The Elusive Harlequin

Here are the latest fruits of my pursuit of the shy Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) that have been occasionally hanging out along the shoreline of the West Bay Walkway. Generally as soon as they see me coming they start paddling away from the shore into deeper water. On this particular morning I was armed with a mid-range telephoto (Minolta 100-200mm zoom) and used a digital zoom feature on my Sony to double the magnification to the equivalent of 400mm. The result is a little fuzzy and dark (handheld and shooting into the sun) but is my best capture to date of these wonderfully colored and patterned little ducks. On the left is another characteristic of these sea ducks that makes them challenging to photograph. They spend a lot of time cruising with their heads under the water like snorkelers, just raising their heads for a second or two to take a breath from time to time and diving whenever they see something worth investigating more closely.