ML551994861

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Seen before sunrise at the far side of the northeastern, largest pond. After swimming around for a bit, it joined a female Mallard in flying off to the northwest, very high, until we lost it against the hills in the distance (almost certainly passing over Highway 14). A dark mallard-type duck with a yellow-green bill, a strong demarcation between the dark body and lighter brown neck, a dark eyeline, a dark cap, etc. When they flew off, the two birds circled once and the Mexican Duck was clearly both darker and larger, we estimated 10% bulkier. I don't know if this is a function of gender (the Mallard was a female) or species, but it was quite noticeably larger in the air. Very poor photographs obtained.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D7100

ISO

1400

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/4.0

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

2991 pixels x 1994 pixels

Original file size

1.31 MB