Juvenile Mallard Closeup

mdphotography — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 15:42:29 GMT

I recently started taking early morning walks at my local park (which is also a nature reserve) and it has been a game changer in terms of sightings. The animals are just much more relaxed with fewer people and, most importantly, no unleashed dogs running around (nothing personal dog owners, but wildlife sees them as coyotes and wolves). Low light doesn't help much, but R7 + EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM handle noise flawlessly. I'm shooting up to ISO10000 without issue.

This day, I saw a juvenile mallard and adult domestic duck napping on the lake ramp/launch. They adult saw me first and woke the juvenile, but neither seemed to concerned by my presence, so I inched closer. And closer. I took this shot from about 10-12 feet (3-4 meters).

The juvenile or non-breeding male mallard still hasn't fully molted yet, but you can see some green filling in on his head. It's not visible in this pic, but he already has his distinctive wing feathers and tail looks like a mature adult.

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Juvenile Mallard Closeup