Puddling

A few days ago, we had an overnight rain that continued on until about an hour before my walk.

I love the smell of the air right after a rain, the reflections in the laying water, and watching for creatures taking a drink, a bath, a swim, or a walk through the puddles.

As I came upon this pair of mallard ducks puddling alongside the path, I had my phone tele lens with me but hadn’t yet attached it. I’ve learned from past attempts, that the movements involved in attaching a lens when near birds will almost always startle them and send them off before you get the photo.

I was able to get fairly close before they’d had enough of me, but not quite close enough to get crisp photos.

Cropping for a close-up was my only option, and whenever one has to do a severe crop, so much image quality is lost. I tried to sharpen them up a bit in post processing in Snapseed, but only so much can be done with some photos.

The funniest photo occurred when I tried to catch them taking off in flight. Some sort of movement distortion occurred and mama mallard looks like she needs to be on a diet if she wants to keep flying.

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”

John Muir