Female Bufflehead

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

I went to a popular birding location along one of the rivers here in Pittsburgh yesterday. It's mostly populated with Mallards, Gulls, Canada Geese, and some seasonal waterfowl migrants. I noticed this lone female Bufflehead repeatedly diving (hence the muddy head) a little further downstream. I walked down to the river shore and started to move in closer while she was underwater. When she surfaced I would stop and not move. This is one of the best ways to get close to otherwise skittish diving ducks if you don't have the luxury of a blind. I wasn't able to lay prone on the ground because of the mud, but I was able to crouch down on the shoreline and get some photos I'm pretty happy with, considering this was my first time seeing and photographing this species.

D7500 + AF-S 300mm F/4 D IF-ED+ TC14e
1/800 F/5.6 ISO 560

Buffle.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Jus wait until you try to get the right exposure with the males of this duck, very tough for me. I either get the dark on the heads too dark or too light where the coloration from the irridescent plumage almost makes the ducks look fake or over processed! But very cool ducks to work with nonetheless.
 
Jus wait until you try to get the right exposure with the males of this duck, very tough for me. I either get the dark on the heads too dark or too light where the coloration from the irridescent plumage almost makes the ducks look fake or over processed! But very cool ducks to work with nonetheless.
I was actually a little bummed it wasn't a male and I know they can be challenging, but the female is definitely easier to photograph! I'm sure overcast light helps to properly expose the male Bufflehead plumage.
 
Back
Top