![\"Dive,](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/canvasback-5235.jpg\" "\\"Dive,")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0Dive, eyes open<\/em><\/p>\n On this day there was one drake feeding quite close to me and I was very interested in the whole process.\u00a0 He would continually dive down to the muck at the bottom of the pond and come up with his head completely covered in thick dark mud.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes he would dive with his eyes open, like this.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Dive, eyes closed<\/em><\/p>\n And other times he would dive with his eyes closed.\u00a0 Either way, mud and grit in the eyes never seemed to be a problem for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0Ol’ Muddy Head 1<\/em><\/p>\n When he would emerge, this is what he would look like.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0Ol’ Muddy Head 2<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n And this.\u00a0 It never failed – a true mud facial.\u00a0 Canvasbacks are often referred to as the “aristocrats of ducks” but it’s hard to look very aristocratic with a face full of mud.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 Shakin’ the mud off<\/em><\/p>\n Occasionally he would try to shake as much of the mud off as possible but it never seemed to change the look of him much – still muddy, just not quite as thick.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0Creature from the Black Lagoon<\/em><\/p>\n When these birds surface from a dive they do so very quickly as their buoyancy brings them up swiftly – they simply pop onto the surface.\u00a0 So, I decided to try to get a shot of him just as he was emerging, with muddy water still running off of him.\u00a0 Easier said than done because you have to somehow anticipate where<\/em> he\u00a0will surface and focus on that spot first to get it sharp – there was\u00a0simply no time to lock on to him after he surfaced and get what\u00a0I wanted.\u00a0 I’m sure I spent over an hour trying to get this shot because he nearly always came up where I wasn’t focused or he had\u00a0his back to me or his head turned.<\/p>\n It wasn’t until I got home and looked at the images on my screen\u00a0that I\u00a0saw what was actually going on.\u00a0 I had\u00a0assumed he was simply finding food on the bottom and eating it before he came up.\u00a0 But from these shots\u00a0I surmise that he got a big mouthful of mud down there and then strained the food from the mud as he came up and just after he surfaced.\u00a0 Here you see a thick stream of thick muddy water being strained and coming out of\u00a0his bill just as he is emerging.\u00a0 I have other shots that show it coming out the sides\u00a0of the bill also. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0A mouthful of mud<\/em><\/p>\n This shot gives you an idea of what’s left behind in his mouth after much of the water has been strained out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0Canvasback aggression<\/em><\/p>\n I know these two look almost like lovebirds but that’s far from the case.\u00a0\u00a0 While I was watching Ol’ Muddy Head feed, another male swam in and tried to feed in the same area.\u00a0 Muddy Head would have nothing to do with that and immediately swam up to the other male and they started\u00a0pushing against each others chests,\u00a0swimming hard in an aggressive manner\u00a0and turning in a clockwise direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0The aggression continues\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n This went on for several minutes.\u00a0\u00a0A long time with both birds continuing to\u00a0turn in a circle (always clockwise)\u00a0and push on each other, like two sumo wrestlers.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 The fight begins<\/em><\/p>\n Eventually a full blown fight broke out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n