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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Two Gadwall males fighting over one female. In fact there were five males seeking for the attention of this single female. The picture was taken at RSPB Elmley Marshes nature reserve.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia>
The Gadwall, Anas strepera is a common and widespread duck of the family Anatidae. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name.
Description
The Gadwall is 46-56 cm long with a 78-90 cm wingspan. The breeding male is a beautifully patterned grey, with a black rear end and a brilliant white speculum, obvious in flight or at rest. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.
The females are light brown, with plumage much like a female Mallard. They can be distinguished from that species by the dark orange-edged bill, smaller size, and lack of an obvious speculum.
Distribution
The Gadwall breeds in the northern areas of Europe and Asia and central North America. The range of this bird appears to be expanding into eastern North America. This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters further south than its breeding range.
In Great Britain the Gadwall is a scarce breeding bird and winter visitor, though it has increased in recent years. It is likely that its expansion was partly through introduction, mainly to England, and partly colonisation Great Britain, with continental birds staying to breed in Scotland.
Behaviour and habitat
The Gadwall is a bird of open wetlands, such as prairie or steppe lakes, wet grassland or marshes with dense fringing vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food with head submerged. It nests on the ground, often some distance from water. It is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends to form only small flocks. This is a fairly quiet species; the male has a hoarse whistling call, and the female has a Mallard-like quack. The young birds are fed insects at first; adults also eat some mollusks and insects during the nesting season. The Gadwall is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. |
haraprasan, goldyrs, jaycee, Proframe, Royaldevon, parthasarathi, CeltickRanger has marked this note useful
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Hi Pekka,
A nice capture of these beautiful birds quarreling. Excellent freezing action shot with good details and nice timing. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Wow!Pekka,
This is so beautiful!
Excellent shot!
Cheers!
Goldy
- jaycee
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1675 W: 8 N: 4021]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(13255) - [2008-04-03 9:07]
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Hi Pekka,
She must be a very popular lady! You caught the action of the males fighting over her wonderfully. Great timing to get this shot. You caught them in good poses with good detail.
Jane
Hi Pekka,
Wonderful capture of these couple of duck.
Great to see you've got them all three in sharp focus.
Love the water drops flying all around.
Wonderful details and pose of the ducks.
Excellent note.
Very well done. TFS!!!
Best regards, Harry
Hello Pekka,
This shot is so full of action and drama! Very well captured!
It is sharp where necessary and blurred where action is happening! The blurring certainly gives a feeling of movement!
Kind regards,
Bev :-)
Many thanks for your comments on '0 to 30 in 4 seconds'.
The actionwas captured nicely.
hello Pekka
in the same time superb action and in-flight shot,
with a fine POV, i love the way each duck is at a position
and forming like a triangle, excellent sharpness and details, TFS
Asbed
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1168 W: 91 N: 3068]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(11593)![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 348 W: 46 N: 806]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
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