Birds (96)

Brandy wrote: Perfect Ton. Mallard.

Chestnut Teal, male.
Gorgeous shot!

Brandy wrote: Thanks Johan, don't know what I'd do without you for my ID's, probably have to buy a book which I did once upon a time, I think it went with our caravan when we sold it some time ago. Hopefully a mallard looked a bit like this, will have to google now

Both mallards and chestnut teals sure belong to the genus Anas, but still look quite different:

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)

α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 599 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 1000

And it is certainly a good idea to have a decent bird guide to help identifying birds you don't immediately recognize. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with suitable ones for Australian birds. Also Internet searches can help to identify birds if you have even some sort of idea what the bird might be.

Brandy wrote: Thanks again Heikki, my search found a quite different head colour than the above, quite greenish [teal] coloured the main difference being the white neck band so my so called mallard did look fairly similar to the chestnut teal. Message to self " don't be so lazy and search if unsure, don't rely on eagle eyed Dyxum experts! and put some effort into your posts"

Actually whether the mallard drake's head looks more blue or green depends on lighting.

Here is an older mallard photo, where the head looks green:

α99 + Sony AF 4-5.6/70-400 G OSS @ 400 mm, f/6.3, 1/640 s, ISO 400

And of course, then in summer and early autumn, ducks are moulting and that fancy breeding plumage goes out and for a while even the drakes look less colourful.

Northern mockingbird

Sony A7R4, Tamron 50-400

Song Sparrow

Sony ILCA-99M2 + Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM
f/8.0 300.0 mm 1/2500 1000

Pied cormorant

2 right profile

3 left profile close up

4 walking

5 and finally swimming away.

Brown-eared bulbul



A99M2 | Tamron 150-600