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Recipe/Tutorial: dabbled.org/2009/2009/09/lemon-week-how-to-make-limoncell...
1. 1-Lemons, 2. 2-Lemons-Vodka, 3. 3-Zest the Lemons, 4. 4-Lemon Zest, Ready for Vodka, 5. 5-Add the Vodka, 6. 6-After waiting.., 7. 7-Sugar Syrup, 8. 8-Add syrup, 9. 9-Limoncello
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Early Spring as small shallow wetland open large numbers of dabbling duck and geese species can be seen in the open shallow wetlands. Huron Wetland Management District in east Central South Dakota. Photo: Sandra Uecker\USFWS
Dabbling with AlienBees Large Soft Box and Lightroom 2.0 Beta
Strobist: Large softbox to right of camera
This started life as an unremarkable hand-held long exposure of a person emerging from a tunnel.
I played with the image for a while and arrived here.
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The mallard (/ˈmælɑːrd/ or /ˈmælərd/) or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa.[2] This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae.
The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black speculum feathers which commonly also include iridescent blue feathers especially among males. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domesticated ducks.[3]
Taxonomy and Evolution:
The mallard was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae, and still bears its original binomial name,[4] and in 1758, he had given it the scientific name Anas boschas.[5] The scientific name is from Latin Anas, "duck" and Ancient Greek platyrhynchus, "broad-billed" ( from platus, "broad" and rhunkhos, "bill").[6]
Mallard originally referred to any wild drake and it is sometimes still used this way.[7] It was derived from the Old French malart or mallart for "wild drake", although its true derivation is unclear.[8] It may be related to (or at least influenced by) an Old High German masculine proper name Madelhart, clues lying in the alternate English forms "maudelard" or "mawdelard".[9] Masle (male) has also been proposed as an influence.[10]
Mallards frequently interbreed with their closest relatives in the genus Anas, such as the American black duck, and also with species more distantly related, such as the northern pintail, leading to various hybrids that may be fully fertile.[11] This is quite unusual among such different species, and apparently is because the mallard evolved very rapidly and recently, during the Late Pleistocene.[12] The distinct lineages of this radiation are usually kept separate due to non-overlapping ranges and behavioural cues, but are still not fully genetically incompatible.[13] Mallards and their domesticated conspecifics are also fully interfertile.[14]
The genome of Anas platyrhynchos was sequenced in 2013.[15]
Certain mallards, by their divergent haplotype analysis, appear to be closer to their Indo-Pacific relatives, and certain others, to their American ones.[16] Considering mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence data, they may have evolved in the general area of Siberia; mallard bones rather abruptly appear in food remains of ancient humans and other deposits of fossil bones in Europe, without a good candidate for a local predecessor species.[17] The large ice age palaeosubspecies which made up at least the European and west Asian populations during the Pleistocene has been named Anas platyrhynchos palaeoboschas.[18]
In their mitochondrial DNA, mallards are differentiated between North America and Eurasia;[19] however, in the nuclear genome there is a particular lack of genetic structure.[20] Haplotypes typical of American mallard relatives and spotbills can be found in mallards around the Bering Sea.[21] The Aleutian Islands hold a population of mallards that appear to be evolving towards a subspecies, as gene flow with other populations is very limited.[17]
The size of the mallard varies clinally, and birds from Greenland, although larger than birds further south, have smaller bills, paler plumage and are stockier.[22] They are sometimes separated as subspecies, the Greenland mallard (A. p. conboschas).[22]
Description:
The mallard is a medium-sized waterfowl species although it is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks. It is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long (of which the body makes up around two-thirds), has a wingspan of 81–98 cm (32–39 in),[24] and weighs 0.72–1.58 kg (1.6–3.5 lb).[25][26] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 25.7 to 30.6 cm (10.1 to 12.0 in), the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in) and the tarsus is 4.1 to 4.8 cm (1.6 to 1.9 in).[27]
The breeding male mallard is unmistakable, with a glossy bottle-green head and white collar which demarcates the head from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey brown wings, and a pale grey belly.[28] The rear of the male is black, with the dark tail having white borders.[29] The bill of the male is a yellowish orange tipped with black, while that of the female is generally darker ranging from black to mottled orange.[30] The female mallard is predominantly mottled with each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks, and has buff cheeks, eyebrow, throat and neck with a darker crown and eye-stripe.[29]
