Just short of three weeks ago I posted “Goldeneye Reflections Part I” so Part II is more than a little late making an appearance.
I feel pretty confident that today’s post will be too much of a good thing for some of my viewers because it contains 15 photos that are very similar to each other with only bare bones narration. So prepare for some overkill. But personally I’m fascinated by the variations in bird reflections when conditions are right to produce interesting ones and conditions were just about perfect at a local pond 23 days ago.
Hopefully at least some of my readers will share my interest in these reflection variations. And there’s a lot of them, almost certainly too many.
While I was walking the pond edge this drake Common Goldeneye found himself boxed in in a small cove which made him slightly uncomfortable with me so close. So with calm determination he began swimming toward the open pond. Which meant that he had to swim by me – either that or take off or dive and swim away from me underwater. Thankfully he chose the first option.
That morning conditions were just right for interesting and constantly changing reflections. The sky was blue and clear and there was a hint of a breeze – just enough to produce slight ripples in the water that resulted in continuously changing reflections. But not so much as to distort them beyond all recognition.
All of these photos are presented in the order they were taken with no skips, not necessarily in bursts but quickly, one after the other.
I tried to time my photos at a moderate speed, not as quick as bursts but slow enough to have significant reflection changes from shot to shot.- probably averaging about 1/2 second between them.
Here I like the upside down and isolated air foil shaped reflection of part of his head that includes an eye.
The photos and constantly changing reflections mostly speak for themselves so I won’t be saying much.
He turned his head toward me only once, and only for a moment.
You can get a sense of how fast he was swimming and how quickly I was taking photos by following the small, out of focus dark spot on the water at upper right from this shot to…
the next one.
A “triple header”, a quadruple header if you include his real one. Based on the position of the dark spot I waited longer to take this shot.
With diving ducks, whose heads and bills are usually wet, specular highlights (those wet and shiny reflections on their bills and face) are an annoyance but…
they typically disappear when the bird turns its head to another angle.
Here he was looking away from me for two photos, in this one with all four of his visible “eyes”.
There’s another dark spot on the water, this time behind his head reflection, that can be followed from…
photo to photo as in indication of swimming speed and how fast I was taking photos.
Here we see portions of five head reflections.
The dark “floater” on the water is about to be left behind.
The bits of goldish-brown we see reflected in the water are almost certainly caused by phragmites on the far shore.
We’re almost done. Promise.
Here’s the last one. I could include more but I’ve already beaten a dead horse. My excuse for posting so many of these reflection photos is that I don’t get to shoot in these conditions all that often so I just decided to go for the gusto.
It’s a persistent character flaw. As my dear old mother used to say with all the sincerity she could muster, “Ronnie, sometimes you just don’t know when to quit.”
Ron
Love Arwen’s take on this. But mostly love, love, love the series. Is it a photographer thing born of hours of sorting and sifting through Lightroom etc, witnessing the magic of many frames per second? I don’t know but I get excited and almost ecstatic when I see a series like this with minute differences in each and am always disappointed 😥 when friends and family fail to be as enthused as I am. Count me impressed and enthused by this series.
✌👍👏🙌
Yes! One of the reasons I enjoy our group here is because we “see” differently. 🙂
Late! But the philosopher in me sees this. When we are trying to be serene, our frantic under-the-water-paddling still causes visible ripples.
Enjoyed that.
Good!
Enjoyed the pictures and your comments as always.
Thanks,
Thank you, Barry.
Since we seldom see a Goldeneye around these parts, I would be ecstatic with any one of those superb photographs!
The series is really fascinating. It’s like taking a frame-by-frame examination of a film (which, I guess it actually is). Like snowflakes, each image is the same as the others except for slight differences.
Too much of a good thing is still – a good thing.
Thanks, Wally. I keep wishing I could post a flip book of the series. It would be fun to watch the water, the reflections and the duck, “move”.
Colour me greedy, but I cannot imagine EVER thinking that your photos fell into the ‘too much’ category.
I delighted in this series. Megathanks.
Good. Thanks, EC.
Ditto everyone else’s comments. I had never noticed the multiple reflections. That is so instructive – thanks much.
Thank you, Kent. They can be hard to notice because they’re so fleeting.
In real time each reflection would come and go so quickly as to barely make a conscious impression. Your sequence allows one to ponder and appreciate each one and wonder at the infinity of unique images created by the interplay of water and light. Just a duck in the water becomes quite special through your lens and perceptive eye.
Loved your last sentence, Lyle. Thank you.
A very fun series. I feel as though it was very appropriate for Groundhog Day.
Good. Thanks, Brett.
“Ronnie, sometimes you just don’t know when to quit.” Just substitute Sandy for Ronnie and I can still hear my long gone Mom saying that.
Really neat reflection series Ron. Fat heads, skinny heads, double heads, severely distorted heads, and the same with the bill. I was so concentrated on the reflections that I almost forgot to mention that all through every photo the above water head and eye are really sharp. Beautiful photos of one of my favorite ducks.
That seemed to be an almost universal mother’s refrain, didn’t it Everett.
Beautiful and fun…… 🙂 Love how it looks like he’s almost “sinking” in the wake and the endless variation of the reflections.
-13 here before windchill. February CAN be brutal…… 🙁
Judy, I see it’s -18° in Cut Bank right now. Also before wind-chill.
We actually got an inch of snow this morning. They said we “might” but I was still very surprised.
Good Morning,
The reflections are beautiful. It is like looking at abstract paintings.
Take Care,
Kaye
I love the series. We always say like a knife through butter when something makes its way smoothly but now I will say like a paddling duck. Those little legs might be working furiously but the duck is majestically slipping through the water looking as calm and competent as could be.
Good description of his prowess in the water, Frances.
Love this series, Ron! I wonder if an adult would have made the same decisions as this juvenile did? Either way, always a treat to have one swim by this close with great conditions. Loved each frame!
Good point about adult males, Diane. They tend to be more skittish. Immature Goldeneye’s are plenty skittish enough.
“It is like looking at abstract paintings”
Or like the effect of fun house mirrors. Thanks, Kaye.
Great photos Ron. The interface between the golden eye and the water seems tilted and hard to really discern given the reflections. I am guessing it is tilted from the wake of the duck moving forward. What is neat to see is how smoothly the goldeneye moves through the water Not much churn or surface disturbance
Thanks for the great series
Thanks, Ed. For two reasons I believe the series is pretty close to actual level. In two of the shots I actually checked for level using the eye and its reflection as a guide while processing them. Also, I was shooting from a tripod and before I took this series of shots I leveled my camera on the tripod based on the actual horizon.
But I see what you mean. The backward tilting bow wave in front of the bird, and the forward tilt of his body in the water, make true level a little difficult to figure out.