トモエガモ大群 / Large flock of Baikal Teals

A flock of Baikal Teals taking off at once. The best shot of the day, taken at the right moment in good light with a simple background. Maybe I have used up all my luck since the beginning of the year?

There is a place that I started visiting a few years ago as my first birding stop on the second day of the New Year. This is also where I took the photo of the mallard, which is one of the top photos on this site. Last year, I was not blessed with good light at all, but this time I was able to shoot as much as I wanted under excellent conditions. I used a Nikon D500 with AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR.

A large flock of Baikal Teals. It was not within the frame of view at all, and there seemed to be nearly 20,000 ducks gathered there.

I have no idea what triggers them, but they just fly around. I was able to see the powerful dance right in front of my eyes. I don’t think I was the cause of it, because I was fixed in an immovable position after I was settled in the shooting location.

This time I also took a video. Note the last 10 seconds.

Other birds are of course present. Great Cormorant, Eurasian Coot, and Northern Lapwing also came to the site.

A solitary Great Crested Grebe. The absence of a large flock in the background seems weird.

At the closest point, it was probably about 30 meters away. I still had to crop the image.

Different timing for the opening shot. This is what it looks like without cropping, which I like.

I don’t often photograph ducks in flight from the front. It must be because they are always flying away.

Unexpectedly, no one was in front of me this time (except for the walkers), and I had the majority of the show to myself. It was worth lying on a thin sheet on the cold ground for a long time. It was a good start to the day.