My absolute favorite ducks (photos)

[Tom Wilson]

Pintails--man are they gorgeous!!!

The only time I get to see Pintails, is when I go to So Dak, so I was blown away by being able to get within a few feet of these guys...

[buzzsaw]

Tom, Tommy, Thomas!! The second and third photo's are str8 money! You did a great job! I saved a few of them to my computer for my screensaver slideshow! I'll give you all the credit if anybody asks who's photo's they are!

[The_Duckslayer]

Great photos! I like Pintails as well and so far in my entire life I have only been able to harvest one of them and it did not have a very long tail at all. Thanks for sharing././Jimbo

[Dotch]

Pintails are my absolute favorites. Was lucky enough to have bagged many in my tenure as ND native some 20 years ago. The intricate pattern on the drake's feathers that you captured exceptionally in your photos was one of the things that really caught my eye, as did the pin tail & green speculum. Brings back some great memories of some of the quickest ducks I ever saw come in over our field decoys. A shame their numbers continue to decline. Hopefully some of the new programs in Canada will help them.

[WifeKidsandDog]

Beautiful -- what a pretty duck. Hope I see one of these to add to my duck collection.

Love the pose on the third pic!

[lawdog]

ANOTHER great thread with another GREAT bird. The mallards are definitely kings around here, but these pics of other ducks are so cool because they just aren't as common.

More excellent work!

[Tom Wilson]

Thanks Guys,

I would have loved to have had another day--well another month--to photograph these ducks, but I had to come home...

I hunted for years to obtain my first pintail, and I traveled all over South Dakota for years, in search of photos of pintails, and then lo and behold, there they were--right when I least expected it. I love the pose in the second one, but the golden light on the 5th one was unbelievable--he just wouldn't come any closer while I had it.

Maybe I'll plan some actual photo vacation time for there next winter???

Tom W

[Steve Foss]

Hey Tom:

If you do plan a winter photo shoot in Texas, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast is a great birding spot. Tons of shorebirds, big and small, winter there, and there are trails and observation decks. Not that close to the Dallas area, I know, but if you plan an actual multi-day excursion, a day spent there would be a day well spent. I birded there about 15 years ago and picked up 20 life listers in one day.

[buzzsaw]

Man I'll bet you "absolutely" wish you had your new equipment for these pictures.....