Woodies

Vienna Pics · Apr 1, 2007

Jim Strathearn turned me on to Woodies from his trip to Cameron County, Pennsylvania last year. We used the same guide that we used for the Elks this past January. There were 13 woodies in this small pond located right along side a lumber mill and construction company. About the only noise that seemed to get their attention was the diesel train which ran rather close. On the bright side there was only one train a day. By their sound, I could count the number of cars in the train.

I used two blinds. One was a wooden structure in the water - I sat about 3" above the water with my feet dangling in the water. When I first went in, I had to clear out some of the muskrat nesting material and other 'stuff'. The ducks were literally right in front of me. The other blind was a small dome tent blind. I do not know how they did it but Jim and his wife were in it last time - I barely had enough space myself with two tripods and cameras. I pulled two pics and still have a lot to PP.

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senna · Apr 1, 2007

Great photos. That second shot has some nice color.

cajun angel · Apr 1, 2007

Very pretty ducks! Those woodies certainly are colorful! Beautiful!

Jim Strathearn · Apr 1, 2007

Looks like you had a good time Mark! Looking forward to seeing some more pics...

Muskrat???

keirin · Apr 1, 2007

What handsome creatures, nicely rendered here.

Phil K · Apr 1, 2007

Very nice captures, Mark. They are so beautiful.

Vienna Pics · Apr 3, 2007

Troy, Dianne, Jim, Keirin & Phil,

Thank you very much for your kind comments - these ducks are indeed very colorful which makes up for the effort as they are very skiddish. They also have an interesting peeping sound which they are not afraid to sound. What an advanture 'sitting' in the middle of 13 of this woodies - only possible using a blind.

DanielD · Apr 3, 2007

Good ones! Saw them at the zoo recently, very colorful. Do you have a picture or link of that blind? I want to have an idea what that looks like.

Gale · Apr 3, 2007

Wow very pretty

raymond j barlow · Apr 3, 2007

very nice shots...

Vienna Pics · Apr 4, 2007

DanielD said:
Good ones! Saw them at the zoo recently, very colorful. Do you have a picture or link of that blind? I want to have an idea what that looks like.

I have atleast one shot with 3/4 of the wood blind - I have to check if I have the domed one - which one are you interested in?

Vienna Pics · Apr 4, 2007

Gale said:
Wow very pretty

Thank you Gale - I have more to PP - same old story - take too many shots and not enough time to PP - I have some Cherry blossoms that I also have to PP.

Vienna Pics · Apr 4, 2007

raymond j barlow said:
very nice shots...

Thank you Ray - do you have these in the great white north? We saw a lot of your snow geese and tundra swans at middle creek in Pennsylvania a few weeks back. Can't wait to get back to Middle Creek next year.

DanielD · Apr 4, 2007

Vienna Pics said:
I have atleast one shot with 3/4 of the wood blind - I have to check if I have the domed one - which one are you interested in?

Oh, I misunderstood as I thought the wooden one was provided "by nature". I was curious about that tent style one but if you have a pic or link of that wooden one I would like to see that too. I don't have a clue how these blinds look like and how big they are.

Thanks,

OHcorgis · Apr 4, 2007

Absolutely beautiful. I was able to shoot woodies yesterday, but did not get anything like yours. The drakes are soo colorful.

Glacier · Apr 4, 2007

The water droplets and the overall browns make the first image work very nicely. The colorful male is always a beauty and you captured him in some nice lighting that saturated his colors. Good work!

Vienna Pics · Apr 5, 2007

DanielD said:
Oh, I misunderstood as I thought the wooden one was provided "by nature". I was curious about that tent style one but if you have a pic or link of that wooden one I would like to see that too. I don't have a clue how these blinds look like and how big they are.

Thanks,

I have been tied up with parenting stuff this week - I will see if I can put the blind to the top of the PP list tonight.

Vienna Pics · Apr 5, 2007

OHcorgis said:
Absolutely beautiful. I was able to shoot woodies yesterday, but did not get anything like yours. The drakes are soo colorful.

Thank you OhCorgis - I hope you post yours as well - they are great ducks to photograph.

Vienna Pics · Apr 5, 2007

Glacier said:
The water droplets and the overall browns make the first image work very nicely. The colorful male is always a beauty and you captured him in some nice lighting that saturated his colors. Good work!

Andy, Thank you - I was really surprised when I downloaded my nefs - this was the first photo that I took - the water droplets were an added bonus.

Vienna Pics · Apr 5, 2007

DanielD said:
Oh, I misunderstood as I thought the wooden one was provided "by nature". I was curious about that tent style one but if you have a pic or link of that wooden one I would like to see that too. I don't have a clue how these blinds look like and how big they are.

Thanks,

Here are two shoots of the blinds - I was actualy trying to NOT get the blinds in the shots - the wooden blind shows better than the 'tent' - I will see if I can find one on the internet and will post a link.

The wooden one is about 3'x3' and 3' above water - it sits in the water - the back side has a hinge on the top and lifts up to let you in. There is a bench to shoot off of a bench about 3" off of the water with my legs in the water. Their is a hole in the front with double camo screen - you put your lens through the screen. The 'tent' had two 'gun' holes and I sat on a 5 gallon bucket - could have used a folding chair but it would have been harder working the two camera/tripods. It was easier to shift on the bucket.

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