Both male and female mallards have distinct iridescent purple blue speculum feathers edged with white, prominent in flight or at rest, though temporarily shed during the annual summer moult.[31] Upon hatching, the plumage colouring of the duckling is yellow on the underside and face (with streaks by the eyes) and black on the back (with some yellow spots) all the way to the top and back of the head.[32] Its legs and bill are also black.[32] As it nears a month in age, the duckling's plumage will start becoming drab, looking more like the female (though its plumage is more streaked) and its legs will lose their dark grey colouring.[29] Two months after hatching, the fledgling period has ended and the duckling is now a juvenile.[33] Between three and four months of age, the juvenile can finally begin flying, as its wings are fully developed for flight (which can be confirmed by the sight of purple speculum feathers). Its bill will soon lose its dark grey colouring and its sex can finally be distinguished visually by three factors. The bill colouring is yellow in males, black and orange for females.[34] The breast feathers are reddish-brown for males, brown for females.[34] The centre tail feather is curled for males (called a drake feather), straight for females.[34] During the final period of maturity leading up to adulthood (6–10 months of age), the plumage of female juveniles remains the same while the plumage of male juveniles slowly changes to its characteristic colours.[35] This plumage change also applies to adult mallard males when they transition in and out of their non-breeding eclipse plumage at the beginning and the end of the summer moulting period.[35] The adulthood age for mallards is 14 months and the average life expectancy is 3 years, but they can live to twenty.[36] Several species of duck have brown-plumaged females which can be confused with the female mallard.[37] The female gadwall (A. strepera) has an orange-lined bill, white belly, black and white speculum which is seen as a white square on the wings in flight, and is a smaller bird.[29] More similar to the female mallard in North America are the American black duck (A. rubripes), which is notably darker hued in both sexes than the mallard,[38] and the mottled duck (A. fulvigula), which is somewhat darker than the female mallard, with no white edge on the speculum and slightly different bare-part colouration.[38]
In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours.[39] Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.[39]
A noisy species, the female has a deeper quack stereotypically associated with ducks.[40][41] Male mallards also make a sound which is phonetically similar to that of the female, with a typical quack; although it is a deep and raspy sound which can also sound like breeeeze.[42] When incubating a nest, or when offspring are present, females vocalise differently, making a call which sounds like a truncated version of the usual quack. They will also hiss if the nest or their offspring are threatened or interfered with. When taking off, the wings of a mallard produce a characteristic faint whistling noise.[43]
The mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds.[44] Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds.[45] Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall.[46] Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is supplied with a few blood vessels to prevent heat loss.[47]
Due to the malleability of the mallard's genetic code, which gives it its vast interbreeding capability, mutations in the genes that decide plumage colour are very common and have resulted in a wide variety of hybrids such as Brewer's duck (mallard × gadwall, Anas strepera).[48]
Distribution and Habitat::
The mallard is widely distributed across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; in North America from southern and central Alaska to Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands,[49] across Eurasia,[50] from Iceland[51] and southern Greenland[49] and parts of Morocco (North Africa)[51] in the west, Scandinavia[51] and Britain[51] to the north, and to Siberia,[52] Japan,[53] and South Korea,[53] in the east, south-eastern and south-western Australia[54] and New Zealand[55] in the Southern hemisphere.[24][56][57] It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south.[50] For example, in North America, it winters south to Southern United States and Northern Mexico,[50] but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May.[58][59]
The mallard inhabits a wide range of habitat and climates, from Arctic tundra to subtropical regions.[60] It is found in both fresh- and salt-water wetlands, including parks, small ponds, rivers, lakes and estuaries, as well as shallow inlets and open sea within sight of the coastline.[61] Water depths of less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) are preferred, birds avoiding areas more than a few metres deep.[62] They are attracted to bodies of water with aquatic vegetation.[41]
