During a short trip to the Mississippi this evening I saw a pair of ducks that got my utmost attention. The American Black Duck is a first for me. It is not a bird you can see here in eastern Iowa every day, not even during migration. It has been on my “most wanted” list since a long time. This was a solitary pair, seen just south of the Deere Marsh behind the John Deere factory in Dubuque. This duck is not black as the name suggests but appears so at a distance.
The photography is less than mediocre but for a first sighting I will make an exception 😉. The distance between the car, which I used as a blind, and the ducks was way too big. The railroad tracks and a lot of water between us left no chance to get closer to the subject. For any other species that is more common I wouldn’t even have unpacked the camera. I don’t think I have ever cropped a photo that much to make it work. The loss of detail is obvious but the joy about today’s encounter outweighs the lament about the photographic results…