common merganser

they call 'em "goosanders" in the UK... this little fella was rather obliging and came in close enough for some nice shots at the park yesterday. i watched him for about half an hour, as he caught himself a nice fat little catfish and spent the better part of 20 minutes fussing with it until he got it into position, then - gulp! - it was gone! :D 40D, 400mm, 1/1000 @ f/8...

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/z...IMG_1621sm.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/z...IMG_1644sm.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/z...MG_1663_sm.jpg

I quite like this Squirrl. I like the clearness of the bird and the reflection of the bird.

Very cool capture with the fish! Big fish for the little guy too!

Nice with the Fish Rocky...I saw a female version of these today although she was too shy to get a good shot. Seems a bit early for them to be back....:confused: I didn't think they wintered here.

how on earth is he going to eat that big fish???

Always really neat capturing them doing something rather than just sitting on the water. Nice set. Thanks for sharing.

thanks, everyone!

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Originally Posted by Bambi

how on earth is he going to eat that big fish???

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Bambi, you'd be absolutely amazed at the size of fish some of these birds can eat!! their necks and gullets are extremely elastic, and once they get the fish positioned head-first, it's usually gone in about 3 seconds... unlike osprey or eagles, which pick their supper apart into bites, mergansers, cormorants, herons and grebes swallow their prey whole. it's really amazing to see them swallow a fish almost half as big as they are...

Very nice set SQ!

I think we have someone new vying for the title "The Birdman of Photography.ca" Excellent shots you have posted here, technically and aesthetically they are wonderful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Greg_Nuspel

I think we have someone new vying for the title "The Birdman of Photography.ca" Excellent shots you have posted here, technically and aesthetically they are wonderful.

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oh goodie, that leaves 'birdwoman' still as Casil's title :evil2:

(meant all in fun folks :clown:)