Behaviour:
Feeding:
The mallard is omnivorous and very flexible in its choice of food.[63] Its diet may vary based on several factors, including the stage of the breeding cycle, short-term variations in available food, nutrient availability, and inter and intraspecific competition.[64] The majority of the mallard's diet seems to be made up of gastropods,[65] invertebrates (including beetles, flies, lepidopterans, dragonflies, and caddisflies),[66] crustaceans,[67] worms,[65] many varieties of seeds and plant matter,[65] and roots and tubers.[67] During the breeding season, male birds were recorded to have eaten 37.6% animal matter and 62.4% plant matter, most notably Echinochloa crus-galli, and nonlaying females ate 37.0% animal matter and 63.0% plant matter, while laying females ate 71.9% animal matter and only 28.1% plant matter.[68] Plants generally make up a larger part of the bird's diet, especially during autumn migration and in the winter.[69][70]
It usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing;[71] there are reports of it eating frogs.[71] It usually nests on a river bank, but not always near water. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and forms large flocks, which are known as sords.[72]
Breeding:
Mallards usually form pairs (in October and November in the Northern hemisphere) until the female lays eggs at the start of nesting season which is around the beginning of spring.[73] At this time she is left by the male who joins up with other males to await the moulting period which begins in June (in the Northern hemisphere[74]).[75] During the brief time before this, however, the males are still sexually potent and some of them either remain on standby to sire replacement clutches (for female mallards that have lost or abandoned their previous clutch, replacement clutch[76]) or forcibly mate with females that appear to be isolated or unattached regardless of their species and whether or not they have a brood of ducklings.[76][77]
Duckling, one to two days old, is fully capable of swimming
The nesting period can be very stressful for the female since she lays more than half her body weight in eggs.[78] She requires a lot of rest and a feeding/loafing area that is safe from predators. When seeking out a suitable nesting site, the female's preferences are areas that are well concealed, inaccessible to ground predators, or have few predators nearby. This can include nesting sites in urban areas such as roof gardens, enclosed courtyards, and flower boxes on window ledges and balconies more than one story up, which the ducklings cannot leave safely without human intervention. The clutch is 8–13 eggs, which are incubated for 27–28 days to hatching with 50–60 days to fledging.[79][80] The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch.[81] However, filial imprinting compels them to instinctively stay near the mother not only for warmth and protection but also to learn about and remember their habitat as well as how and where to forage for food.[82] When ducklings mature into flight-capable juveniles, they learn about and remember their traditional migratory routes (unless they are born and raised in captivity). They may stay with their family group for up to a year, despite being independent and no longer needing protection.[83]
During the breeding season, both male and female mallards can become aggressive, driving off competitors to themselves or their mate by charging at them.[84] Males tend to fight more than females, and attack each other by repeatedly pecking at their rival's chest, ripping out feathers and even skin on rare occasions.
The group of drakes, end up being left out, after the others are paired off with mating partners, sometimes targets an isolated female duck, even one of a different species, and proceeds to chase and peck at her until she weakens, at which point the males take turns copulating with the female.[85] Lebret (1961) calls this behaviour "Attempted Rape Flight" and Stanley Cramp & K.E.L. Simmons (1977) speak of "rape-intent flights".[85] Male mallards also occasionally chase other male ducks of a different species, and even each other, in the same way.[85] In one documented case of "homosexual necrophilia", a male mallard copulated with another male he was chasing after the chased male died upon flying into a glass window.[86] This paper was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2003.[87]
Mallards are opportunistically targeted by brood parasites, occasionally having eggs laid in their nests by redheads, ruddy ducks, lesser scaup, gadwalls, northern shovelers, northern pintails, cinnamon teal, common goldeneyes, and other mallards.[88] These eggs are generally accepted when they resemble the eggs of the host mallard, although the hen may attempt to eject them or even abandon the nest if parasitism occurs during egg laying.[89]
Predators and Threats:
