Monday is Duck Snapping Day

Seeing as I had some time this afternoon, I wandered over to the Ilam Homestead to take some more duck photos, especially those of some ducklings. And I wasn't disappointed!

"Walk the walk, quack the quack. We copy-duck what our mummy does and says"

My favourite shot of the day. Now that I'm starting to get familiar with this camera and some of the settings, I started trying to get closer than I had done in previous encounters. Of course, mummy duck was a bit worried, but not that much as these ducklings aren't that young + vulnerable now I'd like to think.

"Quack! Come back here now!"

 Taking shelter

Then again, maybe a big guy lugging several large black bags, with a black jacket, and a large + noisy camera, and running around closely behind you is a bit scary ;)

Though not every duck appeared to be scared of me...

This couple above were less than a meter from my feet, and obligingly posed for the camera. Their curiosity was amazing... but perhaps they were just waiting for some bread...


I also saw another mummy duck with a sizeable flock of (younger + cuter) ducklings in the water too. But those were a bit too far away to get decent shots of without a longer wildlife telephoto lens yet, not to mention the water being a bit messy from the rain storm a few minutes earlier. It's kindof amazing how quickly the weather cleared up after that (when I went and took the above photos). Only 30 minutes to 1 hour earlier...

Searching for food in the wet grass

Another scavenger feasting on juicy worms

An orange-billed duck?!

So, it seems like I had quite a fruitful day today :)