was photographing the Hoodies I saw a pair of Gadwalls move in close to where I sat in a “mobile blind”, they were so close the I opted to take close ups of them instead of taking of my teleconverter to get full body images.

Those of you who follow my posts regularly or look at my photo galleries know that if I can take portraits or close up ethically and without causing my subjects alarm I will jump at the chance because I feel that close ups can show fine details that photos taken from further away sometimes can’t. I love looking at them in full resolution to see all those wonderful details.

I don’t have all that many Gadwall images in my photo galleries and this morning I thought about that and wondered why that was the case. I’ve taken many images of them so that clearly isn’t the reason for the lack of their photos in my galleries and then I realized that quite often I see Gadwalls and American Coots close together because the Gadwalls will swipe the aquatic vegetation that the coots bring up and that I probably don’t get both birds as sharp as I would like or one or the other of the two species is blocking a view of the other’s eyes or face and that those images would probably go into my delete bin. I didn’t have that issue the day I photographed this drake Gadwall because there weren’t any coots nearby.

I’m glad this Gadwall drake came in close so I could take a few photos of him before I turned my attention back to the pair of Hooded Mergansers.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Gadwall photos plus facts and information about this species.