Wife found something to shoot last night, finally getting to play around with her new cam. It was evening light, not the best conditions but she was happy to get out of the house, winter has been too damn long.

We heard of some swans in the area, going to try to find them tomorrow.











The girl bird photographed better than ole green head, he was tough.

Love good photos of waterfowl in breeding plumage. Find me a couple of pintails!

Man, those are nice pictures! Love the pictures this time of year with ice...

To photograph waterfowl a few years ago, I made a floating blind from a truck inner tube and a bedsheet.

Not my photo, but the one I made was similar to this -- crude, but it still worked very well!)



Puddling around like this in marsh was a very relaxing way to spend a morning.

John

Wow, that's really cool.

It beats the heck out of my failed sneak attempt on a pair of sand hill cranes yesterday.

Need a low crawl refresher?

I really wasn't feelin it... the low crawl.


lol.

Hi again Dave

I found a picture of a more deluxe "swan blind" but my crude version worked very well and I would not bother with more.

Waterfowl are not that bright... big, white and with a neck sticking up is likely "good enough".

For my "swan blind", I made a sling seat from a car's shoulder seat belt and pop-riveted the ends around the inner tube. My initial thought was that I could use the buckle to do a fast exit if I capsized in wind or waves. I never did though -- my mass was mostly below the waterline since I made the seat sling long -- and therefore I sat very low (as low at my first picture, and much lower than the one in this current post):

I wish I had some pictures of my blind, but this was pre-digital.



I later made a another floating blind to resemble a muskrat house -- even easier to make (truck inner tube, one seatbelt, chicken wire and cattails). It worked just as well for waterfowl.

However, one day I was dozing in the sun and near crapped my waders when a muskrat tried to get inside with me. Glad there are no pictures of that event.

John

Nice pictures Dave!

A greenhead with 3 curls...nice bird.

Super cool photos

These hooded mergansers were super spooky, didn't care for people or cameras. Pam managed a few shots though.

Those are stunning pictures,

The Merganser shots are spectacular.
The lighting on the water really fulfills my image of what comprises a great picture.

Frames and enhances the bird.