I am using the new camera. I don't see much of a difference in the results. The file sizes are a bit larger so maybe I could crop more if needed. I can also fire often more frames per second which is cool. I think quality of the photo is often more about the lens than the camera. The wood ducks have a similar diet to the mallards. They are dabbling ducks vs diving ducks. I hope to see some wood duck babies in the future. I saw a pic on a bird forum in SC the wood duck had 14 ducklings!

According to Google: Wood ducks feed on plants (watermeal, duckweed, wild rice, pondweeds, smartweeds), seeds (especially watershield), aquatic insects, and other invertebrates (snails, clams). Adults feed on acorns during fall and winter, searching for them in flooded swamps, bottomlands, and oak forests.

I got my newer of the two older cameras back from Canon. They did a great job with the viewfinder, replacing some parts. That camera will be the walking around camera with an all purpose 18-200 lens on it.

 

Yeah, it makes sense that the glass is the most important. What lens were you using here?

 

Love the Wood Duck pics, Lainey. We had a Mallard pair strolling on our side yard today, possibly looking for a nesting spot. I think they wandered up from the stream behind us.

 

Canon 100-400. It's an older lens, first generation, but I'm still quite happy with it. I bought it used from our friend JT (Julius) a former New England S2000 guy. Given how much I like wildlife photography, it's my favorite lens, though a bit heavy to carry around.

 

Here is Lainey's next step up, Set up in a camera blind.

 

That's bigger than Lainey!

 

Only if you are buying, Jerry!

 

oh man, if you'd only caught me last week before I retired and went on fixed income.

 

This was a nice surprise. I found an elk antler next to my driveway. Their poop is everywhere.



^3-30-2024.

 

hey wait a minute, I'm suspicious, one of the picture shows the antlers with tire tracks and then Patty says "oh she found it"