Mallards of all ages (but especially young ones) and in all locations must contend with a wide diversity of predators including raptors, mustelids, corvids, snakes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, turtles, large fish and felids and canids, including domesticated ones.[90] The most prolific natural predators of adult mallards are red foxes (which most often pick off brooding females) and the faster or larger birds of prey, i.e. peregrine falcons, Aquila eagles or Haliaeetus eagles.[91][92] In North America, adult mallards face no fewer than 15 species of birds of prey, from hen harriers and short-eared owls (both smaller than a mallard) to huge bald and golden eagles, and about a dozen species of mammalian predator, not counting several more avian and mammalian predators who threaten eggs and nestlings.[89]
Mallards are also preyed upon by other waterside apex predators, such as the grey heron (Ardea cinerea),[93] European herring gull (Larus argentatus), the Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) and the Northern pike (Esox lucius).[94] Crows (Corvus sp.) are also known to kill ducklings and adults on occasion.[95] Also, mallards may be attacked by larger anseriformes such as swans (Cygnus sp.) and geese during the breeding season, and are frequently driven off by these birds over territorial disputes. Mute swans (C. olor) have been known to attack mallards if they feel that the ducks pose a threat to their offspring.[96]
Conservation:
Unlike many waterfowl, mallards have benefited from human alterations to the world – so much so that they are now considered an invasive species in some regions.[97]
They are a common sight in urban parks, lakes, ponds, and other manmade water features in the regions they inhabit, and are often tolerated or encouraged among human habitat due to their placid nature towards humans and their beautiful and iridescent colours.[31] While most are not domesticated, mallards are so successful at coexisting in human regions that the main conservation risk they pose comes from the loss of genetic diversity among a region's traditional ducks once humans and mallards colonize an area. Mallards are very adaptable, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localized, sensitive species of waterfowl before development.[98] The release of feral mallards in areas where they are not native sometimes creates problems through interbreeding with indigenous waterfowl.[97][99] These non-migratory mallards interbreed with indigenous wild ducks from local populations of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring.[99] Complete hybridization of various species of wild ducks gene pools could result in the extinction of many indigenous waterfowl.[99] The wild mallard itself is the ancestor of most domestic ducks and its naturally evolved wild gene pool gets genetically polluted in turn by the domesticated and feral populations.[100][101][102]
Over time, a continuum of hybrids ranging between almost typical examples of either species will develop; the speciation process beginning to reverse itself.[103] This has created conservation concerns for relatives of the mallard, such as the Hawaiian duck,[104][105] the A. s. superciliosa subspecies of the Pacific black duck,[104][106] the American black duck,[107][108] the mottled duck,[109][110] Meller's duck,[111] the yellow-billed duck,[103] and the Mexican duck,[104][110] in the latter case even leading to a dispute whether these birds should be considered a species[112] (and thus entitled to more conservation research and funding) or included in the mallard. In the cases mentioned below and above, however, ecological changes and hunting have led to a decline of local species; for example, the New Zealand grey duck population declined drastically due to overhunting in the mid-20th century.[106] Hybrid offspring of Hawaiian ducks seem to be less well-adapted to native habitat, and utilizing them in reintroduction projects apparently reduces success.[104][113] In summary, the problems of mallards "hybridizing away" relatives is more a consequence of local ducks declining than of mallards spreading; allopatric speciation and isolating behaviour have produced today's diversity of mallard-like ducks despite the fact that in most, if not all, of these populations, hybridization must have occurred to some extent.[114]
References:
*Wikipedia
Read more here. Credit: Faith Bernstein. Clockwise from top: Adriel Borshansky '12, Rimmy Doowa '12, Robby Seager '13 and Jonas Myers '13.
Dabbling in a bit of off camera flash.
Wanted a low key shot.
Shot Details;
SB 900 set at 1/8 power fired into shoot through umbrella on camera right and white reflector to camera left.
Don't know if i am doing it right, but i liked the result.
Saw a few little 'school of Mum' duckling groups where dabbling and diving were being practised under parental supervision -
not behaviours I'd witnessed before(the school of aspect), but hey, how else do they learn?
Please see Norfolk June 2017 set www.flickr.com/photos/wendycoops224/albums/72157682817186513
Dabbling in cake decorating again with the new grandson coming. Hadn't done one in years, but I guess I need to get back into practice for birthdays to come.
Ohara dabbles in the occult.
Pinky Street PK017 "Ohara" figure with PC2016 "Yuki Nagato" accessories. The crystal skull is from a LEGO "Indiana Jones" set.
