I have been fascinated with the American Wigeons (Anas americana). I guess it’s because I’ve always seen them from a distance and they always looked strange to me. They have a white crown that, from far away, always looked fuzzy and out of focus. I never could get a decent photograph, but I kept wishin’ that an opportunity would someday arise.
That changed a couple of mornings ago. I happened to drive by this little pond that is in the Bluffs residential division. It was really cold and nasty. Windy and blowing rain. I was having second thoughts of being in the area. The storm hadn’t hit yet when I had left the house. But as I drove by the pond, there were a couple of these ducks fairly close to the road on the right. I decided to drive on by, turn around and come back and see if I could get a photo from the car.
American Wigeon
I was in luck. The rain stopped for a few minutes. I crept closer along the left side of the road and rolled down my window. I was able to use my Canon 7D with a 500mm lens and 1.4 tele-converter from that position. I was only about 60 feet away and was able to nearly fill the frame. Exposure was 1/1000 sec. @ f7.1, -0.3EV, ISO 2000. Spot metering and aperture priority.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 