![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/northern-shoveler-1174-four-birds-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-shoveler-1174-four-birds-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSpeedy and erratic ducks in flight are a good test for a new camera so three days ago on the Antelope Island causeway I put the Canon R5 through its paces, with mixed results. I consider this photo to be one of my successes, even though the Shovelers weren’t very close.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I was lucky to catch these four Northern Shovelers in a visually interesting formation with a duck at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions and no other birds in the frame to distract the eye. I was shooting down on them from the causeway near the raised bridge so the Great Salt Lake is in the background. All four birds are sharp and I got flight postures I like from each of them.<\/p>\n For me, more than anything it’s their flight formation that makes the shot. It reminds me of…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blue Angels – image in the Public Domain<\/em><\/p>\n the Tight Diamond Formation made famous by the Blue Angels. The Shoveler’s formation isn’t as tight as that of the Blue Angels but then F\/A-18 Hornets don’t have to flap their wings.<\/p>\n But flight formations can be a matter of perspective.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was actually a fifth Shoveler trailing behind, as revealed by a different crop of the same image. I like both versions of the photo.<\/p>\n The day after I took this photo I returned to the causeway at the same time of early morning and almost all of the ducks were gone. There were only a few scattered ducks on the shore, along with a single lonesome-looking American Avocet, and a couple of small clumps of ducks far out on the lake.<\/p>\n From several hundred thousand ducks to only a few hundred in 24 hours. The difference in such a short time was dramatic and kind of depressing. I’m going to miss them but they have to get on with their business of making babies up north.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speedy and erratic ducks in flight are a good test for a new camera. (3 images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/blue-angels-diamond-formation-public-domain.jpg\" "\\"blue-angels-diamond-formation-public-domain\\"")
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