Day 52, The 365 Toy Project
21 February 2011
This image is the result of the merger of several consecutive shots (my model held very still while I shot multiple images. I didn't use a tripod--thank goodness it was bright outside that day.)
hoverfly.etsy.com
www.back2wild.com/gallery/main.php/v/FeatheredFriends/_MG...
The American Wigeon (also American Widgeon or Baldpate), Anas americana is a species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus Anas. If this is split up, all wigeons will go into their old genus Mareca again. It is a common and widespread duck which breeds in all but the extreme north of Canada and Alaska and also in the Interior West through Idaho, Colorado, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, as well as eastern Washington and Oregon.[2][3] It is the New World counterpart of the Eurasian Wigeon. The conservation status of this bird is Least Concern.[1]
This dabbling duck is migratory and winters farther south than its breeding range, in the southern half of the United States, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and the Mid-Atlantic coastal region,[3][2] and further south into Central America and northwestern South America.[4] It is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks.[2]
Male in winter plumage in New Jersey, USA
The breeding male has pinkish flanks and breast back, with a black rear end and a brilliant white patch on its wing behind the dark green speculum, obvious in flight or at rest. It has a greyish head with a green auricular and a whitish crown stripe. Their belly is also white.[3] The male's cheeks and neck are often gray and speckled, but some birds have completely white cheeks. It is 45–56 cm (18-23 inches) long, with a 32 inch wingspan and a weight of 1.6 pounds.[2] This wigeon has two adult molt per year and a juvenile molt in the first year, as well.[2]
The females are light brown, with plumage much like a female Mallard. The wing patch behind the speculum is gray. They can be distinguished from most ducks, apart from Eurasian Wigeon by shape. However, that species has a darker head and all grey underwing. The head and neck coloring of the female is different as opposed to the Eurasian Wigeon.[3]
In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Genus:Callonetta
Species:C. leucophrys
Binomial name
Callonetta leucophrys
[group] Ducks, geese and swans | [order] ANSERIFORMES | [family] Anatidae | [latin] Callonetta leucophrys | [UK] Ringed Teal | [FR] Callonette a collier noir | [DE] Rotschulter-Ente | [ES] Pato de Collar (Arg, Uy, Bo), Pato Acollarado | [NL] Ringtaling
Length: 14-15 inches Weight: 11-12 ounces
The male and female remain colourful throughout the year, lacking an eclipse plumage. The drake has a rich chestnut back, pale grey flanks and a salmon-coloured breast speckled in black. A black band runs from the top of its head down to the nape. Females have an olive-brownish back with the head blotched and striated in white, with pencilled barring on a pale chest and belly. Both have a dark tail, a contrasting pale rump, and a distinctive white patch on the wing. Bills are grey and legs and feet are pink in both sexes. Pairs easily bond. Their contact calls are a cat-like mee-oowing in ducks, a lingering peewoo in drakes.
The Ringed Teal (Callonetta leucophrys) is a small duck of South American forests. It is the only species of the genus Callonetta. Usually placed with the dabbling ducks (Anatinae), this species may actually be closer to shelducks and belong in the subfamily Tadorninae; its closest relative is possibly the Maned Duck. female The male and female remain colourful throughout the year, lacking an eclipse plumage.
HABITAT AND RANGE: Ringed Teal ducks are found in South America, from southern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southwestern Brazil to northeastern Argentina and Uruguay. Their habitats include tropical, swampy forests and marshy clearings in well-wooded lowlands, as well as secluded pools and small streams. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Roughly translated, the Latin name of the Ringed Teal, Callonetta leucophrys, means “the beautiful duck with the white wing patches.
Ringed teal have strong, pointed claws on their feet and so can readily perch in trees. Length: 14-15 inches Weight: 11-12 ounces Coloration: Ringed Teal, typical of wood ducks, have beautiful iridescent greenish plumage patterns, especially on the wings. They may be distinguished by a white patch in front of the green speculum. The males have a finely speckled, pinkish breast and a buff colored head with a black posterior border, they can dive underwater to escape predators. However, they seldom dive deeper than one meter. While swimming, they hold their tails horizontally so that they do not touch the surface of the water. After dabbling, they flap their wings vigorously a few times to shake out any water that might have entered the wing pockets or other air spaces.
The ringed teal live in South America, from southern Bolivia, Paraguay and southwestern Brazil to northeastern Argentina and Uruguay in wooded habitats. They have strong, pointed claws on their feet so they can readily perch in trees. Their length can be up to 14-15 inches with a 28 inch wingspan and weight of 11-12 ounces. Typical of wood ducks, they have beautiful iridescent greenish plumage patterns, especially on the wings. Their legs are light pink, the slender bill bluish grey and the eyes brown.
Physical characteristics
Males are pale faced with black crown and hindneck, a white hip patch, gray barred flanks, blue bill, and pink legs. Females are patterned similarly overall with pale underparts barred brown and a brown face marked with pale stripes. Both sexes of Ringed Teal can be easily recognized in flight by a white greater covert patch and green secondaries.
Habitat
They are found near secluded pools, small streams, swampy tropical forests, ponds, marshy clearings in low woodlands, and often in forested habitats.
Feeding
The feeding habits of the ringed teal label them as ?puddle ducks?. They are surface feeders as opposed to diving ducks. They feed by dipping their head, neck and front of the body under water with the tail in the air. This behavior is called ?up-ending.? They maintain this position with foot action, grazing on submerged bottom plants. After dabbling, they flap their wings vigorously a few times to shake out any water that might have entered the wing pockets and other air spaces.
Conservation
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence 30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size may be moderately small to large, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. [conservation status from birdlife.org]
Breeding
Ringed teals, like other wood ducks form strong pair-bonds, although they are not necessarily life-long. The male exhibits preening as part of his courtship displays, in which he flashes the iridescent wing colors toward the female to attract her attention. The male also swims around the female in a figure- eight pattern while throwing his head back and whistling. Breeding takes place in the water. Almost all ringed teal nests are in holes or other tree cavities. The nest is lined with down and 6-12 eggs are laid. The incubation period is about 29 days. Both the male and female take turns incubating the eggs and caring for the young. Hatching is timed to the weather and food availability, synchronizing with the best conditions. The chicks are precocial, meaning they are well developed when they are hatched. After hatching, the parents leave the nest. The ducklings follow sometimes making the leap from great heights. The chicks obtain oil for waterproofing their feathers by rubbing against their mother's abdominal plumage. They are called from the nest a day or two after hatching. After tumbling out, they follow their mother. They eat on their own, taking aquatic vegetation and insects as demonstrated by the adults. They can fly some 50-55 days after hatching and follow the adults to the winter feeding grounds.
Migration
Disperses after breeding, seen nearer coasts and at lower altitudes.
Art Collection
Marquesas Islands tapa, "Tiki" by Mareva Gilmore-Mote (2012)
Unless you dabble in cultures not your own, you may have missed that in the last seven decades an exuberant reemergence of long dormant indigenous culture has taken place across the globe involving traditions once firmly tamped down by colonialism.
Among these is the ancient practice of tapa cloth making and the art drawn upon it, revitalized in French Polynesia on the Marqueasan island of Fatu Hiva.
The bark of certain trees is peeled, soaked, pounded into a cloth-like texture and left to dry. Then the artist goes to work.
This piece, hand-drawn in ink by Mareva Gilmore-Mote on tapa titled, “Tiki”, was purchased from the artist in Fatu Hiva’s town of Omoa in 2012.
Her periodic headlining of tapa shows in Europe is made possible by support from Air Tahiti Nui.
Dabbling in post processing wizardry once again.
Unprocessed version - www.flickr.com/photos/54153239@N06/13889320751/
I love this bird. They may be common, but they're not very people-friendly. I think they see me coming from the far side of the lake and high-tail it to the center. So on this day, I at least took the long glass (after I dumped the camera on the asphalt). All is well, and my camera is now **used**.
The Shoveler has an elongated, spoon-shaped bill with comblike projections along the edges that filter out food from the water; definitely a daffy-looking dabbler. ;-)
The Dabbling Duck pub (formerly the Rose & Crown) Great Massingham Norfolk (the village duck pond is nearby)
Female mandarin on The Dart. She was utterly unconcerned at my presence, paddling busily about and diving between the banks right at my feet opposite Pixie Falls. There was another nearby, but I didn't see any males.
A shot of the local pub Prince William and Harry both have eaten here one Sunday afternoon. As this retro photography is all in thought i would have another got at as vintage look. Pleased with result below is a shot of same pub from a couple of years ago in the snow.
Thanks for all your comments and faves.
Dabbling in the digital realm. Taken with the OM System OM-1 and the truly amazing (not exaggerating one bit) Olympus Zuiko 12-40 f/2.8 Pro ( @omsystem.cameras )
It all started last year with an E-M1 Mk2 that was my first foray into mirrorless cameras after shooting Canon digital and film SLR's for close to 20 years. I was very hesitant to try the new tech, particularly so due to the lack of optical viewfinders (I despised EVF's) and in part due to Canon's indecisiveness on where the future lay for their system.
Fast forward a few @beersandcameras_chi meetups later and a conversation with @harleyvisuals , who I blame for my transition, I got an unbelievable deal on the aforementioned E-M1 Mk2 and a few lenses.
From the moment I got it, I fell in love. The craftsmanship, the feel, the size, the tech, everything I had ever learned went upside down. The abilities of the camera were MILES ahead of what my 5D Mk3 could do, MILES! And all this from a 2016 model, 7 years old at that point.
Ever since I can remember, full frame was where it's at. The prestigious society reserved for the serious photographers, no amateurs admitted. Period.
Turns out that mindset stuck with me for way too long. I started off with an APS-C camera (450D), and I desperately wanted, craved, the full frame juiciness. Downsizing to a smaller sensor?
Preposterous!
Scandalous!
How dare you, Sir?! (glove slap!)
Well... looks like I was wrong. Very wrong. My Olympus, and now OM System, is so much more than that kid could've ever hoped, nay, dreamed for! It feels like straight up magic! Bonafide hocus pocus from the R&D labs of OM System.
I felt like a caveman who had just discovered the wheel.
From that moment on, I shaved my unibrow, tossed my spear aside, donned a tux and a monocle, and I joined the 21st century.
Yes, I still own and shoot full frame, but micro four thirds has another fan in me. I wholeheartedly love the system, and I am here to stay! Today, it went with me instead of my Canon R6 Mk2. That says a lot!
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OM System OM-1, Olympus Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8
13-05-2019 New Jersey
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Genus:Anas
Species:A. rubripes
Binomial name
Anas rubripes
The American black duck (Anas rubripes) is a large dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It was described by William Brewster in 1902. It is the heaviest species in the genus Anas, weighing 720–1,640 g (1.59–3.62 lb) on average and measuring 54–59 cm (21–23 in) in length with a 88–95 cm (35–37 in) wingspan. It somewhat resembles the female mallard in coloration, but has a darker plumage. The male and female are generally similar in appearance, but the male's bill is yellow while the female's is dull green with dark marks on the upper mandible. It is native to eastern North America. During the breeding season, it is usually found in coastal and freshwater wetlands from Saskatchewan to the Atlantic in Canada and the Great Lakes and the Adirondacks in the United States. It is a partially migratory species, mostly wintering in the east-central United States, especially in coastal areas.
It interbreeds regularly and extensively with the mallard, to which it is closely related. The female lays six to fourteen oval eggs, which have smooth shells and come in varied shades of white and buff green. Hatching takes 30 days on average. Incubation usually takes 25 to 26 days, with both sexes sharing duties, although the male usually defends the territory until the female reaches the middle of her incubation period. It takes about six weeks to fledge. Once the eggs hatch, the hen leads the brood to rearing areas with abundant invertebrates and vegetation.
The American black duck is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It has long been valued as a game bird. Habitat loss due to drainage, global warming, filling of wetlands due to urbanization and rising sea levels are major reasons for the declining population of the American black duck. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has been purchasing and managing the habitat of this species in many areas to support the migratory stopover, wintering and breeding populations. The Atlantic Coast Joint Venture also protects habitat through restoration and land acquisition projects, mostly within their wintering and breeding areas.